A conversation with experts in cutting-edge fields related to mental health, physical wellbeing, and spiritual sustenance. A look at what our future holds for us.
"We trained pregnant and never pregnant women and we tested them on their memory for these items immediately after they learned them and then we tested them two weeks later, looking at their long term autobiographical memory. What we found was that for the immediate test, the pregnant women did better than the never pregnant women on the baby relevant items, but they had equal performance on the adult oriented items. That gives some support to our hypothesis that when you actually test for benefits in cognition for ecologically relevant items you see them in pregnancy. But very surprisingly to us, I think the most interesting finding was that when we tested memory two weeks later, the pregnant women do better than the never pregnant women on all of the items. They were retaining much more information across time than the never pregnant women. This was evidence for a general cognitive enhancement during pregnancy that was not specific to ecologically relevant items." Episode Description: We begin with a description of what 'mommy brain' is as it is understood in the lay and the scientific literatures. Subjectively, many women describe memory deficits during and after pregnancy, yet objective measures generally do not demonstrate these changes. Bridget's and others' research found that rather than 'deficit' what is taking place is an evolutionarily advantageous specialization of the brain orienting the mother to the revolutionary task of birthing and caring for a new human being. We discuss the brain changes in father's brains that appear to be related to the degree of caretaking in which they are immersed. We discuss neural plasticity, the adult recapitulation of one's own childhood experiences, and the interface with depression and anxiety during these periods of flux in one's life. We close with Bridget sharing with us the importance to her of sharing accurate scientific findings with the general public as well as her wish list for future research. Listen to EPISODE 1: THE MICROBIOME IN CHILD DEVELOPMENT WITH BRIDGET CALLAGHAN, Ph.D. Our Guest: Bridget Callaghan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UCLA who studies how early life experiences influence interactions between mental and physical health across the lifespan, influencing intergenerational patterns of well-being. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, her Masters in Clinical Psychology, and her Ph.D. at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She has worked clinically in the field of developmental psychology and completed her postdoctoral training at Columbia University in New York in 2019. Dr. Callaghan’s research has been generously funded through the National Institutes of Mental Health, Brain Behavior Research Foundation, and National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. She is the recipient of the APS Rising Star Award, the Federation for the Association of Brain and Behavioral Sciences Early Career Impact Award, and the Kucharski Young Investigator Award. She has active collaborations with researchers at New York University, the University of New South Wales and Sydney Children’s Hospital in Australia, Telethon Kids Institute Australia, and the University of Fukui in Japan.
7/21/23 • 48:17
"The universality of guilt - I think that my life as a child therapist has a lot of advantages; we carry the idea that ‘we are all the ages we've ever been’ and those magic years never disappear. There are some great things about that - there are some problems with it too. That kind of irrational self-centered construction to explain what is intolerable and difficult to grasp comes from that. Early in this whole process, I remember talking to the pediatrician taking care of us: ‘Was it something in the environment? Was it the street we lived on? Was it that we lived in the basement? Was that an explanation? How close we were to the boiler room? What could it be?’ And he just looked through all of that to say: ‘You did nothing wrong’. It stays with me as I remember it - how potent that was. There's a part of me that wants to keep manufacturing the explanation that I can get my head around, and there's something penetrating about realizing that those explanations don't serve." Episode Description: We begin with Phil sharing with us the family tragedy that is described in his book A Short Good Life. It describes the illness and death of his younger daughter Liza, who he says is his second child. When I ask him about his use of the present tense, he says that he "is parenting her memory." He describes the process of writing this book and the help he sought from other parents who have lost children. He reads sections from the book that allow us to listen in on Liza's struggles with her older sister, her facing the guilt of imagining having caused her leukemia, and then her efforts to come to terms with her dying - at the age of six. We conclude with Phil's evolution as a therapist, which now includes his use of psychedelics to assist those who are struggling with trauma. I share how grateful I am to have learned of his work and how he has brought forth something special for others to learn from what I consider to be a tutorial on love. Our Guest: Philip Lister, M.D., is an adult and child psychiatrist and an adult and child psychoanalyst working in private practice. He is the author of a memoir, A Short Good Life, based on the experience of his family as his second child faced her death due to cancer. In addition to private practice, he is involved with MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies), working as a therapist in the research study using MDMA-Assisted Therapy for the treatment of PTSD. Dr. Lister can be reached through his website https://ashortgoodlife.com/ Linked Episode: Episode 23: Psychedelic Psychotherapy for PTSD Recommended Readings: https://ashortgoodlife.com/resources/
5/19/23 • 59:16
"Because I couldn't help my son, I couldn't do anything for him, I thought maybe I could start this group and help other people and other parents deal with this problem. What I wasn't prepared to face was just how lonely, how alone, how sad, and feeling hopeless I was. In a way, when the group began, I needed the group as much as the group needed me. I've continued the group although I need it for different reasons - at that point I needed it because I felt overwhelmed because of the problem with my son. Now I need it because I’ve grown to love the people of the group and I feel a tremendous sense of connection with them,I care for them deeply, and it is a very meaningful part of my life." Episode Description: We begin with the definition of stigma and how it exists as a force from outside of oneself as well as an internal state of self-disdain. It can be a cause of emotional difficulties and also a result of the label of mental illness. We discuss the symptoms of depression and how it differs from sadness, especially noting the role of guilt and self-hatred. John describes a group that he began 25 years ago that is affiliated with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance - DBSA. He walks us through the process of participating in the group and, in conjunction with individual treatment, describes the ways that it is a powerful force for healing. He also shares with us his personal journey of being a father of a son with bipolar illness, which originally inspired the creation of this group. He welcomes participants from around the world who can participate in his online group. Our Guest: John S. Tamerin, M.D., practices clinical psychiatry in Greenwich, Connecticut. He serves as a Clinical Associate Professor at the Weill/Cornell Medical College where he has taught resident psychiatrists and medical students for over thirty years. Dr. Tamerin has twice been honored by the graduating residents in the Department of Psychiatry and chosen Teacher of the Year. Dr. Tamerin has served as a member of the Board of Scholars of the Vail Leadership Institute. He has been a faculty member of the Yad Vashem Center of Holocaust Studies in Jerusalem. He has been a member of the Board of Directors and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Depression and Bipolar Alliance (DBSA). Dr. Tamerin is currently the President and the psychiatric consultant to the Greenwich, Connecticut, Chapter of the National Depression and Bipolar Alliance. Dr. Tamerin is an enthusiastic jazz musician who plays the alto saxophone. He is also a competitive tennis player who participated as a member of the USA Grand Master’s Tennis Team in the 20th World Maccabiah Games in Israel in 2017 and was awarded gold and silver medals in doubles and singles. He currently, at age 85, plays singles 5x a week year round and last year competed in the world championships for his age group.
