When comedian Paula Poundstone takes the stage in one of her trademark zoot suits, she grabs the microphone and does what she does best: make people laugh.
What her audience may not realize, however, is that Poundstone has struggled her entire life with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a mental illness that causes obsessive thoughts that lead to compulsions and depression. Doing stand-up comedy is just one way she copes with her situation.
I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder
Although Poundstone believes she may have suffered from OCD as early as fourth grade, she was officially diagnosed about 25 years ago.
“I would find someone that I was obsessed with and I would call that person a lot,” Poundstone said. “I also had recurring thoughts. For example, my friend Martha was a teacher at a school I attended. All day I thought, ‘Martha doesn’t like me.’ At one point I asked Martha and she said, “That’s not how I feel.” Then I would feel this great relief,” Poundstone explained.
“But the second I hung up, I was like, ‘Martha doesn’t like me.’ I would think about it over and over again,” Poundstone said.
After being diagnosed by a psychologist, Poundstone said knowing why she had these types of obsessions helped her somewhat.
She was prescribed medication for her OCD and took it, but it brought on a whole new set of problems.
“It was my fault because it said to be careful when drinking along with this drug. I was so careful, but I think the two things played badly together,” she said.
For Poundstone, mixing the medication with alcohol made her OCD worse. She ended up having a lot more symptoms than before.
“I spent about a day or two where I felt like I had to walk like a chess knight. I could take two steps forward, but then one sideways. Packing for the tour took forever. It was hellish,” recalls Poundstone.
When she stopped taking the medicine, her symptoms disappeared. Although she no longer has OCD symptoms, she thinks they are like a sleeping tiger that could one day come back.
For people who don’t understand what OCD feels like, she likes to refer to the movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
In one scene, the character Roy Neary, played by Richard Dreyfuss, begins shaping his mashed potatoes into the shape of Devils Tower National Monument over dinner. His wife and children are upset and crying. He says, “This is important. This means something.”
“And no one else understands. They had no idea what he was doing or what he was talking about. Even if it meant something, why did he have to make it out of mashed potatoes?” said Poundstone. His urge to take this form feels like OCD to some people.
Dealing with depression
Over the years, various therapists have diagnosed Poundstone with depression.
“I think I’ve probably had it my whole life. I mean, it’s biochemical,” she said. She discovered what helped her most while working on a book called “The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness,” which she published in 2017. “The purpose was to make jokes, but the premise was pretty sincere. The whole premise was that I was doing experiments – things that I or other people thought would make me happy. Each chapter was a different experience.”
The first one she conducted was the “Get Fit” experiment, where she introduced exercise into her life.
Turns out that was exactly what worked for her.
“Exercise is one of the things that creates this happy chemical release,” Poundstone said. When you exercise, your body can release feel-good endorphins that can help with depression and anxiety.
“I was so hoping that I would just sit in a chair and eat Doritos, but that’s not the case,” Poundstone said.
Because she knows it helps with depression, Poundstone goes whenever she can. Whether she’s walking her dog, doing chores, or attending appointments, she goes for a walk.
She also jumps on a pogo stick and every day she adds a jump. At the time of our interview, she had completed up to 55 jumps.
Poundstone talks about mental health – and people listen
On her podcast, Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, which just recorded its 400th episode, Poundstone often talks about mental health.
“This is important because ‘Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone’ is your comedic guide to life and almost everyone has some sort of mental illness,” she said. “I would say the challenge of having a mental health problem is that you’re somehow the only one suffering from it, and that’s just not true.”
Poundstone said that in addition to being comedic, the podcast also has the backbone of real information and that she likes to share things that she thinks are important to listeners.
Poundstone also jokes about her mental health in her comedy performances, not only to help herself but also her audience.
“Comedy is a coping mechanism given to us by nature,” she said. “One of the things about comedy is that there is this kind of laughter that I call ‘recognition laughter’.” People laugh not because what you said is so terribly clever, but because they think I have it. I’ll do it. Often, [the topics are] Things we don’t generally talk about – and mental health definitely falls into that category.”
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