Category: Anxiety & Fear

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Childhood Fantasies and the Need for Significance April 23, 2009

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

Feeling insignificant is not just painful, it triggers the same survival anxiety our ancestors felt when cast out of the group. Armand DiMele connects the amygdala’s panic response to a deep need to matter, then takes calls from listeners whose childhood dreams of fame, travel, and service all point back to the same hunger for acknowledgment.

The Problem with Courage April 16, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Armand DiMele challenges the conventional praise of courage, asking whether it is genuinely virtuous or a way of shaming people whose fear is entirely reasonable. He introduces counterphobia, the impulse to charge toward what frightens us most, and explores with callers how fear, avoidance, and self-nurturing shape daily life.

The Compulsion to Organize April 2, 2009

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

Why do scattered people suddenly need to line up the ducks? Armand DiMele and guest Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. trace the spectrum from everyday tidying impulses to obsessive-compulsive disorder, examining the biology of doubt, the genetics of compulsive behavior, and why nightmares may all be, at root, about organizing chaos.

Fear and Depression in Hard Economic Times March 24, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Depression & Mood

When financial security collapses, the brain shifts from optimism to panic, and people tumble between regret about the past and dread of the future. Armand DiMele traces how economic hardship drives depression, hedonism, and isolation, then takes calls from listeners dealing with fresh grief, cancer, loneliness, and the sting of plans that never paid off.

The Perfectionist Personality Under Stress November 13, 2008

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

Rigid, perfectionistic people crack hardest when life goes wrong, and Armand DiMele explains why. He distinguishes OCD from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, showing how the desperate need to be right drives indecision, relationship conflict, explosive anger, and hoarding, and how admitting fallibility is the way out.

The Fear Behind Procrastination with Gloria Aronson October 14, 2008

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Gloria Aronson
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Fear, not laziness, drives chronic procrastination. Armand DiMele talks with Gloria Aronson, author of “Procrastination Nation,” about the false beliefs keeping people stuck, from fear of failure and success to childhood shame, and how to trace avoidance back to its earliest roots.

The Fear of Being Rejected July 16, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Rejection is wired into our DNA as a survival mechanism, but some people’s rejection radar is far too sensitive, turning minor slights into emotional crises. Armand DiMele traces rejection sensitivity from evolutionary roots to modern overpraise culture, body image anxiety, and the self-fulfilling prophecy of paranoid withdrawal. Callers share vivid personal examples.

The Psychology of Financial Fear April 15, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Fear of financial ruin runs deeper than money, Armand DiMele argues, touching the soul itself. Callers share job loss, mounting debt, and creeping shame, while Armand connects compulsive buying disorder, depression-era mentality, and the surprising opportunity hardship can offer to relationships.

The Many Faces of Paranoia April 10, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Paranoia is far more common than most people realize, and Armand DiMele breaks down its full spectrum, from ordinary vigilance to persecutory delusions to ambitious paranoia, the flip side where sufferers believe they have a divine mission or special power. Callers share their own experiences, including one dealing with a paranoid mother.

The Science of Sleep and Insomnia March 18, 2008

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

Why do we assume we need eight hours of sleep? Armand DiMele challenges conventional wisdom on insomnia, walking through sleep cycles, the autonomic nervous system, cortisol, and how much rest we actually need. A vivid prose passage capturing the misery of sleeplessness at 3 a.m. anchors the whole conversation.