4/20/23 • 37:22
"If you randomly assign people in two groups and you give them different insignia or you have them go through different practices, as we saw in this study, they come to like each other more. It's very easy to create this basic sense of belonging and identity. Ritual is particularly good at eliciting that kind of sense also because it triggers our intuitions about what we call phenotypic matching, this is the idea that we have ways, psychological mechanisms, that allow us to recognize those that are members of our groups, especially kin, so if you think about it who are your kin, they're the people who are most likely to look like you, they're the people who are most likely to behave like you, they're also the people that you go through emotional things with, you go through laughter and crying and traumatic experiences with, those are the people we call family. A lot of rituals, collective rituals, they replicate all of those things, so they make people wear the same insignia, so our appearances are aligned, they make people perhaps move in synchrony, so our movements are alike, and sometimes, they also involve people going through highly emotional things, in both pleasure and joy, in like in a wedding, dancing, tearing, and chanting together, but they can also involve crying and sadness, like taking part in the same funeral or even perhaps pain, like going through a painful initiation ceremony." Episode Description: We begin by describing the results of an experiment where children given meaningless rituals to perform in association with a task formed tighter and more exclusive bonds with those in their group as compared with children given the same task without the rituals. The role of rituals, through rigidity, repetition, and redundancy, empowers greater group affiliation, especially if pain is built into the ritual. We discuss "collective effervescence" — synchronous arousal common to those participating in sporting events, religious ceremonies, and political rallies. Dimitris mentions the role of deities in these rituals as well as those rituals that are inherently involuntary, ie, genital mutilation. He shares with us his experience walking on coals and how it impacted his esteem and group attachment. We close with his describing how he utilizes rituals in his current family life. Our Guest: Dimitris Xygalatas, Ph.D. is an anthropologist and cognitive scientist at the University of Connecticut, where he directs the Experimental Anthropology Lab. His research interests focus on some of the most puzzling yet deeply meaningful aspects of human behavior. He has been studying ritual for over two decades, conducting several years of fieldwork and combining ethnographic and experimental methods. His work has been published in over 100 scientific articles and books. His latest book is Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living, by Little Brown.
3/24/23 • 56:54
"One of the things that is very exciting is that this is a very robust finding. In other words, sometimes in science people see something and then it's not replicated - Rapamycin’s impact on lifespan has been replicated. When I started researching this area 50 years ago, I never felt that we would find a pill that would have an impact on aging and lifespan. Aging is very complex - to find one thing that would have an impact was highly unlikely. So when this happened in 2009, I had a small part in this, it was really very exciting because for the first time we had something that could potentially work in humans. The really exciting thing was this was a drug that was already being used in humans so we the knew the downsides and upsides to this particular compound." Episode Description: We begin by recognizing that many longevity researchers, including Professor Richardson, anticipate that Rapamycin dosed intermittently will lead to significant lifespan and healthspan improvements. This has not yet been shown in humans though it has been robustly demonstrated in all animals tested. Its ability to improve immunologic functioning in individuals over 65 years of age has been demonstrated. We discuss the improvement in animal models of Alzheimer's Disease, and there has been some indication that these animal effects also apply to human subjects. The fascinating history of the discovery of Rapamycin from a soil sample from Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is described, and the role of serendipity in the history of science is recognized. Our Guest: Arlan Richardson earned his Ph.D. in chemistry/biochemistry from Oklahoma State University in 1968. For the past 50 years, he has devoted his career to studying how aging impacts biological aspects of aging with a goal of identifying interventions that can slow down aging and improve the health of the elderly. He directed the first multi-investigator center grant into the effect of rapamycin on various age-related diseases. He served as president of the American Aging Association and the Recommended Readings: Richardson A, Galvan V, Lin AL, Oddo S. How longevity research can lead to therapies for Alzheimer's disease: The rapamycin story. Exp Gerontol. 2015 Aug;68:51-8. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2014.12.002. Epub 2014 Dec 3. PMID: 25481271; PMCID: PMC6417920. Blagosklonny MV. Rapamycin extends life-and health span because it slows aging. Aging. 2013 Aug;5(8):592-598. DOI: 10.18632/aging.100591. PMID: 23934728; PMCID: PMC3796212. Arlan Richardson. Rapamycin, anti-aging, and avoiding the fate of Tithonus, Geroscience. 2021 Jun;43(3):1135-1158. Selvarani R, Mohammed S, Richardson A. Effect of rapamycin on aging and age-related diseases-past and future. Geroscience. 2021 Jun;43(3):1135-1158. doi: 10.1007/s11357-020-00274-1. Epub 2020 Oct 10. PMID: 33037985; PMCID: PMC8190242.
2/24/23 • 48:43
"One way a child of Jody’s age deals with loss is that you don’t miss the person, in a sense you can become them. So, I have her step into the mother role, immediately trying to look after the younger ones and then wearing her mother sunglasses - it’s like she becomes her and then you don’t miss her so much. The neighbor is like an analyst figure, and she goes over and talks to this woman, Juliette, a very kind woman. I had Juliette say to her: ‘The way I see it, a death doesn’t happen just once, it’s like we have to keep being reminded that someone is gone - remember her - miss her a little more, until one day we can remember her without all the sad feelings. I have her to be the model for that for Jody - that’s the way you mourn, you have to keep remembering they’re gone, lose them again, remember them and lose them again’." Episode Description: We begin with Kerry describing the storyline of her novel which starts with the sudden death of a young mother leaving behind five children and a husband. The story is seen through the eyes of the 13-year-old daughter, Jody, who recounts the family's challenges through her own coming-of-age experiences. Tenderness and humor abound. The poignancy of this novel is made more real as it recounts some of the author's own experiences as a young girl faced with the sudden death of her mother. We discuss the areas of overlap between fiction and reality and how her work as a psychoanalyst informs her ability to represent the thinking of the characters in the book. We discuss being surprised as a writer and a clinician and the ever-present imagining that people are never really dead. Our Guest: Kerry L. Malawista, Ph.D. is a writer and psychoanalyst in McLean VA. She is co-chair of New Directions in Writing. Her essays have appeared nationally in newspapers, magazines and literary journals including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, The Boston Globe, Zone 3, Washingtonian Magazine, The Huffington Post, Bethesda Magazine and Arlington Magazine. She is the co-author of Wearing my Tutu to Analysis and Other Stories (2011), The Therapist in Mourning: From the Faraway Nearby (2013), When the Garden Isn’t Eden: More Psychoanalytic Concepts from Life (2022) all published by Columbia University Press, and Who’s Behind the Couch (2017) published by Routledge Press. Meet the Moon is her first novel. Our conversation about her co-authored book When the Garden Isn’t Eden: More Psychoanalytic Concepts from Life (2022) can be found at http://ipaoffthecouch.org/2022/11/26/episode-123-teaching-dynamic-therapy-through-storytelling-with-anne-adelman-ph-d-chevy-chase-md-and-kerry-malawista-ph-d-potomac-md/ Kerry has a memoir in press and can be followed at KmalawistaAuthor.com
1/13/23 • 35:00
"The best way to think about insulin resistance is that it’s pre-diabetes. In the course of developing type 2 diabetes, which we see in much higher rates in people with bipolar disorder compared to the general population, one starts off with normal blood sugar levels but elevated insulin. It is the elevated insulin that pushes the blood sugar down into the normal range. This is typically something that is missed by physicians because there’s been no medical indication to test for it [insulin level]. After the metabolic dysregulation progresses, patients become glucose intolerant, and at that point a doctor may pick up on it because the blood sugar is elevated - not elevated such to say that they have type 2 diabetes but elevated into the glucose intolerant range." Episode Description: We begin by describing the symptoms of Bipolar Disease and the reasons that make it important to distinguish from depression. We consider the value of measuring insulin levels to determine if there is a contribution of metabolic dysfunction on the course of the psychiatric condition. Over 50% of patients with Bipolar Disease have insulin resistance and those who do, have a more chronic course of illness. We discuss the role of cortisol levels, chronic inflammation, adverse childhood events, and leakage in the Blood Brain Barrier. Metformin is a safe and useful medication that can reverse insulin resistance and remedy Blood Brain Barrier leakage as documented on radiologic assessment. We conclude with Cindy sharing with us her history as a Family Physician and her hope for appreciating the role of metabolic dysregulation in other psychiatric conditions. Our Guest: Cindy Calkin, MD is a clinical researcher and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Neuroscience at Dalhousie University, Canada. She is the Medical Director of a unique multidisciplinary clinical research Mood and Metabolism Program that includes psychiatry, endocrinology and metabolism, health physics, biomedical engineering, neuroradiology, and medical neuroscience. Her group uses multimodal testing to collect detailed prospective data. Her innovation and discovery research focuses on mechanisms underlying Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression (TRBD) and novel mechanism-based targeted treatments.
