Hosts: Armand DiMele

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Does Life Get Better With Age November 30, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Kent Robertshaw, Linda Vanella
Category: Depression & Mood, Personal Growth & Change

Life does get better for most people, and Armand explores why with Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R. Three forces drive improvement over time: burnout from exhausting old patterns, learning to manage triggers, and growing self-acceptance. Psychiatric advances, caller stories about ambivalent relationships, and the transformative love of parenthood all figure in.

Occupying Your Own Mind November 29, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

What does it mean to be in your right mind, and how do you get there faster? Armand DiMele examines bitterness, apathy, and the ways we let obsessive thoughts colonize our inner lives, then weighs religion, diet, medication, therapy, and mindfulness as competing routes to genuine calm. Co-host Linda Vanella joins the discussion.

Growing Up With Radio November 22, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Radio as a surrogate parent, a comfort, and a formative presence. Armand reads listener memories of golden-age programs, transistor radios under pillows, and male voices that filled the absence of distant or missing fathers, revealing a common emotional thread running through decades of devoted listening.

Sexual Obsession as Anxiety November 9, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Booker Irvin, Kent Robertshaw, Linda Vanella
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, Anxiety & Fear

Sexual obsession reframed not as moral failure but as an anxiety disorder seeking relief through repetitive thought and behavior. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R discuss the cycle with Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, who explains the roles of testosterone, the nucleus accumbens, and serotonin-based medications in treatment.

How We Learn to Get Loved November 8, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Why do we pursue love the way we do? Armand DiMele traces how childhood strategies for earning affection harden into adult personality patterns, using the Enneagram’s nine types to show how perfectionists, caretakers, performers, and others each chase bonding in ways that can undermine the very connection they crave.

The Shelf Life of Mental Health October 20, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Old fears and bad habits you thought you conquered have a way of coming back. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, explore why hard-won mental health gains can expire, from the AA concept of the “pink cloud” to the brain’s drive to keep aging people alert through worry, arguing that avoidance, not cure, is usually what we mistake for progress.

Why We Fear Getting Close October 4, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Loving others feels good, so why do so many people sabotage it? Armand DiMele traces the roots of intimacy fear to conditional childhood love, laying out the defense mechanisms, control dynamics, blame patterns, and victim roles that quietly wreck adult relationships. A co-host named Linda and callers add their voices.

The Positive Side of Rebellion September 21, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Alex, Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella, Ramey
Category: Family & Parenting, Personal Growth & Change

Rebellion is not a problem to suppress but a developmental skill to celebrate. Armand DiMele argues that children who push back against parents are building the same muscle they need to resist dominating peers and dangerous strangers. Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, shares how raising four children taught her to read defiance as a bid for independence, and callers add vivid stories of rebellion, loss, and trust.

The Shelf Life of Mental Health September 20, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Aging & Mortality, Personal Growth & Change

Why do problems we thought we solved come back? Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, examine why hard-won psychological gains fade over time, from the AA concept of the pink cloud to the body’s biological drive to reactivate old fears as we age. Callers share their own experiences of recurring fears and family estrangement.

How We Cope With Buried Anger September 1, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Buried anger is the engine behind most psychological suffering. Armand DiMele maps the strategies people develop to survive it, from repression and regression to dissociation and acting out, tracing how childhood rules about anger shape adult behavior, relationships, and even career choices.