Category: The Mind & Neuroscience

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The Neuroscience of Feeling and Numbness with Dr. Sherry Siegel July 22, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D., a neurologist, unpack alexithymia, the inability to identify or express emotions, tracing it from spinal reflexes to brain chemistry. They explore how trauma and abuse can shut down feeling as a survival mechanism, why couples clash over emotional expression, and how hormones and neurotransmitters shape what we feel.

The Nature of Pain and Addiction July 8, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Kent Robertshaw, Sherri Siegel
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, The Mind & Neuroscience

What separates pain threshold from pain tolerance, and when does prescribed medication become addiction? Armand DiMele and guests Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. (neurologist and pain specialist) and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, trace physical pain through the nervous system, examine malingering, and use Michael Jackson’s death as a lens on narcotic dependency, withdrawal, and the emotional dimensions of chronic suffering.

The Biology of Bitterness in Love June 18, 2009

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

Why do couples who genuinely love each other turn bitter over time? Armand DiMele traces the neurochemistry behind romantic deterioration, drawing on Marnia Robinson’s book “Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow” to explain how our mating and bonding drives conflict, and what couples can do to preserve real intimacy.

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.

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.

How Memory Shapes the Love We Seek March 5, 2009

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

Every time we recall a memory, we alter it slightly, building love lives on reconstructed rather than real experiences. Armand DiMele traces the neuroscience of memory from protein synthesis at the synapse to the ways callers mourn lost parents, idealize childhood, and search for love modeled on images that may never have existed.

The Nature of Mind December 31, 2008

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Bernard Starr
Category: Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy, The Mind & Neuroscience

Are you in control of your mind, or is your mind controlling you? Armand DiMele and Dr. Bernard Starr, PhD, Psychologist, trace how chemistry, conditioning, and automatic thought patterns quietly drive behavior, then explore whether meditation, introspection, and spiritual detachment can help us step back and truly observe our own thinking.

The Human Need to Be Deceived December 23, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Why do we want to be lied to? Armand DiMele uses the Bernie Madoff scandal as a jumping-off point to argue that humans are wired for deception, both giving and receiving it. Drawing on primate research and brain science, he explores the fine line between healthy trust and paranoid suspicion.

Why Smart People Do Dumb Things with Lawrence Gonzalez November 4, 2008

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lawrence Gonzalez
Category: Personal Growth & Change, The Mind & Neuroscience

Our brains are wired for efficiency, but those same shortcuts can get us killed. Lawrence Gonzalez, Author of “Everyday Survival,” joins Armand DiMele to examine how mental models, automated behavior, and cultural complacency lead smart people into serious danger, from plane crashes to financial collapse.

The Chemistry of Falling in Love with Helen Fisher October 28, 2008

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Ari Erwin, Dr. Bernard Starr, Helen Fisher, Lucy Brown
Category: Love & Romantic Relationships, The Mind & Neuroscience

Romantic love is not just an emotion but a neurochemical drive as powerful as addiction. Armand DiMele presents and reflects on anthropologist Helen Fisher’s fMRI research showing that love, rejection, and even long-term attachment all light up the brain’s reward and risk circuitry in ways that reframe how we understand desire, jealousy, and lasting partnership.