11/4/22 • 44:48
"When paternity leave comes into the picture you have a situation where parents are home together. Those processes are able to develop for both the mother and the father - there’s time for fathers to bond with their children, there’s time for parents to figure out how to be parents together. It’s not so lopsided where mothers become the experts because they are there all the time. Mothers and fathers can develop that expertise together because they are both there at home at the same time. At this sort of crucial point where you figure everything out for the first time, I think it can really have a transformative effect. That is why we see that paternity leave matters for a whole host of outcomes." Episode Description: We begin by describing what paternity leave is and how it differs in countries worldwide. Richard's research documents the profound positive impact that fathers taking time off at the birth of a child has both in the short-term and long-term. Improvements in children's functioning have been noted up to 9 years after the leave. Regarding the 'selection question' - is it the leave or the father who chooses the leave - he is convinced that the data shows that the leave itself is a meaningful variable in these improved outcomes. We discuss the differential availability of leave between higher and lower-income workers and the relative absence of data on leave in same-sex marriages. We close with his sharing with us his personal story regarding paternity leave as well as the influence of how he was fathered in his own fathering. Our Guest: Richard J. Petts, Ph.D. is a Professor of Sociology at Ball State University. His research focuses on the intersection of family, work, gender, and policy, with a specific emphasis on parental leave, father involvement, and workplace flexibility as policies and practices that can reduce gender inequality, promote greater work-family balance, and improve family well-being. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Contemporary Families, an organization devoted to disseminating the latest research on American families. He has published extensively in academic journals, and his work has been featured in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, CNN, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic. You can learn more about his research by visiting his website www.richardpetts.com and by following him on Twitter, @pettsric
10/7/22 • 41:23
"There is a company called NightWare, that developed a feature for PTSD that uses components from Apple Watch. One of the primary symptoms in PTSD is intense nightmares which are very distressing, they disrupt their sleep and really drive a lot of symptomatology. This company created an app that detects when people with PTSD are having nightmares. It uses the existing sleep function [on the watch] to detect when they are having disruptive sleep. Then it uses the vibrating haptic to wake the patient up. So it is simply just disrupting their sleep, waking them up from a nightmare, and by doing so they have been able to show that they can decrease overall PTSD symptoms." Episode Description: We begin with differentiating the application of technology in mental health evaluation and treatment. Isaac shares with us his research in measuring facial expressions as indicators of mood states with clinical implications for outcome prediction. He also discusses "natural language processing" and how this is in the early stages of applicability for mental health interventions such as suicide prevention. We consider the utility of wrist wearables and virtual reality as means to augment the clinician's tools to be attuned to patients' affects and experiences. We close with some thoughts on the future therapist's virtual office with Isaac sharing with us his professional journey in this world of mental health technology [Dr. Galatzer-Levy has no financial association with NightWare]. Our Guest: Isaac Galatzer-Levy, Ph.D. His work focuses on building mental health technology. He holds academic appointments at NYU School of Medicine in Psychiatry. Until recently, he led mental health technology development at Meta Reality Labs and now works at Google. Isaac’s career has focused on the development of biological and digital markers and accompanying digital interventions to remediate psychiatric illness, reduce risk, and promote resilience including the use of multi-omics data sources, computer vision, and voice analysis. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and is an inventor on multiple patents and continues to conduct research in industry, in collaboration with government entities (NIH, DOD, NATO, VA), and academics around the world, and contributes to large-scale open source/open science initiatives.
9/9/22 • 59:38
"I would say to any parent who has a child now or any adult who has a disability now - disabilities are looked at quite differently. They are accepted much more than they were when I was growing up. So, you can’t take things out of context, but I was just living a secret life and that wasn’t good, it really wasn’t. That was why I was remote, so what I would do is dissociate when I felt the pain of being so different and I really paid a price for that. I am not sure there was any way to get through it, I was a successful child by other standards, but emotionally I was very damaged." Episode Description: We begin with a description of Penny's childhood visual impairment and its impact on her early years. She recounts the "secret life" she felt she was living and her desperate wish to be like the other kids. Underlying, was a fear of being sent away to an institution if she revealed the full extent of her limitations. She recounts her lifesaving psychoanalytic treatment that helped her choose self-advocacy over victimhood. We discuss the sevenfold increase in sexual abuse in those who have disabilities, and she describes her own experience. She recounts her work as an occupational therapist and her recent onset of blindness now that she is in her 70s. We conclude with a quote from her final chapter on joy. Our Guest: Penny Mishkin was born with a severe visual impairment which was diagnosed when she was two years old. She was a low-vision child with glasses and a blind child without. At age 12, she was fitted with contact lenses that allowed her to pass into the able world with 20/40 vision. Related to these experiences, Penny spent over 40 years as an occupational therapist. Two years ago, her luck ran out and she became legally blind. To find meaning and purpose in her new life, she has recently published a book entitled How I See It: A Personal and Historical View of Disability. She brings a unique perspective as a person with a disability and someone who chose a profession to help people with disabilities.
8/6/22 • 53:23
"Someone comes in and they are having these fainting attacks and neurological symptoms, they do develop different anxiety channels and the first of their goal is to help them be able to identify and feel their emotions and not have any anxiety, but before getting there we help them learn to reflect on their body response and intellectual wise and it tends to make anxiety get into the muscles and so they are tense and intellectual and they can regulate the body better and they stop thinking in such, what is great. In between those two, there’s often a window when they have smooth muscle anxiety often, so we report a period of weeks, whether they have nausea, diarrhea, or water spasm, then it goes into voluntary muscle tension, where their hands are tight, they are signed, and they noticed quite clearly that their body is changed, it feels stronger but it is tight, and then at that point, they start to be capable of safely feeling their emotions that are getting activated and that is when they start to bringing childhood adverse events that start to come to memory on their own, without us digging for them, they just show up.” Episode Description: We begin by acknowledging the seeming contradiction in addressing physical symptoms with psychotherapy. Allan's work focuses on what he terms "unconscious anxiety" and its various manifestation in the body. He notes that there are predictable pathways of tension that get expressed in neurologic, gastro-intestinal, and muscular symptoms that often evolve from one to another. Many of these patients are suffering from the long-term effects of adverse childhood events. We discuss the neurobiological effects of psychotherapy and we also review the considerable outcome research on this form of treatment. We conclude with his sharing his professional history and how he came to be interested in this clinical approach. Our Guest: Allan Abbass, MD, is a psychiatrist, teacher, and researcher. He is a professor of psychiatry and psychology and the founding director of the Centre for Emotions and Health at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. After completing medical school at Dalhousie University, Allan started his career as a family physician and emergency physician but soon became frustrated with the limits of traditional medicine. He observed that a large percentage of his patients experienced physical and mental symptoms that medications failed to address. He added a year of family medicine residency at McGill University to study a form of short-term psychotherapy. Following this, he trained in psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He then established a training program in short-term dynamic therapy (ISTDP) at the University of British Columbia after which he returned to Dalhousie University where he continued his work with patients with unexplained medical symptoms. He has won numerous awards for his research and is active in teaching worldwide. In addition, he is an avid basketball player, coach, and fan.
7/22/22 • 49:56
"We have those two groups with the probiotics and the placebo. The patients were allocated to the two groups and it was double-blind so we didn’t know if they took the probiotics or the placebo. They took it for four weeks and we did the assessments before the intervention and after the intervention and then we just compared. We compared how the trajectory of the depressive symptoms was in the two groups and this is the main effect that we found - that in the probiotics group the decrease of the depressive symptoms was greater than in the placebo group. In general, we were happy that all patients have decreased depressive symptoms, that is very important too, but the effect that we want to show is that the probiotics are better than the normal treatment." Episode Description: We begin by describing the research findings which are that this is the first randomized controlled trial to demonstrate that adjunctive short-term, high-dose probiotic supplementation reduces depressive symptoms more than placebo. We discuss the conflicting results of the two rating scales that were used to measure improvements and their implications for the outcomes. Anna-Chiara reports on the probiotic that was chosen and whether it led to the researchers themselves taking it. She emphasized the importance of one's diet and especially the role of fermented foods. We closed with her describing her earlier research that suggested that Fecal Microbiota Transplantation can be an effective form of treatment for severely depressed patients. Our Guest: Anna-Chiara Schaub is a psychologist and Ph.D. student in the research group Translational Neuroscience at the University Psychiatric Clinics in Basel, Switzerland. In her project, she explores wide-ranging clinical and physiological effects of gut-related interventions in depression. Her research aims to stratify patients into more homogenous groups based on individual differences in multiple biomarkers to predict treatment responses. The findings of the project may also serve as the basis for further developments of novel interventions for patients with depression.
6/24/22 • 31:58
"How does religion matter here? The reason that kids who are religious ‘abiders’ end up having an academic advantage, especially in the working class and the middle class, is because their grades are so much better in the middle and high school years that their chances of getting into college are much higher. They also are constantly being told: “Oh you have good grades, you are college material,” so their chances of applying are higher. Grades in high school are a very strong predictor of college success, so their chances of graduating are higher. The reason it matters for them is because essentially all the things that would have derailed their academic success - the despair and getting into trouble - this is especially the case for boys who end up falling off the paths of college in much higher rates than girls. It essentially buffers them from all of that and helps them be twice as likely to get a college degree than non-abiders from the working and middle class." Episode Description: We begin by distinguishing Americans who are simply religious from those who "have an active and reciprocal relationship with God in which they talk to God and God talks back" - a group that Ilana calls ‘abiders’. This group by virtue of wishing to please God and increase their chances of getting to Heaven develop a conscientiousness that improves their academic performance. By both 'believing and belonging' they remain closer to their families and church networks which provides them 'social capital' that contributes to their sense of well-being. These abider advantages do not apply to those born into professional families as they gain these advantages through other means. It also does not provide an advantage to those born into poor families. We further discuss the phenomena of 'undermatching' which is when adolescents choose less selective colleges in service of privileging family over career advancement. Our Guest: Ilana M. Horwitz, Ph.D., (Stanford University) is an Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology, and the Fields-Rayant Chair of Contemporary Jewish Life at the Stuart and Suzanne Grant Center for the American Jewish Experience at Tulane University. Born in Russia, Dr. Horwitz immigrated to Philadelphia when she was seven years old as part of the Soviet Jewry Movement. Having grown up in a country where Jews were persecuted, Dr. Horwitz had almost no exposure to Jewish traditions growing up. In Philadelphia, her family received significant help from different Jewish agencies and Jewish philanthropists, which allowed Dr. Horwitz to participate in Jewish schools, camps, and youth groups. In addition to learning about Judaism, Dr. Horwitz’s immersion in Jewish institutions required her to learn how to navigate a middle-upper class social world as a working-class immigrant. These early educational and social experiences had a profound impact on Dr. Horwitz and led to her eventual interest in sociology and education. In addition to her recent book God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success, her scholarship has also appeared in American Sociological Review, Social Science Research, Contemporary Jewry, Review of Religious Research, Contexts, and Jewish Social Studies. Her public opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Conversation, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Inside Higher Education, and Religion News Service. Dr. Horwitz can be reached at ihorwitz@tulane.edu.
6/10/22 • 56:25
"I don't think anybody can truly describe the [psilocybin] experience. One can use phrases and words that are common - ineffable, mystical, powerful. All I can say is it was the most powerful experience of my life that I have gone through ever." "We had another CAT scan in September of last year, in 2021, and it showed another small nodule. My oncologist said, ‘Don’t worry, we don’t know what it is, it’s very small.’ But a part of me as a physician and as a cancer patient now thought ‘On no, we’ve got another nodule - that means I am stage 4 again’. Before my experience with psilocybin this would have been terribly devastating - to have been given that hope six months ago with no nodules, and now again Stage 4. But now I say ‘Ok, if I have cancer again, it’s alright we will deal with it’. While I was somewhat anxious and I was a little bit low in spirits but it wasn't a gut punch." Episode Description: Pradeep shares with us his journey from initial symptoms of what was diagnosed as a stage 1 cancer to its return as a stage 4 metastatic cancer. Faced with a disturbing depression he entered a clinical trial using one dose of psilocybin in a carefully monitored research setting. He shares with us the "indescribable nature" of his 8-hour psychedelic experience. He then reports on the profound life changes that have remained with him over one year later. His approach to life is characterized less by highs and lows and more by a dependable sense of equanimity even in the face of his ongoing cancer. Though now retired, his wish to share his experience with others is testimony to his ongoing commitment to healing others. Our Guest: Pradeep Bansal, MD is a recently retired gastroenterologist from Long Island. He is originally from India and was in practice in the New York area for over 25 yrs. Apart from being a physician, he is an avid nature photographer. Further Listening: Episode 2: Psychedelic Medicines in a Therapeutic Context with Jeffrey Guss, MD https://harveyschwartzmd.com/2021/02/26/ep-2-psychedelic-medicines-therapeutic-context/ Episode 23: Psychedelic Psychotherapy for PTSD: New Research with Ingmar Gorman PhD https://harveyschwartzmd.com/2022/01/28/ep-23-psychedelic-psychotherapy-for-ptsd-new-research-with-ingmar-gorman-phd/ Episode 107: A Psychoanalyst Administers Ketamine with Gita Vaid, MD http://ipaoffthecouch.org/2022/03/26/episode-107-a-psychoanalyst-administers-ketamine-with-gita-vaid-md/
5/13/22 • 60:40
“That was actually Darwin's hypothesis in observing his own son and he writes about this in “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.” He writes about this incipient laughter – he was the first one to recognize this as a built-in response that the baby has that really pulls the baby into the adult world or pulls adults into the infant world. It is such an important emotional connection." Episode Description: We begin with recognizing the profound pleasure of sharing in an infant's laughter. Gina walks us through the stages of involuntary smiling, which begins in utero, to voluntary laughing which begins at about 6 weeks of age. We discuss the influence of parents on whether a baby finds something funny. We also consider ‘incongruity’ and how it reveals the baby's 'theory of mind' - what the baby understands about how others' minds work. We come to appreciate teasing, which begins at around 6 months of age, and how it too reflects the baby's awareness of others' expectations. We also learn about the counterintuitive association between secure attachment and laughing. We close with Gina sharing with us her personal history that introduced her to the world of laughing infants. Our Guest: Gina Mireault, Ph.D. is a Developmental Psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Northern Vermont University (USA). Her research focuses on humor development in the first year of life. She investigates how infants detect humorous events with implications for understanding critical developmental milestones like ‘theory of mind’, attachment security, and cognitive development. Dr. Mireault’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Vermont Biomedical Research Network. Her work has appeared in numerous peer-reviewed journals including Human Development, Current Biology, and Infancy as well as in popular media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post, Science Daily, CNN.com, WebMD, American Baby, Parenting, and Salon. Her work has also appeared on NPR’s The Takeaway, PBS’ NOVA Science Now, NBC Nightly News, and CBC’s The Nature of Things. Recommended Readings: Mireault, G. (2022). The Social, Affective, and Cognitive Power of Humor in Infancy. In D. Dukes, E. Walle, & A. C. Sanson (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Emotional Development, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England, UK. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198855903.013.22 Mireault, G. C. & Reddy, V. (2016). Humor in Infancy: Developmental and Psychological Perspectives. New York: Springer. Panksepp, J. (2000). The Riddle of Laughter: Neural and Psychoevolutionary Underpinnings of Joy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9 (6),183-186. Provine. R.R. (2012). Curious Behavior: Yawning, Laughing, Hiccupping, and Beyond. Belknap/Harvard. Provine, R.R. (2005). Laughing, Tickling, and the Evolution of Speech and Self. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13 (6), 215-218. Scott, S. (2015, March). Why We laugh. [Video]. TED Conferences.
4/29/22 • 54:05
"All Jenny knew was that she wanted to lose weight. One of the things I say to people when I teach about eating disorders is ‘treating eating disorders is all about food and not at all about food’. It is not at all about food, there is always an issue, it is not just about wanting to be thin. Even though in the late 70s’ Twiggy came on the scene and everybody thought Twiggy was the big inspiration for the eating disorder epidemic. Eating disorders are not about wanting to be thin, they are about wanting to escape one's own inner world." Episode Description: We begin by appreciating that Judy's memoir speaks on three levels - her tumultuous history with her mother, her therapeutic work with eating disorder patients, and her own maturation as a woman. She describes multiple examples of her mother's painful betrayals of her, both as a child and as an adult. Judy shares that initially she was without the capacity to empathize with her mother's own struggles which contributed to her mother’s pollyannish character style. Judy's own growth allowed her to bring her nuanced attentiveness to her clinical work which she presents in some detail. We discuss the ways that identifying with one's patients can be both a help and a hindrance in creating the unique attunement that is essential for meaningful psychotherapy. We close by recognizing how she has utilized her personal story as a vehicle of healing for the many lives she has touched. Our Guest: Judith Ruskay Rabinor, Ph.D., is a clinician, author, and writing coach who currently works remotely offering psychotherapy and consultations for families, therapists, and writers. Judy has many years of experience treating patients with eating disorders. Her latest book, The Girl in the Red Boots: Making Peace with My Mother is a cross-over between memoir and self-help book. Judy has published two previous books, A Starving Madness: Tales of Hunger, Hope and Healing in Psychotherapy and Befriending Your Ex After Divorce: Making Life Better for You, Your Ex and Yes, Your Ex! Judy currently offers writing classes, consults with The Renfrew Center Foundation, and is a supervisor at the Center for the Study of Anorexia and Bulimia in New York City where she trained decades ago.
4/15/22 • 51:51
"If somebody was to say a prayer to Jesus versus say a prayer to Allah versus say a prayer to Vishnu - in some sense that is going to be a similar kind of process in the brain. They are repeating certain words directed towards some higher power in their view. In some sense there is similarity across those different domains and those different traditions. On the other hand, when different beliefs themselves are part of that process, the way we think about God - the way a Jewish person might think about God might be different from the way a Hindu person thinks about Vishnu - then you do start to get distinctions and differences. Certainly, a lot of the Eastern traditions with their intensive practices of meditation and the goal to achieve some type of personal enlightenment are a very different kind of approach than we see in the monotheistic traditions." Episode Description: We begin by exploring the nature and variety of religious beliefs that people hold dear. These can vary from everyday beliefs to those that are transformative. Neuroimaging studies of these various experiences demonstrate areas of overlap and distinctiveness between commonplace and life-changing experiences as well as between Western, Eastern and secular spiritual practices. Andrew describes the clinical application of his neurological findings and comments on how his research has led him to a deeper appreciation of the uniqueness of each individual's beliefs. He also shares with us his personal journey which has led him to dwell in a space of 'infinite doubt'. Our Guest: Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. is currently the Research Director at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia. He is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine. He has actively pursued a number of neuroimaging research projects which have included the study of aging and dementia, epilepsy, and other neurological and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Newberg has been particularly involved in the study of mystical and religious experiences, a field referred to as “neurotheology”. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences. He has published 12 books which have been translated into 17 different languages. He was listed as one of the 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today by the Online Psychology Degree Guide. His two most recent books are Brain Weaver: Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind Through Integrative Medicine and, The Rabbi's Brain: Mystics, Moderns, and the Science of Jewish Thinking. HIs other books and writings are available on Andrew Newberg’s website Andrewnewberg.com
4/1/22 • 50:50
"There is a very close relation between being known and knowing others and allowing others to know us. When somebody goes to therapy, it usually impacts everyone around them in many ways. We can say it challenges relationships. It does many things. But one thing is that when you feel known and you are not hiding anymore, you realize that who you are is not so terrible, somebody actually likes it. Then you are able to allow others to know you and you become more curious in general - you are able to allow yourself to know others. There is something about not knowing yourself that does not allow you to genuinely want to know other people and things that happen - you live in some kind of hiding." Episode Description: We begin by recognizing the power of human stories to intrigue us. In her writing, Galit shares clinical vignettes told in short story form. She shares her observations about the presence of secrets in earlier generations - secrets even from themselves - and how they get transmitted to later generations. We consider the nature of unconscious communication, the inevitability of ruptures in intimate relationships, and what it's like to live a life feeling unwanted. We discuss one of the patients she wrote about and how all these aspects reveal themselves in their treatment. We close with a discussion of her own early life and how that has influenced her work. We recognize how through her writing she has taken her own personal challenges and brought the power and gracefulness of being heard to so many. Our Guest: Galit Atlas, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst and clinical supervisor in private practice in New York City. She is a faculty member of the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis. Dr. Atlas has published three books for clinicians and numerous articles and book chapters. Her New York Times publication: “A Tale of Two Twins” was the winner of a 2016 Gradiva Award. Her new book Emotional Inheritance is translated into 14 languages. A leader in the field of relational psychoanalysis, Dr. Atlas teaches and lectures throughout the United States and internationally.
