You May Relate to Paul Rudd's New Netflix Series If You've Ever Wanted to Split From Your Depression

If you’ve ever faced the heavy weight of depression, there’s also a good chance you also fantasized splitting off the depressed side of yourself so the lighter side of you can live a happy, fulfilling life without that weight dragging around behind you. Thanks to a new upcoming Netflix series, “Living With Yourself,” a couple of Paul Rudds may help you play out that dream.

“Living With Yourself” is described as an “inventive existential comedy” that finds Miles Elliott (Paul Rudd) struggling with his personal and professional life. After finding an ad for a dubious spa treatment that promises him a better life, Miles takes the bait. When he wakes up, he is on top of his game, the life of the party, excelling at work and in his relationship. As the trailer reveals, however, the darker side of Miles isn’t gone — he’s just downstairs.

The eight-part series will follow both versions of Miles — two versions of Rudd — as he grapples with the happier and sadder aspects of his personality and how they must coexist. While it’s too early to know the full premise of “Living With Yourself,” wanting to leave behind the side of yourself that’s struggling may be relatable if you live with a mental health condition. How much different would your life be if you could just shed your mental illness like a coat?

“Living With Yourself” may also resonate for people with a dissociative disorder like dissociative identity disorder (DID), where aspects of yourself may already be split off as a defense mechanism from an earlier trauma. Miles’ dilemma might share some similarities to your experience when parts that at first seem to have very different ideas about what your life should look like and don’t see eye-to-eye.

Regardless of your experience with your mental health, “Living With Yourself” may serve as the unexpected comedy that will lighten your load, even if just for 30 minutes each episode. But know, as Mighty contributor Jordan R wrote in their article, “For When I Wish I Didn’t Have Bipolar Disorder,” all aspects of your experience are important.

“I think to myself what life would be like if I wasn’t mentally ill. Would I be happy? Would I have more meaningful relationships?” Jordan wrote, adding:

The answer to these questions? Probably. My life may be completely different. But I know one thing: I wouldn’t be me. I wouldn’t be the me who has fought this illness, and fought it hard, for years. I wouldn’t have the knowledge that I have the strength to live alongside my bipolar disorder — that whatever it brings, I can overcome. I wouldn’t have the understanding and empathy that comes with being mentally ill for those who also struggle and live with it. We are all warriors — we all fight battles every day — and we can overcome.

Netflix’s “Living With Yourself” will premiere Oct. 18 on the streaming service, and you can watch the trailer below: