Category: Emotions & Inner Life

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How Breathing Controls Our Emotions June 14, 2006

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Neil Schachter, Roberta Maria Atti
Category: Depression & Mood, Emotions & Inner Life

Shallow breathing is not a flaw but a learned survival tool: we suppress emotions by constricting breath, and chronic shallow breathing can deaden sensation, deepen depression, and fuel psychosomatic illness. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti caution against the easy advice to “just breathe deeper,” explaining why opening the breath can flood the body with overwhelming feeling.

What Normal Actually Looks Like June 6, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Most people mistake loudness, generosity, or relentless positivity for psychological health. Armand DiMele maps a spectrum from the quietly content ordinary person outward in both directions, arguing that extremes on either end, whether manic joy, compulsive giving, cold stoicism, or rage, all signal unmet needs rather than genuine wellbeing.

Why Opposite Energies Attract June 1, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Love & Romantic Relationships

High-energy and low-energy people are drawn together because each supplies what the other lacks, but that same imbalance can doom the relationship over time. Armand DiMele traces the psychology and almost physics of this dynamic, from falling in love as an energy exchange to the depression that follows breakups.

Hidden Anger as the Stealth Saboteur April 25, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Communication & Conflict, Emotions & Inner Life

Hidden anger quietly poisons relationships, careers, and daily life without anyone naming it. Armand DiMele argues that unexpressed anger drives people to switch doctors, quit therapy, ghost friends, and shut down emotionally, and that welcoming honest feedback is the antidote. Calls explore workplace frustration and depression rooted in self-directed anger.

The Psychology of Impulse Control April 11, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, Emotions & Inner Life

Armand DiMele traces impulsive behavior from everyday impulse buying and advertising to serious disorders including mania, antisocial personality, and addiction. He argues that reduced sensitivity to consequences is the common thread, and that awareness alone is a powerful first antidote.

Why Depressives Respond to Pain Not Pleasure April 6, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Depression & Mood, Emotions & Inner Life

Depression is not a benign mood but an active, brain-damaging condition, and cheering someone up is the wrong approach. Armand DiMele explains why depressed people respond to pain and negativity rather than pleasure, and how validating rather than contradicting a depressed person can open a way through.

Family Systems and Hidden Roles March 23, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Family & Parenting

Every family is a system, and the ‘sick’ member is rarely the only one who needs help. Armand DiMele walks through systems theory from triangulation and the rebel child to Munchausen by proxy, arguing that treating the individual without the whole family often misses the point entirely.

The Psychology of Tyranny March 16, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Society, Culture & Current Events

What turns ordinary people into brutal ones? Armand DiMele examines the psychology of tyranny through landmark research, including Hannah Arendt on Adolf Eichmann, the Milgram shock experiments, and the Stanford Prison Study, arguing that cruelty is not the province of monsters but a latent human capacity activated by power and group identity.

The Neuroscience of Happiness March 15, 2006

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Roberta Maria Atti
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

What does the brain actually look like when it’s happy? Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti dig into fMRI research on monks, competing philosophical theories of happiness, and the idea that each person has a neurological “thermostat” they keep returning to no matter what fortune brings.

Birthdays and the People Who Forget Them March 14, 2006

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Family & Parenting

Armand DiMele’s own birthday becomes the occasion for listeners to share their best and worst birthday memories. Callers open up about longing for recognition, an alcoholic and shaming family, the guilt of estrangement, and the quiet joy of finally feeling celebrated. Honest, warm radio.