3/11/22 • 42:21
“When someone is disordered in their eating often what you find is that they’ve been a kid who has learned to have radar for the feelings of other people. Whether it’s a family where the kid can’t express their emotions and parents’ emotions rule, that kid has learned to look to the outside to figure out who she should be. So of course, in our culture that means that they looked to the scale, they looked to Instagram, but when it comes to sexuality it’s the same thing. This isn’t a matter of they’re having their own feelings that they are conflicted about - they are looking to the outside world to see what they can paste on in terms of whom they are supposed to be. They don’t have a sense of their sexuality. They don’t have a sense of their hunger. And if you don’t have a sense of what you are hungry for with food, how can you possibly have a sense of what you are hungry for with sex." Episode Description: We begin by describing the tendency for eating-disordered individuals to block out their internal experiences. As a result, it is often those who are external but caring about the struggling person who develops strong feelings about their difficulties. We discuss three common clinical situations and unpack the observations of those who are interested in the patient and what may be going on in the inner life of the symptomatic individual. We consider perfectionism, good/bad thinking, individuation and sexuality, and the importance of the therapist-patient relationship as the vehicle to discover inner-derived identity and desire. Our Guest: Judith Brisman, Ph.D. was the Founding Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Center in Manhattan for over 35 years. She is co-author of Surviving an Eating Disorder: Strategies for Family and Friends (now in its 4th edition), is an associate editor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and is on the editorial board of the journal Eating Disorders. She is a member of the teaching faculty at the William Alanson White Institute and she maintains a private practice in New York City. Dr. Brisman is known internationally as among the first in her field to develop a treatment program for bulimic patients. She has published and lectured extensively regarding the interpersonal treatment of eating disorders.
2/25/22 • 54:52
"Polyvagal theory at the simplest level emphasizes that we have a physiological system, and the autonomic nervous system mediates how we react and respond to the world. When our autonomic nervous system is calm it supports our bodily functions. It also provides permission at a neural level for us to trigger other parts of our brain that results in engagement with others. The secret underlining polyvagal theory is that there was an evolutionary linkage between cardioinhibitory fibers and the nerves that regulate the muscles in the face and neck – this enables our communication, what we call sociability or sociality. These aspects are really linked to our ability to send cues of safety to others." Episode Description: We began by recognizing the scope of Polyvagal Theory in its description of the evolutionary advance from asocial reptilian functioning to the mammalian capacity for safety and sociality. This ability to both experience and register others' trustworthiness enabled our minds to discover collaboration as well as creativity and self-awareness. The 'fittest that survives' is understood as the one who works best in groups. We consider the role of sound in establishing a sense of safety, the enervation of the facial musculature to communicate safety, and neuroception as an unconscious process that registers cues of safety. We conclude with Stephen sharing with us some aspects of his personal journey of discovery since he first described Polyvagal Theory in 1994. Our Guest: Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium in the Kinsey Institute. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland. He is co-founder of the not-for-profit Polyvagal Institute. He served as president of the Society for Psychophysiological Research and the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences and is a former recipient of a National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist Development Award. He has published approximately 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers across many disciplines. He holds several patents involved in monitoring and regulating autonomic states and originated the Polyvagal Theory, which emphasizes the importance of the physiological state in the expression of behavioral, mental, and health problems related to traumatic experiences. He is the author of The Polyvagal Theory, The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory, and Polyvagal Safety, as well as co-editor of Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies.
2/11/22 • 56:21
"[during the MDMA experience] at around 45 minutes they may notice a shift where the anxiety dissipates and there is a sense of opening, a sense of feeling ok, maybe more than ok, maybe feeling a little bit blissful or positive. One study measured a sense of authenticity - meaning the feeling of being ok to be oneself. They may choose to continue to be inward and notice what is coming up for them in their mind, in their body, or they might take their blindfolds off and they may choose to engage with us. We should take a deeper dive here and say that this state will last two, three, four hours - the full duration of the session is eight hours and that is because we just want to make sure that when the therapist leaves and the participant has a night attendant there or they go home in some cases, that the person is kind of landed and they are in a more ordinary state of consciousness so they can be safe." Episode Description: Dr. Gorman is one of the investigators in the recently published study documenting dramatic improvements through MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in participants with severe PTSD. We begin our conversation by describing the burden of PTSD as it is lived in individuals’ and their familys’ lives. Trauma-stimulated symptoms of numbness and explosiveness represent the most overt aspects of not living fully in real-time. We distinguish between single incident PTSD from complex PTSD with the latter having reverberations with childhood trauma. Ingmar walks us through the MDMA clinical trial describing the procedure from the outside as well as through the individual's internal experience. Over time, over half of those who initially presented with severe symptomatology are cured of their condition. We discuss additional research utilizing psychedelic therapies for other conditions including OCD, addictions, smoking cessation, and end-of-life anxieties. We conclude by considering the role of the researcher as distinct from the enthusiast. Our Guest: Ingmar Gorman, Ph.D. is a co-founder of Fluence, a psychedelic education company training mental health providers in psychedelic treatments. As a psychologist, he shares his expertise in empirically supported psychedelic treatments with his clients and trainees alike. Dr. Gorman received his clinical training in New York City at the New School for Social Research, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, Columbia University, and Bellevue Hospital. He completed his NIH postdoctoral fellowship at New York University. He simultaneously served as site co-principal investigator on FDA-approved Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and continues to be a therapist on such studies, as well as trials of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression and binge eating disorder. Dr. Gorman has published on the topics of classic psychedelics, ketamine, MDMA, and Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration.
1/28/22 • 64:52
"To be able to contain, withstand and hold the aggression of your adolescents who push you away, you have to feel very secure - meaning that you have to feel pretty good about yourself as a parent, that you have given them everything, that you have been present enough. It comes from a security and I find today that many, many parents are not secure in their feelings that they have given their children enough." Episode Description: We begin with an overview of the stages of adolescence - exploration, declaration, and confirmation. We follow the threads of attachment and separation as they play out across these years. We consider the development of internal voices during this period, those that are benevolent and those that are harsh, as well as the manifestations of authentic and pseudo independence from their families. We discuss talking about sex and paying for good grades. Erica presents a clinical example of a teenager who is struggling and she shares with us some of the difficulties she faced in her own adolescence. We conclude with a glimpse into her third book on the impact of divorce on children. Our Guest: Erica Komisar, LCSW is a clinical social worker, psychoanalyst, and parent guidance expert who has been in private practice in New York City for over 30 years. A graduate of Georgetown and Columbia Universities and The New York Freudian Society, Ms. Komisar is a psychological consultant bringing parenting and work/life workshops to clinics, schools, corporations, and childcare settings. She is a contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Daily News. She is a Contributing Editor to The Institute of Family Studies and appears regularly on Fox and Friends and Fox 5 News. Erica is the author of Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters, and her second book, Chicken Little the Sky Isn't Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age of Anxiety released in October 2021.
