Disappointment is the hidden threat to political activists: it slides into apathy, rage, or depression if left unexamined. Armand DiMele, joined by Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, uses the Occupy Wall Street moment to explore what happens psychologically when passionate effort seems to yield no visible result.
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.
What does it mean to be fully alive in the present moment? Armand DiMele and co-host Lisa Arnone, LCSW, dig into Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow and the autotelic personality, arguing that real positivity comes from seeing reality clearly, not from manufactured optimism.
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.
Psychological compensation drives us to mask pain rather than face it, and the fix often grows larger than the original wound. Armand DiMele and co-therapist Lisa Arnone, LCSW explore how cigarettes, painkillers, bravado, and even love choices can be coverups that reinforce the very suffering they were meant to relieve.
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.
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.
