Becoming a Doctor in Chaos: Using ADHD as a Superpower with Dr. Kojo Sarfo

On today’s episode of Off the Cuff with Danny LoPriore, social media content creator, mental health nurse practitioner, and psychotherapist Dr. Kojo Sarfo, DNP, PMHNP-BC,  joins me to talk about how his journey with ADHD turned him into a rockstar and influenced his career path as well as why it’s important to make mental health fun and accessible through social media.

 

“I don’t like regular mental halth content; kinda like when I was in school and talk to the psychiatrist for hours and be like, “what’s the difference between Bipolar I and Bipolar II,” and we’d have to sit down and do lectures. That’s not fun, right? So, people have to digest it in fun and relatable ways.” (3:02)

 

We chat about the importance of making mental health topics entertaining and relatable, how culture can influence how you deal with mental health issues, the flaws within the education system in terms of providing the right environment for those with mental health disorders, and how sometimes medications are essential despite the potential for abuse and side effects. 

 

“God is good, but with medicine combined…you’re superhuman. I gotta put that on a shirt. Sometimes, you just need the meds.”  (30:54)

 

He also shares his takes on the political landscape, balancing the intricacies of comedy with being offensive, and working mental health struggles into comedy and social media content in a way that is authentic. 

 

“Let’s have conversations about everything, because everybody deserves to be able to voice their opinion.”  (53:05)

 

In This Episode: 

(1:27) The origins of Dr. Sarfo’s Late Night Show concept  (3:58) Dr. Sarfo’s journey from Ghana to Norway to the United States and culture shock (5:22) Dr. Sarfo coming to terms with having ADHD (7:00) The pressures of being forced into a profession within an African household (11:17) An academic glow-up for the books: a failure in high school to college scholar (17:55) The struggles of navigating the education system with mental health disorders (29:18) How trauma can compound over time (31:00) Sometimes medication is the answer - despite the abuse and side effects (33:44) What’s the difference between a psychiatrist, psychologist, and psychotherapist? (36:28) Should you be mandated to see a therapist if you work in the mental health space? (40:18) The current state of mental health for Black Americans/Black Immigrants (46:35) Social media as a powerful tool to be used by mental health, polititcs, and more. (51:15) Adapting to how you need to say things in today’s climate (56:23) Comedy lets you have your cake and eat it too (59:20) Danny teaches Dr. Kojo how to fucking dominate comedy (1:05:20) How Danny contributes to the art of comedy (1:13:30) Why do women not get diagnosed as much with ADHD? (1:16:02) How to spot emotional abuse

  

Our Guest

Dr. Kojo Sarfo is a mental health nurse practitioner, social media content creator, and psychotherapist. He is also the host of Late Night w/Dr. Kojo, a weekly live stream on Facebook. After spending his life coping with ADHD,  Dr. Kojo decided to use those experiences to help others and talk about mental health issues in innovative ways using social media and comedy. Through his social media accounts, Facebook live streams, and stand-up routines, he is blazing a path for mental health professionals to connect with people in meaningful ways.

 

Resources & Links

Off The Cuff

https://www.offthecuff.fm/ https://www.youtube.com/c/OffTheCuffwithDannyLoPriore https://www.instagram.com/1and1otc/ https://www.instagram.com/dannylopriore/

Dr. Kojo Sarfo

 https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.kojosarfo?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc  https://www.instagram.com/drkojosarfo/?hl=en https://www.linkedin.com/in/kojosarfo/ https://www.facebook.com/drkojosarfo/ https://www.youtube.com/@drkojosarfo/featured https://twitter.com/drkojosarfo https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Feeling-Good!/Kojo-Sarfo/9781507219645 https://beacons.ai/drkojosarfo