1/14/22 • 52:37
"There's this kind of dance between biology and this little molecule that gave us the capacity to take care of our infants by feeding them directly. That gave us tremendous freedom - we didn’t need a nest so we were able to wander the planet. We could interact with all kinds of others as long as mom was there for the first couple of years, or let’s say, at least six months, to feed the baby. The relationship between the mother and the baby, of course, has been shown by many to be foundational to other forms of relationships. So oxytocin is part of the system that allows us to be maternal, that allows us to be mammals, that allows us to be humans." Episode Description: We begin by distinguishing quick-fix ideas about 'the love hormone' from the complex biological systems that interface with oxytocin. Sue describes oxytocin as the biological core of what it means to be human. We discuss the role of oxytocin in lactation and as a facilitator of long-term emotional bonding which impacts longevity and an overall sense of well-being. We consider the paradoxical negative impact of exogenous oxytocin in those who have a history of early developmental trauma. We review those methods of increasing our endogenous oxytocin, i.e. exercise, and orgasm, as well as the role of the microbiome in stimulating its production. We close with reflections on the aesthetics of the scientific enterprise. Our Guest: Sue Carter, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Research Scientist at the Kinsey Institute, former Director of that Institute, and Rudy Professor Emerita of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington. She formerly held professorships at the University of Illinois Medical Center, Chicago as well as the University of Maryland and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She was the recipient of a National Institute of a Mental Health Research Scientist Award and has had federal funding for her research for over 50 years. She has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed publications and edited 5 books including Attachment and Bonding: A New Synthesis. Dr. Carter’s research in socially monogamous mammals led to the discovery of the relationship between social behavior and oxytocin. Her current work examines mechanisms through which oxytocin pathways help to explain both positive social experiences and physical wellness.
12/17/21 • 60:04
"Coaching is asking. It’s even better when you don’t know how to do that person’s job because they work in a different industry to you. All you can do is ask and that is pure coaching. It’s an 80-20 ratio of speaking to listening - 80 percent of the time your job is to listen and to ask but not know the answer. Often the client thinks you do know the answer but actually you really don’t and that makes the coaching pure coaching. It resists becoming mentoring, or telling, or advising. It sits next to psychotherapy - I am very much informed by psychotherapy, particularly the psychoanalytic stance in psychotherapy. I’m informed by it and borrow from its best ethics of good practice." Episode Description: Rachel describes the similarities and differences between coaching and psychotherapy on the one hand and mentoring on the other. She emphasizes the fundamental importance of listening - her 80-20 rule. We discuss examples from her book on her coaching a leader of aid workers in Somalia, a coach of diversely disabled athletes at the 2016 Paralympic Games, and a woman from Pakistan who had to deal with conflicting feelings and realities when faced with an influx of Afghan refugees. In all examples, we hear of Rachel's capacity for nuance, ambiguity, and dedication to each individual's life story. We close with her recounting her own personal journey. Our Guest: Rachel Ellison is a former BBC news reporter. She was awarded an MBE – Member of the Order of the British Empire – by Queen Elizabeth II / or by the Queen for her work on human rights and women's self-empowerment in Afghanistan. Her team was awarded BBC Team of the Year, in recognition of her coaching style of leadership with her all Afghan, all-female collective of journalists. At the BBC, Rachel volunteered to train as an executive leadership coach and then went on to set up her own consultancy. She has led and coached across more than 40 different cultures, tribes, nations, and organizational systems around the world, including post-conflict zones and emerging economies such as Myanmar/Burma, Iraq & Syria, Kenya, and the former Soviet Union. Rachel coaches from a psychoanalytic stance – believing this approach to be intense, creative and generating of deep insight for individuals and organizations. Rachel has been a guest lecturer at Birkbeck University London, at Oxford and Cambridge universities in the UK, and to speak at international conferences throughout Europe. Her book: Global Leadership & Coaching – flourishing under intense pressure at work was published by Routledge in 2019. Recommended Readings: Menzies Lyth, I. (1960). Social Systems as a Defense Against Anxiety: An empirical study of the nursing service of a general hospital. Human Relations, 13:95-121 Kline, N. (1999) Time to Think. UK. Octopus Publishing Group Obholzer, A. & Zagier Roberts, V. The unconscious at work: Individual and organizational stress in the human services. Routledge. Kahn, S. (2017). Death & the City: Loss, Mourning, and Melancholia at Work. Karnac. London. Salberger-Wittenberg, I. (2013). Experiencing Endings and Beginnings. Karnac. London. Cook, P. (2006). Sex, Leadership and Rock 'n' Roll: Leadership lessons from the Academy of Rock. UK: Crown House Publishing
12/3/21 • 51:14
"As cognitive psychologists we are very much interested in these unconscious processes. Most of the processes that are involved to create your reality you are not consciously aware of. There are more computations that happen in our unconscious minds to allow us to solve a lot of these problems. As within psychoanalysis we are often unaware of a lot of these processes, and as magicians this is very useful because it allows us to manipulate your experiences without you necessarily being aware of this." Episode Description: Professor Kuhn utilizes his expertise as a cognitive psychologist to deepen our understanding of the psychological processes that operate when we observe magic. We discuss the power and persuasiveness of misdirection and what's called the 'magician's force'. These are both techniques designed to distract for the purpose of disguise. In addition to being used for entertainment, these maneuvers need to be understood as they can be part of legal and political manipulation. Gustav showed me a sleight hand trick and then explained what the trick was. We also discussed how both observing and learning magic has application in settings to improve an individual's sense of wellbeing. Our Guest: Gustav Kuhn, Ph.D. is a cognitive psychologist with a background as a semi-professional magician. Gustav now directs the MAGIC (Mind Attention and General Illusory Cognition) lab at Goldsmith, University of London, where they use magic to uncover the functioning of the human mind. Gustav is one of the leading researchers in the Science of Magic, and his research team spans a wide range of disciplines. For example, Alice Pailhès is currently studying different types of forcing techniques to learn more about how magicians covertly influence people’s choices. Other researchers in his team are using eye-tracking technologies to examine how magicians misdirect their audience’s attention. Steve Bagienski is exploring different ways in which magic can be used to enhance people’s well-being. This research shows that magic offers a unique tool to enhance different aspects of our mental health and wellbeing. Gustav has published more than 80 scientific papers and his work often appears on Radio, TV, and the press, and he has also written a book on the psychology of magic, entitled Experiencing The Impossible. Gustav is a member of the Magic Circle and the President of the Science of Magic Association.
