Touch is not a luxury but a biological and emotional need, and its absence quietly drives depression, disconnection, and longing. Armand DiMele surveys how affection works across cultures, life stages, and temperaments, from the bonding chemistry of parent and child to what elderly people lose when their partners die.
Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, trace adult romantic patterns back to Mary Ainsworth’s infant attachment research, mapping secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized styles onto grown-up love. Callers share fresh breakups and repeating patterns, revealing how hard it is to outgrow the attachment wounds of childhood.
Why do people overreact, and what can you do when someone you love is on a tear? Armand DiMele examines the biology and culture of emotional flooding, from the moon cycle to reality TV’s exploitation of raw feeling, drawing on office manager Thelma Wingate’s experience managing flare-ups in dementia care. Callers weigh in on phobias, past life regression, and partners carrying divorce pain.
Jealousy is almost universal in sexually active couples, yet we treat it as pathology. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, trace possessiveness from toddler toy-sharing to marriage vows, and explore how smartphones and GPS tracking are intensifying the urge to monitor partners.
Jealousy poisons relationships yet has deep evolutionary roots. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW trace the emotion from its origins in mate guarding and animal behavior through its cultural history, then break down the A-B-C jealousy triangle and how self-doubt, dominance, and fear of abandonment drive it. Callers share real struggles with trust and infidelity.
Why do we bond so powerfully with other people? Armand DiMele walks through the neuroscience of love, from lust and adrenaline to dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin, then argues that the chemistry of bonding extends beyond couples to explain PMS, depression, ADD, and chronic illness as shared phenomena of the bonded pair.
Most people enter relationships with an unconscious escape plan already in place. Armand DiMele argues that children, debt, sexual withdrawal, hobbies, and infidelity all serve as built-in exit strategies, and that the people who suffer most after a breakup are those who never had one.
Low self-esteem is not just a feeling but a social reflex rooted in ranking and linking, the two drives governing all social animals. Dr. Elaine Aron, author of “The Undervalued Self,” joins Armand DiMele to explain how shame, jealousy, and couples’ arguments trace back to ancient hierarchical instincts and unresolved emotional trauma.
Kissing turns out to be a rich biochemical event. Armand DiMele and co-host Stephanie break down how testosterone, pheromones, dopamine, oxytocin, and even carbon dioxide exchange shape attraction and pair bonding, and why a single kiss can make or break a romance.
When love is withdrawn, some people don’t just grieve, they rage. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW examine why lost love can trigger obsessive calling, stalking, and even violence, tracing the reaction to a primitive wound response and asking whether abandonment rage is a kind of temporary insanity.
