We are sending out this Season Finale on the longest night before the new decade; it seems that we are in synchronicity with the cycle of seasons and politics and history. (Synchronicity is an idea of Carl Jung’s, but we’ll have to get to him next Season!) In this episode, we leave our familiar territory in the Psyche, the Mind, and travel over to the other side, the Soul. We go back to the 16th century and a short, Spanish monk named John. John of the Cross is the author of the Dark Night of th...
Dec 22, 2019•35 min•Season 2Ep. 12
We finally have our first episode with a loyal listener! Kathleen is an attorney who wanted to talk with Dr. JKB about The 8 Stages of Life, Episode 2.5. She wondered if she has missed out on the Sixth Stage and wants to know how to fix her love life. This episode is the culmination of the mission of The Psychonaut Show; we get to talk about the concepts from the history of psychoanalysis with a real person dealing with everyday life in 2019. Kathleen challenges me and gets me to think about the...
Oct 09, 2019•36 min•Season 2Ep. 11
The Testament of Reason is the second of the two Testaments of Faith; together with the Testament of Birthright, it is a lighthouse that guides us through the darkness of our inner worlds. It is the “ultimate” Testament, the one that all the previous Testaments lead up to. The Fourth Testament assures us that, no matter how irrational or even destructive an action or thought of feeling seems, if we look hard enough, we can find Reason. But what is Reason? From Roman Catholic doctrine (as present...
Jul 20, 2019•31 min•Season 2Ep. 10
In our last episode, Dr, JKB and Dr Clarice Kestenbaum focused on the most Freudian of body parts; in this episode, we bring in the whole body and explore its effect on how we see ourselves, how we show ourselves, and how we understand ourselves. “The Bodily Ego” was an idea that Freud mentions only once, but its implications were expanded and explored by Wilhelm Reich, darling of the beatniks and enemy of 1950s American sexual repression. In his Orgone Box (or “Orgasmatron” as it was parodied i...
Jun 17, 2019•33 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Like “anal retentive,” “oral fixation,” and “penis envy,” Castration Anxiety has mostly become a joke today. This idea of Sigmund Freud’s has become a reason to dismiss psychoanalytic ideas as antiquated, irrelevant, and even sexist. But in this episode, we get a little help from our friend, the Good Witch, Dr. Clarice Kestenbaum, to reclaim and reframe the idea of Castration Anxiety. We see how awareness of this idea can give healing power to doctors, parents and teachers of boys and men. From ...
Mar 30, 2019•42 min•Season 2Ep. 8
In this episode, we go “back to basics,” and explore the original maps of the mind that psychoanalysis is based on. Where models and fashion burst into popular consciousness in the 1990s with Ru Paul, Right Said Fred, and “Absolutely Fabulous,” the 1890s were when Freud developed his models that portray the “Fabulous” landscape of our inner worlds; a landscape that includes lion tamers, a Steep Hill of Depression, and its own Border Wall. Like the ideas of another Jewish intellectual born in the...
Feb 17, 2019•44 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Every world, whether real or Sci-Fi or fantasy, has principles that tell us how things work in that world. Our inner worlds are no different. The Principle of Multiple Function tells us that each psychic act has not one or two, but exactly eight mental functions that it must perform. That may seem complicated, but understanding this Principle frees us to act more effectively in our daily lives. The Principle of Multiple Function was developed by Robert Waelder, a child protégé who quoted Faust a...
Dec 03, 2018•34 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Millennia ago, Hippocrates wrote, “Art is Long, Life is Short.” Well, this episode is long, but the concept of the Eight Stages of Man gives us insight into how the cycle of life unfolds, however long or short life may be. In this episode, we turn once again to the second generation of psychoanalytic theorists after Freud, his grandchildren, so to speak. Erik Erikson suffered an identity crisis that caused him to reinvent himself, and also invent some of the most important ideas about developmen...
Sep 25, 2018•42 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Q: What do President Trump and daffodils have in common? A: They've both been called the name of a Greek myth. It seems that we hear about Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder all the time these days, especially as an accusation, but what does being called "a Narcissist" really even mean? To investigate this idea, we go back to Freud – of course. But we also bring in our friend from Season 1, Heinz Kohut, and our first actual living psychoanalytic theorist, Otto Kernberg! We also tak...
Jul 10, 2018•32 min•Season 2Ep. 4
We've gotten a ton of feedback that last season's episode on The Transitional Space was very helpful, particularly for the painters, and poets, and composers among you. So we are going to travel back to the "in-between" with my psychoanalytic fairy godmother and senior stateswoman of magical realms, Dr. Clarice Kestenbaum. With Dr. Clarice in the captain's chair, we see how the Transitional Space is a world that overlaps childhood, creativity, and psychoanalytic theory. She tells the story of a ...
May 13, 2018•21 min•Season 2Ep. 3
From the gym to the boardroom to the nursery, human beings are always interacting; and always dealing with each other's psychological baggage. (Except for infants, who are the only humans with no baggage.) Especially when things get tense, knowing what we bring to the table, versus what the other person is putting on us, can be mysterious. Projective identification is the key to solving this mystery. This is where the most powerful magic of psychoanalysis resides. Like a "Patronus" charm, or sub...
Apr 29, 2018•22 min•Season 2Ep. 2
From "baskets of deplorables" to Saint Augstine's doctrine of "Total Depravity," it seems that finger-pointing and paranoia are often what we expect of one another. Finding the "light" can be difficult even in ordinary times, and impossible in times of hate and rage and hopelessness. The Testament of Birthright makes the audacious assertion that our fundamental nature is to grow, connect, and solve problems; in other words, to be good. In this episode, the first of Season 2 of The Psychonaut Sho...
Mar 25, 2018•26 min•Season 2Ep. 1
We're still in hibernation mode and getting ready for Season 2. But halfway to spring, we are bringing out a very special bonus episode, just in time for Imbolc, the festival of newborns and the future! This is the podcast's first interview. Dr. Clarice Kestenbaum was recently introduced to the country as David Letterman's psychiatrist; she was featured at the Kennedy Center ceremony when he was given the Mark Twain Prize in American Humor. But I know Dr. Kestenbaum as Glinda the Good, her nickn...
Feb 04, 2018•53 min
From the Spanish Inquisition to political correctness, curiosity has never had an easy time. Just ask the cat, the one that curiosity killed. Active Curiosity is the favorite question of little children, the one that drives their mothers crazy, "Why?" The Testament of Active Curiosity is the second of the Two Testaments of Action. Active Curiosity builds on Neutrality and takes our exploration of inner worlds further. It implores us to ask "Why," because that is how we get to the other side of c...
Dec 14, 2017•33 min
It's a "meta" episode this time, Psychonauts! We apply the First Testament of the Psychonaut, Neutrality, to the other definition of Psychonaut. That is, a person who travels consciousness with the use of hallucinogenic substances. From Joe Rogan to Harvard Divinity School, psychedelics are making a comeback – and being "judge-y" just isn't going to get us anywhere in this conversation. Especially as people with anxiety, depression, ADHD and other diagnoses are turning to alternative ways of rel...
Oct 03, 2017•12 min
From the Book of Genesis to HBO, dreams are everywhere. But do they mean anything, really? Is it even useful to think about our dreams? Dreams are not just random neuronal firing; our brains are way too elegant. Dreams are the language of our unconscious, which thinks about our daily lives just like our consciousness does. We just have to translate this language to something we can understand. Using Dr. JKB's Three Rules of Dream Interpretation, we go "deep dream diving" and bring back precious ...
Sep 18, 2017•24 min
This is a big one, Psychonauts! From Anna O. in 1895 to Madonna in 1985, the concept of Dynamic Conflict explains (almost) everything. Without conflict, we wouldn't have movies or politics or comic books or economics or anything interesting in life. But Dynamic Conflict is the kind of conflict we can't see, because it exists in our unconscious! In this episode, we meet some of the people from the very beginning of psychoanalytic history, patients such as Dora, the Rat Man, and Little Hans. Over ...
Sep 07, 2017•26 min
What does Euclidian Geometry have to do with Hinduism? Nothing, except that each has basic principles that serve as its unbreakable foundation. Whether spiritual or scientific, every effort to understand our world needs a foundation, and the Six Testaments of the Psychonaut are ours. Like The Declaration of Independence, we hold them to be self-evident. The Six Testaments; the Testaments of Action, the Testaments of Faith, and the Testaments of Growth, are the guiding stars and astrolabs of inne...
Aug 21, 2017•24 min
All little boys want to kill their fathers and marry their mothers. Wait, what, really? These days, the idea that we go through an Oedipus complex usually just elicits an eye roll; though Freud once considered it the cause of all human neurosis. Although nothing is ever that simple, we should pause before throwing out the Oedipal baby with the Freudian bathwater. Other thinkers have drawn on other Greek myths to describe the child's dilemma, Persephone, Electra, and Orestes. At its core, this si...
Aug 07, 2017•14 min
What do Teddy bears and the Catholic Eucharist have in common? Why was Stan and Kyle's saving Imaginationland the most important thing they ever could do for South Park and the world? Transitional Space is hard to describe, but we go searching from post-war London to avant-garde Lesbian comic strips, and find out how it is a crucial part of human experience. In his paper, “Transitional Phenomena and Transitional Objects,” the British pediatrician and psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott described an “in...
Jul 17, 2017•21 min
What does Freud’s daughter have in common with Jesus and the Buddha? Why do the words “normal” and “should” signal treacherous waters as we steer through our inner worlds? In this episode, we learn about the first, and most fundamental, of The Six Testaments of The Psychonaut, the principles that guide us through the mysterious regions of our unconscious. From loveless marriages to homophobia, the First Testament helps find our way to new solutions. Neutrality is about not judging, and we learn ...
Jul 03, 2017•26 min
What does a bad break up have to do with immigration policy? Why is today's Superman less perfect but more "Super?" In this episode, we explore the Paranoid Position and the Depressed Position, ways that we have of managing our fears of being attacked, ideas about good and evil, and why sadness may be the key to resolving conflicts in both our personal lives and in our society as a whole. Melanie Klein is one of the most important theorists, and controversial figures, in the history of psychoana...
Jun 19, 2017•25 min
What does dropping out of graduate school have to do with Goldilocks? How do you know when to "jump in the deep end," or wade in slowly? Even more difficult, how do you know when to push your kids or ease up? Optimal Frustration is a way to get out of this "either-or" thinking and create real growth. Heinz Kohut, a psychoanalyst in the generation after Freud, developed the concept of Optimal Frustration after he fled to Chicago from the Nazis. His work focused on how we develop a sense of worthi...
Jun 05, 2017•18 min
We find out what Viennese housewives have in common with the Democratic National Committee. We throw in a Guillermo del Torro reference and find out why those who forget the past are doomed to be haunted by it. The Return of the Repressed was described by Sigmund Freud in 1896, but this idea remains as useful, and even as revolutionary, 120 years later. Knowledge of this mental phenomenon can help us to end our battles with our own ghosts and demons once and for all.
May 15, 2017•14 min
"The Psychonaut Show" explores the dark and hidden parts of our minds. Dr. JKB, psychiatrist, child specialist, and psychoanalyst, hosts the podcast whose mission is to find tools that will help us navigate these strange worlds inside each of us. Using the ideas of thinkers going back to Sigmund Freud, we pull back the curtain on the sometimes forgotten and often misunderstood history of psychoanalytic theory. We show how seemingly academic concepts can help us understand dilemmas that we face i...
May 01, 2017•8 min