11/19/21 • 42:49
"I write a lot about stuckness - it’s not just how bad the thing is but whether it’s changeable and flexible - whether the patient is at least occasionally able to get out of that perspective and see things differently. For patients who are really stuck, sometimes I would give them medicine and continue psychotherapy. After six or seven months of having a different perspective, if the medicine worked, we will often be able to taper the medicine and the patient could reach at least some awareness that that fixed perspective wasn’t simply the way things were." Episode Description: We begin by describing severely afflicted patients for whom the use of medications is a vital part of their overall treatment. We then discuss individuals for whom medications can address psychological 'stuckness' that is not otherwise life-threatening. These are patients who are struggling with impulsiveness and ruminations that have led them to be withdrawn from a full life of interests, intimacy, and pleasures. Listening to Prozac published in 1993 drew attention to the usefulness of these new medicines to make a difference in the lives of such individuals. We review the challenges of 'having medicine as a co-therapist’ which can often involve split treatments with other providers. We close with Dr. Kramer's reflections on his many years of practice. Our Guest: Peter D. Kramer, MD is the author of seven books, including Ordinarily Well, Against Depression, Should You Leave?, the novel Spectacular Happiness, and the international bestseller Listening to Prozac. Dr. Kramer hosted the nationally syndicated public radio program, The Infinite Mind, and has appeared on the major broadcast news and talk shows, including Today, Good Morning America, Oprah, Charlie Rose, and Fresh Air. His essays, op-eds, and book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Slate, Times Literary Supplement, and elsewhere. Dr. Kramer divides his time between Chilmark, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island, where he is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University.
11/5/21 • 42:07
"We used [open-label placebo] in kids with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and the interesting thing about these patients is that they were only allowed to enroll in our study at Boston Children’s if all other treatments had failed. Basically. we had a population that had undergone numerous treatments with all of them not helping much. These are patients that didn’t have a positive classical conditioning that you would be hoping for - they came in with negative expectations about whether this would work. Yet, we were able to elicit in many, not all, a clinical change that they were never able to achieve with any other medication." Episode Description: We begin with recounting the etymology of the word placebo and then describe two dramatic instances where 'mind over matter' determines the body's physical responses. Joe elucidates the impact of culture and setting on the psychology of the subject and then the impact of their psychology on neuro-biologic mechanisms. His research emphasizes the power of the provider-patient relationship, and we discuss this similarity with the psychotherapeutic relationship. We consider open-label placebos where the individual is told that what they are receiving is an inert substance. Nevertheless, in a number of medical conditions, this proves to be an effective intervention. We conclude with Joe sharing his genealogy of 40 generations of rabbis and of his continuing their healing tradition. Our Guest: Joe Kossowsky, Ph.D. is a clinical investigator in the Division of Pain Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Following his graduate studies in Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience, Dr. Kossowsky obtained his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and a Master's degree in Biomedical Informatics from Harvard Medical School. He completed postdoctoral fellowships in the areas of pediatric pain, placebo research, and biomedical informatics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kossowsky's research revolves around the evaluation of the progression of acute, chronic pain and comorbid psychiatric conditions, including the benefits of interventions.
10/22/21 • 57:21
“[Springsteen's book] is about rock and roll; it’s about the joy of music; and it’s about clinical depression. He weaves these together and Springsteen is not only a great example of how someone can live a creative life while enduring this kind of suffering, but he also shows how invisible depression can be to others. Who would have ever equated that the man who is just briming with life and vitality on stage was the same person who had periods in life where he found it very difficult to get out of bed. He felt nothing but futility and hopelessness in his life amid all of the riches, celebration, and fame that he experiences." Episode Description: We discuss the history of sadness and depression - how they are seen as similar and different from each other throughout history and across cultures. Professor Sadowsky is wary of reductionism in understanding the origins of depression and values both biologic and psychoanalytic treatment approaches. We consider the concept of "chemical imbalance." We discuss famous individuals who have struggled with depression and how they demonstrate that one can live a vital life alongside this terrible condition. We conclude with a few words about the origin of his interest in this subject. Our Guest: Jonathan Sadowsky, Ph.D. is the Theodore J. Castele Professor of the History of Medicine and Associate Director of the Program in Medicine, Society, and Culture in the Department of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at Case Western Reserve University. He holds secondary appointments in Bioethics and Psychiatry. He holds degrees in History from Wesleyan (BA), Stanford (MA), and The Johns Hopkins University (Ph. D.) and studied psychiatric epidemiology at Columbia. He is the author of Imperial Bedlam: Institutions of Madness and Colonialism in Southwest Nigeria; Electroconvulsive Therapy in America: The Anatomy of a Medical Controversy; and The Empire of Depression: A New History.
10/8/21 • 50:42
"The first pillar is relaxed awareness - we talk about it as the fundamental state of mind and body that is the basis of attunement. Listening is the taking in of cues and information from the other person. Understanding is cognitively processing and understanding that information that you’ve taken in. The final pillar is mutual responsiveness. It is in essence the active component of attunement - what you do towards the other person once you’ve taken in and understood that information." Episode Description: We begin by describing what emotional attunement is and how we 'know it when we see it.' We are most familiar with it in the creative and athletic arts but in fact we have access to it in our daily lives. Ted and Ashley break it down for us and describe the four pillars that they see as constituting rich interpersonal attunement. We also discuss what the autistic spectrum is and how its various presentations reflect neurodiversity. They each describe clinical presentations of these conditions and the approaches that can be useful in engaging those who struggle in this area. We close our conversation by their sharing their personal journeys that have led them to this field. Our Guests: Edward S. ("Ted") Brodkin, M.D. is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the Founder and Director of the Adult Autism Spectrum Program at Penn Medicine. He received his A.B. Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He did his residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in neuroscience research at the Yale University School of Medicine, as well as a fellowship in genetics research at Princeton University. His research lab and clinical program at the University of Pennsylvania focus on social neuroscience and the autism spectrum in adults. Ashley A. Pallathra, M.A. is a clinical researcher and therapist. After graduating with a bachelor's degree with Distinction in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, she received a Master's degree in Psychology and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. She is the author of numerous published research articles and a book chapter in the fields of resilience and social-emotional functioning in youth, autism research, and social neuroscience. Her current research and clinical work center around strengthening social competence and building resilience in children and adolescents from diverse community settings.
9/24/21 • 56:46
"In infancy and childhood the autonomic nervous system is going through developmental stages just as with any other aspect of development. The quality of the engagement and the closeness with the caretaker has a big effect on how the autonomic system develops. When we have conditions where we feel safe, then we tend to have dominance of the activity of the parasympathetic system." Episode Description: Dr. Gerbarg brings her psychiatric and psychoanalytic training to her work as an integrative psychiatrist with a special focus on breathing techniques. We begin by reviewing the anatomical connections between the lungs, the vagus nerve, and the brain. The balance between the enervating sympathetic system and the calming parasympathetic system can be powerfully influenced by different breathing practices. The balance between these two parts of the autonomic system can be negatively influenced by traumas both in early childhood and in adult life. Dr. Gerbarg presents case examples of individuals who have had their psychotherapeutic treatments helpfully augmented by breathing instruction. Our Guest: Patricia L. Gerbarg, MD is an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry, New York Medical College, graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, practices Integrative Psychiatry, and serves on the American Psychiatric Association CAIM caucus and Global Mental Health caucus. In addition to 40 years in clinical practice, Dr. Gerbarg does research on mind-body practices for stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, stress-related medical conditions, and mass disasters. She and Dr. Richard Brown teach Breath-Body-Mind courses and co-author award-winning books, including The Healing Power of the Breath, Non-Drug Treatments for ADHD, How to Use Herbs, Nutrients, and Yoga in Mental Health (with Dr. Phillip Muskin), and Complementary and Integrative Treatments in Psychiatric Practice (with Dr. Philip Muskin) published by the American Psychiatric Association.
9/10/21 • 47:41
