Dealing with Depression and Making Art with Owen Dara Helping Families Be Happy

In today’s episode of the “Helping Families Be Happy” podcast, host Dr. Carla Marie Manly (A practicing Clinical Psychologist, Wellness Advocate, and Author based in Sonoma County, California) talks with guest Owen Dara (A Filmmaker, Musician, Writer, and Comedian). Dara talks about how he uses his creative talent including many of them to help families to be happy. Also, he talks about how he dealt with depression for decades from the time he was a young child, till he was a teenager.
 
Episode Highlights
01:48 – Owen says, he has always been an artist, even though he didn't acknowledge it when he was growing up, because it wasn't something that was openly supported in his household as a profession.
03:57 - When Owen was six years old, they moved to Cork city.
05:00 – Owen explains how he came to the US.
07: 10 – Owen mentions that he has never regretted moving to the US.
10:08 – Owen says, he is prone to depression, and he can't just get depressed with everything else that he was doing. He tried other jobs, and he just thought he has to try to at least express this creativity whether it becomes a profession or not.
12:56 – Owen ended up working in the creative arts and got into a college in Australia. He studied for four years at Melbourne University. 
14:09 - During the period when Owen was studying, he started doing stand-up comedy, and that opened up the professional world for him.
16:07 - Dr. Carla says about Owen that if he had taken a linear path of being a Dentist then how much more difficult it would be for him.
19:19 - If Owen had found his true calling there, possibly never would have left that place, and then he would have missed out on so many experiences, says Owen.
21:22 - People who don’t suffer from depression, are blessed in his opinion and lucky in many ways. They don't understand what depression is, states Owen.
23:41 – Owen says, it was recommended by a teacher of him or a Headmaster at a certain school to his mother that he should seek professional help.
25:03 – Owen’s mother said, thinking about what's best for him and his future to get on with it. He didn't know that until he was an adult and went through other bugs of depression and talked to his mother about it.
27:07 – Owen says, his Catholic education was maybe what brought him to that place.
30:27 – Owen says, being an entertainer helped a lot because being forced to get up in front of people, when he had professional engagements and express himself, helped get it out of him.
33:20 - When one suffers from depression, it’s a lifelong thing, one is never cured. One just learns to deal with it better as time goes on, says Owen.
34: 37 – Dr. Carla says there are still so many people who believe that depression is something to be gotten over that why don't you just be happy? 
36:33 - Each time we go through a phase of depression, it can last up to maybe three or four months, says Owen.
38:00 - Sometimes depression comes out of nowhere and they suddenly start thinking we’re fine, states Owen.
40:46 – Owen states that he doesn't think his dad would mind him speaking about this because they're being so open and suffered terribly from depression.
43:30 - It feels better at the moment, then the next day it's back and the negative self-talk is back to self-soothing of that type is not the solution, says Dr. Carla.
45:34 – Owen says that he is probably mild manic depressive but controllable.
47:25 – Dr. Carla has so much respect for what Owen has shared. It is so much information and the heart he has imparted.
49:44 – Dr. Carla asks Owen to share a bit about filmmaking and how that gives him joy.
53:32 – Owen mentions that this comedy and his other films too, could be watched by families. There's nothing in there that somebody might be restricted.
55:58 – Owen shares, that they were all making a connection at that point, and he and Dr. Carla had never met but they connected to those comments.
57:24 – Being