Guest: John Valerio

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Personality Types Along the Continuum October 23, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Erin Oberlander, John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

We are all born with slightly more of one trait than another, and under stress that trait gets exaggerated into what we call a personality disorder. Armand explores this continuum with Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and Dr. Erin Oberlander, examining projection, borderline dynamics, and why blame, whether of self or others, keeps people stuck.

Self-Knowledge and the Patterns We Repeat in Love October 10, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Why do we keep choosing the same partners and recreating the same dynamics? Armand DiMele argues that relationship problems are never really about the other person but about unexamined childhood wounds. With co-therapist Lisa Arnone, LCSW, he traces how early needs for attractiveness, desirability, and parental attention shape adult love patterns.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves September 18, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

We are all method actors in stories we invented, and the stories we tell others are shaped as much by what listeners want to hear as by what we want to say. Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW explore how anxiety, denial, and the compulsive need to “fix” others often trace back to unfinished business from childhood.

Normal and Abnormal in the Therapy Room June 26, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

What separates normal from abnormal, and who gets to decide? Armand DiMele, joined by Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and social work student John Valerio, teaches therapists-in-training how to read the spectrum from too much to too little, using Carl Menninger’s framework and the hyper-hypo model to map human behavior.

The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook with Diana Denholm April 17, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Diana Denholm, John Valerio, Linda Vanella
Category: Aging & Mortality, Family & Parenting

Caring for a seriously ill spouse strips away plans, freedom, and identity. Dr. Diana Denholm, MD, author of “The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook,” joins Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, to examine how caregivers manage resentment and burnout, and what the person being cared for can do to preserve their partner’s dignity and wellbeing.

Finding Power in Your Dysfunction April 3, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Joanna, John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Every behavior we label dysfunctional serves a hidden purpose. Armand DiMele argues that depression, addiction, paranoia, and even passivity are forms of power, and that befriending these parts of ourselves rather than fighting them is what actually enables change. Lisa Arnone, LCSW joins the conversation alongside callers working through these ideas in real time.

The Family Constellation March 13, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Linda Vanella
Category: Family & Parenting, Identity & The Self

Every family is a web of valences, positive and negative, and Armand DiMele maps the full constellation: single fathers raising daughters, mothers and sons, absent parents, and the toll each pattern takes. Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, adds clinical perspective, and a caller named JT illustrates what happens when a child withdraws from an unaccepting world and how embarrassment, not circumstance, becomes the last barrier to belonging.

When Couples Stop Blaming Each Other March 6, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Linda Vanella, Ora Yemini Morrison
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Love & Romantic Relationships

Blame is the enemy of intimacy. Armand DiMele and co-therapists Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, and Ora Yemini-Morrison, LCSW, trace how couples mistake internal anxiety for a partner’s wrongdoing, and what it takes to interrupt that reflex through body awareness, emotional vocabulary, and knowing when to simply stop talking.

The Weight of Caregiving with Diana Denholm Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Diana Denholm, John Valerio, Linda Vanella, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Family & Parenting

What happens when caregiving breeds resentment, and is walking away ever the right choice? Armand DiMele and Dr. Diana Denholm, MD, along with Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, and Lisa Arnone, LCSW, examine the emotional cost of caring for ill or aging loved ones, the guilt of leaving, and why honest communication matters more than silent sacrifice.

The Search for Significance Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Depression & Mood, Emotions & Inner Life

Does the drive to be noticed make us miserable, or is feeling significant essential to mental health? Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW, trace the line between healthy agency and egotism, explore how depression strips away a sense of mattering, and ask what we might discover if we stopped trying to be seen.