In this interview, Dick discusses how his work with families lead to him learning from clients about their parts. He discusses how his clients talked about their parts, and at first he and his client tried to argue against that part and try to get rid of it or for it to not be doing what it was doing. When this wasn’t working, he and his clients began to have compassion for those parts, and learn about what they needed, and how they were trying to protect the client. He explained he conceptualiz...
Jan 10, 2022•58 min•Ep. 35
In this interview, Michael discusses his work with patients with bipolar disorder, and his own background as an entrepreneur, and how this has lead him into research and treatment of entrepreneurs with bipolar disorder. Michael explains what bipolar disorder is, and how to accurately diagnose Bipolar Disorder I, Bipolar Disorder II, hypomania, and mania and how they are different than Major Depression, ADHD, and/or complex trauma. He discusses the importance of assessing for a genetic history, a...
Dec 06, 2021•58 min•Ep. 34
In this interview, Dave discusses his career in researching suicide and how Marsha Lineman encouraged him to go beyond his assessment work to create an intervention for therapists working with clients who are suicidal. He discusses how many therapists struggle to know how to effectively assess suicide risk and intervene in a manner that can build the therapeutic relationship as well as keep clients safe. He explains that due to lack of training, knowledge of evidence-based interventions, and fea...
Nov 29, 2021•55 min•Ep. 33
In this episode Rachel discusses her career in treatment and research of schizophrenia, and particularly, her research at the University of California, San Francisco, studying the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, which refers to early signs and symptoms, in an effort to detect and prevent the development of a full blown disorder. She explains the differences between prodromal symptoms and the Clinical High Risk Syndrome (CHR), and how there are three main aspects: the presence of delusions and ...
Oct 25, 2021•58 min•Ep. 32
In this episode, Keith talks about his unique experience of being deployed in Iraq with his wife, and after a roadside bomb (IED) attack, she struggled with PTSD. He discussed how after she received treatment through the military mental health system, which was retraumatizing, he started taking classes in Psychology and learned all he could about trauma, and together they worked through her PTSD. This lead him to go on to obtain a doctorate in psychology, and work with veterans and their familie...
Oct 04, 2021•57 min•Ep. 31
In this interview, Scott discusses how he came to his work focusing on Feedback Informed Treatment and deliberate practice. He discussed how when working with the Solution Focused Therapy founders, independent research found that the approach was effective, but not so significantly more effective than other approaches. He explained how this was surprising to him, and when he looked into it more, he found this finding was true when applied to all theories and techniques. He discussed his drive to...
Sep 27, 2021•57 min•Ep. 30
In this episode, Jane discusses her own experience of growing up in a privileged white community and the subsequent development of her career in social justice. That was the beginning of her journey working with different organizations concerning the effects of wide-spread oppression particularly in education in the United States and in Israel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. When she became a psychotherapist years later, she realized that her training did not specifically cover the effect...
Sep 20, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 29
In this interview, Lisa and Silvina discuss their path to sex therapy, both being couples therapists trained in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy. At their weekend Hold Me Tight Workshops for couples, there was never enough time after all the relational work to delve deeply enough into the couple’s sexual relationship; so they dove into deep study over several years and developed an integrative approach, blending the best of sex therapy techniques and the process orientation and attachment foc...
Sep 13, 2021•58 min•Ep. 28
In this episode, Paul discusses how his seeking connection with other African-American clinicians in the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) community, in order to translate the EFT approach into his and his colleagues experiences with their African-American clients, lead him to write his book, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy with African American Couples: Love Heals. He discussed how attachment in African cultures and other collectivist cultures are different from our traditional sens...
Sep 06, 2021•59 min•Ep. 27
In this episode, Celia discusses how her experiences of growing up as a child of immigrant parents who fled Eastern Europe to Argentina, and then her own experience of immigration to the United States has lead her into a career in working with systems, both at the family level, as well as the community and large cultural level of systems. Celia discusses how her interest in the family system grew out of her own experience of moving from a couple to a family, and experience in a psychodynamic pro...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 26
In this episode, Ryan discusses his career as an Interventional Psychiatrist, using neuromodulation treatments for clients who are not responding to medications and therapy. He discusses the use of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) which is FDA approved for both depression & OCD and often turned to after multiple antidepressants have not been effective. He discusses how TMS stimulates brain circuits through magnetic pulses, manipulating activity in areas of the brain and stimulating ne...
Aug 23, 2021•56 min•Ep. 25
In this episode, I speak with Shana about her work with adults with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder at UCLA’s intensive treatment program. We discuss Exposure with Response Prevention, the effective, evidence based treatment for OCD, as well as Shana’s experience with the Obsessed tv series on A&E. We discuss how I use clips of her work with one of the clients and how impactful that reality tv show has been in helping clinicians understand ERP as well as helping clients see what effective OCD ...
Aug 16, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 24
In this interview, Rachel Walker explains how trauma-informed psychotherapies like EMDR, Parts Work, Attachment Theory, and Structural Dissociation work better in collaboration than they do alone. She discusses her journey to this realization, and the integrative treatment model which she developed and now practices as a result. This model, which Rachel teaches throughout the United States, moves beyond any one treatment modality to focus on the ways in which ALL trauma-informed therapies overla...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 23
In this interview, Marco discusses how he was invited to do a study on EMDR, to understand the neurological mechanisms behind the processing of the trauma. He discussed his career being a MD and a neuroscientist interested in memory. He discussed using EEG to measure what was happening in the brain during bilateral stimulation during EMDR. He explained that they were able to determine that the delta waves that were being evoked during EMDR were similar to the delta waves exhibited during sleep, ...
Aug 02, 2021•55 min•Ep. 22
In this episode, Rona discusses how her work as a nurse conducting parenting classes led to her hosting a radio show to reach a wider audience of parents about safe and effective parenting methods, and how to better understand your child. She emphasizes how knowing the temperaments of both the child and the parent are key for successful parenting and better understanding of the child. She discusses how to resist pathologizing everything your child does, and explores the concept of a wide range o...
Jul 26, 2021•58 min•Ep. 21
In this interview, Steve discusses his path to working in the field of mental health after growing up in a family where his father suffered from misdiagnosed bipolar disorder, but it was never discussed due to doctor's orders. He discusses his book about growing up in silence and stigma, "Another Kind of Madness: A Journey Through the Stigma and Hope of Mental Illness", and his interest in working to overcome mental stigma. We discuss his research on ADHD, and how the MTA study was one of the la...
Jul 19, 2021•58 min•Ep. 20
In this episode, I speak with Steven Friedlander, Ph.D. about working with families involved with “high conflict” divorce, as well as parental alienation/parental rejection situations. Steven discusses his career and how his work led him to researching and writing about parental rejection/parental refusal, and his approach for this work. He described the different roles that clinicians can play in helping a family where there is a great deal of conflict and discussed the Special Master/Parenting...
Jul 12, 2021•56 min•Ep. 19
In this podcast, Patricia Papernow discusses her experience as both a stepparent and a parent in a stepfamily, and how this led to first a dissertation on stages of development in becoming a stepfamily, and then a life-long interest in studying and working with stepfamilies. She discusses how stepfamilies are different from first time families, particularly regarding the time and space for the couple to develop their attachment and build some common ground and the challenges children face in ste...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 18
In this episode, Phil discusses his career and his early experience with EMDR and how this became a focus of his work as he went on to become an EMDR trainer. He discusses the controversy around EMDR, and its mechanisms of action, and issues related to research and funding. He discusses his theory on how EMDR works, and talks about the technique he has developed called the Flash Technique. He discusses how he has found this technique to be extremely effective in helping clients to effectively pr...
Jun 28, 2021•54 min•Ep. 17
In this episode, Dr. Palfy discusses how her work in law enforcement, specifically investigating and arresting child sexual abusers, led her into a career of psychology. She discusses how when we think of childhood sexual trauma, we often think of women, although 1 in 6 men were sexually abused prior to age 16. She explains that of those that were abused, only 5 in 1,000 go on to disclose their abuse, thus giving a sense that this doesn’t happen to boys and may be missed when working with men. S...
Jun 20, 2021•56 min•Ep. 16
In this episode, Joel discusses his work as a police officer, and his decision to become trained as a psychologist, in hopes of making an even greater impact on the people he arrested. Joel discussed his work in Crisis Intervention, working with homeless populations and the training of police officers to work more effectively with mentally ill citizens. He discusses his work with the West Coast Post-trauma Retreat where he works with first responders in an effort to prevent suicide. Suicide is t...
Jun 14, 2021•51 min•Ep. 15
In this episode, Eli discusses how his background in working in one clinic treating children with anxiety, and another clinic treating significant childhood behavioral problems, lead him to develop his program SPACE. Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) has been found to reduce childhood anxiety at the same levels as a course of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for children by working directly with the parents. He discusses how the previous thinking was that children who...
Jun 07, 2021•57 min•Ep. 14
In this episode, Kaethe discusses the history of developing her conceptualization of four witness positions, and how witnessing effects people differently depending on their sense of empowerment/disempowerment and awareness. She discusses how she submitted her book, Common Shock: Witnessing Violence Every Day, two days before 9-11 and editors had difficulty understanding the ideas. By September 13, they deeply understood the experience of witnessing. She discusses the development of her Witness-...
May 31, 2021•58 min•Ep. 13
In this episode, Russell talks about his career in the field of ADHD, and his involvement in a task force seeking to address ADHD, Inattentive Subtype, a separate disorder other than ADHD itself. He discusses Sluggish Cognitive Tempo, and the hypoactive nature, which is very different from the hyperactive and impairment in impulsivity. Russell explains that rather than being overly engaged with the environment, children, adolescents, and adults with SCT are disengaged from the environment, and o...
May 24, 2021•56 min•Ep. 12
In this episode, Laura discusses her career path and her own struggles with bipolar disorder and addiction, and her integration of the 12 Steps and evidence-based therapy such as CBT & DBT. She explains how the Big Book of AA was written many years ago, and that Bill W.'s original intent was that individuals would be getting therapy alongside doing the twelve steps. She explained how she is currently writing a book that goes through each step of the 12 steps, and DBT skills to enhance the st...
May 17, 2021•49 min•Ep. 11
In this episode, Veronique discusses her career path and her experiences as an African-American woman and how it has influenced her career as a clinical psychologist. She discusses the innovative work being done at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling to help previously incarcerated parents transition through the re-entry process, and to rebuild relationships within the faily system. She highlights the importance of working with the whole family unity through this process, including ...
May 10, 2021•56 min•Ep. 10
In this episode, Shawn discusses his work with families with transgender/non-binary/gender diverse youth. In discussing his career, he talks about the process of coming out as a transgender man, and his personal experience in the professional community of clinicians. He explains how the bulk of his work in training clinicians and assisting families is helping them examine how they think about their own gender, and becoming aware of how one knows what his, her or their gender is. He also discusse...
May 03, 2021•59 min•Ep. 9
In this episode, Dossie describes her latest endeavor where she and her colleague have been leading six-week group workshops for survivors of sexual abuse, as well as six-week groups for sexual violence offenders. Among many topics, she discusses the need for broader open communication about sex, consent, and the nuances of working with sexual violence transgressors. Dossie also discusses her work with individuals in open, polyamorous, and BDSM relationships, and the concepts of attachment, cons...
Apr 26, 2021•59 min•Ep. 8
In this episode, Lynn discusses her work with children and families, and how she developed her approach that integrates family systems, hypnosis, and cognitive behavioral therapy. She discusses working with children and adolescents with anxiety, and how she focuses on the pattern, and helping the clients to see how they are "doing the disorder", and interrupt that pattern, as opposed to focusing on the content of the anxiety. She identifies what skills the family is needing, and helps them devel...
Apr 05, 2021•54 min•Ep. 7
In this episode, Dr. Walser talks about her career and how it lead her to becoming interested in, and becoming a researcher and author in the Acceptance Commitment Therapy (ACT) Approach. Robyn discusses how ACT resonated with her, and how she has gone on to develop the approach in working with clients with PTSD. She discusses the concepts of ACT, gives an example of the "chessboard metaphor", and talks about her current work in the area of moral injury, and discusses her recent publications. Ro...
Mar 29, 2021•56 min•Ep. 6
