Guest: Linda Vanella

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Why We Fall in Love with a False Self June 14, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Kenny Baron, Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella, Sherri Siegel
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

What if people don’t fall in love with who you really are, but with the polished self you perform? Armand DiMele argues that revealing your true self often drives partners away, and that therapy’s push for authenticity can backfire. A caller’s story of kibbutz bullying, suicide, and bulimia recovery gives the theory raw, unexpected weight.

Submission Power and Learned Helplessness June 7, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella, Lorna Sykes
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Submission is not always weakness. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, map the difference between servers and peacemakers, trace learned helplessness from childhood abuse to elderly isolation, and examine how dominance hierarchies shape everything from family dynamics to corporate mergers and sexual behavior.

Depersonalization Disorder with Jeffrey Abugel April 19, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Jeffrey Abugel, Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Identity & The Self

What does it feel like when your mind detaches from your body and never reconnects? Jeffrey Abugel, who lived with depersonalization disorder for decades and wrote about it, joins Armand DiMele alongside Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, to explore DPD’s causes, its links to panic and drug triggers, and its surprising overlap with spiritual concepts of ego dissolution.

How We React to Catastrophe March 16, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Amhara, Anthony, Daphne Rose Kingma, Dr. Ronald Fieve, Linda Vanella, Monroe, Pat Moffitt, Vincent
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Different personalities respond to mass catastrophe in recognizably different ways: some blame, some freeze, some go numb, some take action. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, use the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami as a lens for examining these patterns, drawing on Japanese cultural values of harmony and collective responsibility along with calls from listeners.

Complicated Grief with Nicole Alston January 4, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella, Nicole Alston
Category: Grief & Loss, Trauma & Healing

Prolonged grief can quietly hollow out a life for decades. Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, describes her group work helping bereaved parents move a lost child from unconscious suppression into conscious memory. Nicole Alston, LMSW, shares her own stillbirth loss, two-year withdrawal from life, and how that experience led her to found the Sky Foundation and produce a documentary on infant death in the African-American community.

The Many Faces of Loneliness December 8, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Loneliness is not a feeling but a perception, Armand DiMele argues, shaped by how many connections we hold and whether we feel truly heard. With Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, he maps the spectrum from highly connected people to those who isolate as self-protection, and examines how shopping, affairs, and caretaking often mask the ache of disconnection.

How Attachment Styles Shape Our Love Lives December 5, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

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.

Growing Up in the 20-Something Generation August 25, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Identity & The Self, Personal Growth & Change

Why are so many young adults delaying marriage, careers, and commitment well into their 20s and beyond? Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, dig into shifting milestones, the rise of the “hipster” lifestyle, political disillusionment, and whether prolonged adolescence reflects freedom, avoidance, or something in between.

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.

How Men and Women Communicate Differently Undated

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Communication & Conflict, Love & Romantic Relationships

Men talk to establish status; women talk to build closeness. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, unpack why these opposing drives produce so much friction in couples, from the male instinct to solve problems to the female need for consensus, with callers weighing in on real relationship struggles.