Sex, Drugs, and… Caregiving? | Alexandra Drane | TEDxBoston Salon

Alexandra Drane looks at how caregiving, exhaustion and self-medication are connected, and why people who support others can still feel alone. Drawing on research and her own experience of giving and receiving care, she questions common assumptions about mental health and relationships. Her central suggestion is that people who hold others up also need support of their own.

• Links caregiving and running on empty to everyday coping habits
• Questions assumptions about mental health and relationships
• Explores feeling alone while being needed by many people
• Suggests caregivers should have support of their own

What does “just doing what needs to get done” have to do with your sex life? More than you might think. Alexandra Drane connects the dots between caring for others, running on empty, and the ways we self-medicate to get through. Drawing on startling research and her own experience giving and receiving care, she flips assumptions about our mental health and relationships that have us asking “What’s wrong with me?” And explores how being needed by so many people can still leave us feeling alone. Her prescription? Make sure the people holding everyone else up have someone holding them up, too. Alexandra Drane has shared the stage with CEOs, professional athletes, celebrities, and political leaders from around the globe and worked the checkout line at Walmart. She brings the same curiosity to both: what’s going on in people’s lives, and how can we make it better? A serial entrepreneur, published researcher, and co-founder and CEO of ARCHANGELS, Alex believes the best way to understand health is to get curious about life. That means talking about the things we tend to keep to ourselves: money, relationships, caregiving, and whatever gets us through the day. She’s brought that conversation to stages including TEDMED, Milken Global, and CNN Life Itself, and into homes nationwide as the host of Prudential’s “The State of US.” She has co-authored research published by the CDC and in NEJM Catalyst, bringing data to a deeply human conviction: caring for each other is some of the most consequential work on the planet. At ARCHANGELS, she’s helping people across all 50 states see themselves as caregivers and connect with support. Offstage, she loves car racing, her Berkel deli slicer, and people. Especially people. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx