Category: Anxiety & Fear

↕

The Psychology of Risk Taking July 20, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Kent Robertshaw, Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Why do some people seek danger while others avoid any uncertainty? Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, examine how risk perception forms in infancy, shapes adult behavior, and shifts with age. They trace the brain chemistry of thrill-seeking, the trap of compulsive avoidance, and why the mind is often the biggest obstacle to living freely.

Depersonalization Disorder with Jeffrey Abugel April 19, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Jeffrey Abugel, Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Identity & The Self

What does it feel like when your mind detaches from your body and never reconnects? Jeffrey Abugel, who lived with depersonalization disorder for decades and wrote about it, joins Armand DiMele alongside Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, to explore DPD’s causes, its links to panic and drug triggers, and its surprising overlap with spiritual concepts of ego dissolution.

Catching Anxiety Before It Peaks with Dr. Sarah Denning April 12, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Sarah Denning
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Anxiety is learned, measurable, and catchable before it spirals. Dr. Sarah Denning, Founder of Adaptive Behavioral Therapy, joins Armand to explain how a personal stress scale, breathing awareness, and resensitizing to subtle body signals can help people intervene at a level five before panic takes over.

How We React to Catastrophe March 16, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Amhara, Anthony, Daphne Rose Kingma, Dr. Ronald Fieve, Linda Vanella, Monroe, Pat Moffitt, Vincent
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Different personalities respond to mass catastrophe in recognizably different ways: some blame, some freeze, some go numb, some take action. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, use the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami as a lens for examining these patterns, drawing on Japanese cultural values of harmony and collective responsibility along with calls from listeners.

The Fine Art of Catastrophizing July 1, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Angela, Christina, Reiner Heilregel, Sherry Oren King, Stephanie D'Ambra, Tony Thomas
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Depression & Mood

Catastrophizing turns small setbacks into imagined disasters, and Armand DiMele unpacks why so many people do it. Drawing on Albert Ellis, Gestalt therapy’s “and then what” technique, and co-host Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, the episode offers practical ways to interrupt the spiral before it paralyzes you.

The Anxious Brain and Doomsday Fear January 5, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Some people are simply born to worry, and doomsday predictions like 2012 give them a target. Armand draws on Jerome Kagan’s landmark longitudinal study of infant temperament to show how a hyperreactive baby becomes an anxious adult, and explains how the amygdala drives fear that has no real object.

The Fear of Losing Control September 22, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Control shapes us from toilet training to adulthood, but the drive to master ourselves and others carries a steep cost. Armand DiMele traces the psychology of control through panic attacks, obsessive perfectionism, and bad habits, arguing that naming fear openly does more good than white-knuckling it.

The Nervous System and Hypochondria July 29, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Fear of illness can be as debilitating as illness itself. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. walk through common neurological symptoms people misread or obsess over, from vertigo and wide-based gait to hypochondriasis, including how caretaker dynamics and secondary gain keep health anxiety alive.

The Instinct to Escape Being Trapped July 21, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Identity & The Self

Feeling trapped is not a neurosis but a survival instinct, argues Armand DiMele. From the evolutionary need to flee predators to modern exit strategies in marriage and career, he traces how the drive to escape is wired into human biology, and callers share how economic pressure, caregiving, and difficult relationships trigger that ancient fear.

Panic Attacks and Their Triggers June 2, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Panic attacks feel like dying, but understanding them can defuse them. Armand DiMele walks through the clinical symptoms, the three types of panic attacks, and the amygdala’s central role, then takes calls from listeners whose experiences range from post-9/11 agoraphobia to decades-long recovery through self-help and therapy.