Venting feels like relief, but does it actually help? Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW examine research showing that rehashing trauma can deepen it neurologically, that cortisol surges from repeated venting damage the body, and that silence after trauma is often healthier than we assume.
Organized religion shields predators while condemning the vulnerable. Armand DiMele examines clergy sexual abuse across Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam, walking through research on who actually offends and why, dismantling myths about celibacy and homosexuality, and asking what draws people to religious authority in the first place.
What happens in the mind and body when people face catastrophic loss? Using the 2010 Haiti earthquake as a focal point, Armand DiMele examines the psychological and biological mechanisms that carry people through the unthinkable, from dissociation and stress chemistry to religious ritual and the drive to live for others.
Children raised by mentally ill or incapacitated parents face invisible burdens that quietly shape their adult choices. Armand DiMele draws on the double bind theory, a case of psychosomatic snow blindness, and research on children of psychotic parents to show how early caretaking roles become lifelong patterns.
Body piercing is not about fashion but about reclaiming parts of yourself that were taken away in childhood. Armand DiMele and Stephanie Roth-Goldberg, LCSW, argue that each piercing site maps onto a specific loss: ears to being heard, lips to voice, eyes to perception, genitals to sexual autonomy, and the navel to maternal connection.
The PTSD diagnosis has been stretched so far that almost anyone can qualify. Armand DiMele traces the term from Civil War battle fatigue to 9/11 relief clinics, unpacking the three core symptoms and arguing that real trauma is rarer, and more specific, than the culture now assumes.
Coming to a new country often means carrying trauma, losing language fluency under stress, and navigating a system that can feel hostile or invisible. Armand DiMele and Gestalt therapist and immigration psychologist Didem Atahan examine the psychological toll of displacement, the barriers immigrants face seeking help, and the legal protections many don’t know they have.
Being cast out hurts in ways that go beyond simple rejection. Armand DiMele traces ostracism from its ancient Athenian roots through race, family exile, and sexual abuse survivors silenced by the people who should protect them. Callers share raw personal experiences of being pushed to the margins.
Five years after 9/11, Armand DiMele examines how the attacks amplified whatever psychological vulnerabilities people already carried, driving surges in anxiety, sleep disorders, PTSD, extramarital affairs, addiction, and antidepressant use. Callers share firsthand accounts, including one man who found that volunteering broke his sense of helplessness.
Armand DiMele and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, examine why people lock away unbearable pain rather than face it, how children assign themselves blame for disasters and abuse, and why denial of death costs us empathy for suffering near and far.
