Category: The Mind & Neuroscience

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Your Brain on Radio and Television Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Roberta Moriarty
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, The Mind & Neuroscience

Turning on the TV after work is a chemical event, not just a habit. Armand and co-host Roberta Moriarty trace how screen watching shifts the brain from the neocortex to the limbic system, floods the body with endorphins, and makes media figures feel like family members. They also argue that the current younger generation, raised on interactive media, is escaping the passive hypnosis that shaped baby boomers.

When Delusions Feel Real with Dr. Sherry Siegel Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Identity & The Self, The Mind & Neuroscience

What separates a fixed false belief from reality, and when should it be challenged? Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. walk through the psychiatric anatomy of delusions and hallucinations, from delusional jealousy to Lilliputian visions in Parkinson’s patients, using vivid case stories to show how the brain constructs and distorts the real.

The Brain That Changes Itself with Dr. Norman Doidge Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Norman Doidge
Category: Personal Growth & Change, The Mind & Neuroscience

The brain is not fixed machinery but a living structure that rewires itself through thought, learning, and practice. Dr. Norman Doidge, author of “The Brain That Changes Itself,” joins Armand DiMele to discuss how neuroplasticity challenges Cartesian mind-body dualism, what brain training can do for age-related cognitive decline, and why mental rehearsal reshapes the brain as powerfully as physical practice.

The Chemistry of Falling in Love Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Barbara Jessen, Darlene, Demetrius, Jeremy Shockley, Monroe, Tommy Thompson
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Oxytocin bonds us to partners and tribes, but new research suggests the same chemical that makes us trust also makes us exclude outsiders. Armand DiMele unpacks this paradox, arguing that deep love can quietly shrink a person’s world, and callers share their own experiences of friendships lost to relationships.

Culture Bound Syndromes Around the World Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Society, Culture & Current Events, The Mind & Neuroscience

Different cultures don’t just treat mental illness differently, they define it differently. Armand DiMele surveys a striking range of culture-bound syndromes, from “running amok” in Malaysia to “ghost sickness” among Native Americans, showing how biology, belief, and shame shape what gets called disorder and what gets ignored.

ADHD and the Science of Commitment Undated

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Love & Romantic Relationships, The Mind & Neuroscience

Living with a partner who has ADHD often breeds nagging, resentment, and a damaging parent-child dynamic, and Armand DiMele explains why the disorder is a brain chemistry issue rather than laziness or selfishness. The episode also examines genetic research on vasopressin and why some people are biologically wired toward infidelity.

Paradoxes of Life Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Roberta Maria Atti
Category: Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy, The Mind & Neuroscience

Every gain hides a hidden loss. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti work through paradoxes that riddle ordinary life: fame steals privacy, promotion costs friendship, and bariatric surgery that cures overeating often triggers alcoholism. Medical examples extend to antibiotics breeding resistant bacteria and asthma drugs correlating with rising asthma deaths.

Productive Obsessions with Dr. Eric Mizell Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Anne Mizell, Dr. Eric Mizell, Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Personal Growth & Change, The Mind & Neuroscience

Most people think of obsessions as disorders, but Dr. Eric Mizell argues they can be powerful engines of creative and personal achievement. He and co-host Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, join Armand DiMele to discuss how productive obsessions differ from anxiety-driven ones, why showing up daily matters, and what Beethoven reveals about the creative process.

How Relationships Reshape the Brain Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella, Lisa Arnone
Category: Love & Romantic Relationships, The Mind & Neuroscience

Relationships literally rewire us, and Armand DiMele unpacks why with co-hosts Linda Vanella, LCSW-R and Lisa Arnone, LCSW. Drawing on Norman Doidge’s neuroplasticity research and a Diane Ackerman essay on the brain in love, the conversation covers pheromones, mate selection, physical intimacy, and how what we attend to defines who we become.

The Science of Sex with Mary Roach Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Mary Roach, Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Sexuality & Desire, The Mind & Neuroscience

Mary Roach, author of Bonk, joins Armand and co-host Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW to trace the surprisingly awkward history of sex science, from Leonardo’s coition figures to MRI studies of intercourse. They cover orgasm as a nervous system reflex, the upsuck theory, and how couples still struggle to talk about desire.