Hosts: Armand DiMele

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Clutter and the Cluttered Mind with Barbara Tako March 9, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Barbara Tako, Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Physical clutter carries emotional weight, and clearing it can unlock broader change in how we live. Barbara Tako, author of ‘Clutter Clearing Choices’, walks through practical methods like the four-box sort and the one-in-one-out rule, while Armand and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW explore how clutter connects to guilt, relationships, and self-worth.

What Depression Is For March 4, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Depression & Mood, Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy

Depression may not be a malfunction but a feature. Armand DiMele draws on Darwin, Aristotle, and evolutionary psychologists to argue that rumination and low mood serve real purposes: protecting us from greater pain, spurring creative insight, and forcing honest self-examination. Callers share how accepting depression freed them.

Irritable Male Syndrome March 3, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Depression & Mood, Emotions & Inner Life

Men’s irritability and anger are often unrecognized forms of depression, shaped by hormonal shifts, glandular dysfunction, and psychological loss. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. walk through the biochemical roots of Irritable Male Syndrome, from testosterone cycles to adrenal and thyroid disorders, and explore how partners absorb the fallout.

Covert Brutality and Passive Aggressive Behavior March 2, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Communication & Conflict, Emotions & Inner Life

Hidden aggression can be harder to name than overt abuse, and that difficulty is precisely what makes it so damaging. Armand DiMele breaks down passive-aggressive behavior as a form of covert brutality, tracing its roots in repressed anger and exploring how it shows up in forgetfulness, obstruction, blaming, and withheld intimacy. Callers share their own stories of living with or breaking free from passive-aggressive partners and parents.

Abandonment Rage February 2, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Love & Romantic Relationships

When love is withdrawn, some people don’t just grieve, they rage. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW examine why lost love can trigger obsessive calling, stalking, and even violence, tracing the reaction to a primitive wound response and asking whether abandonment rage is a kind of temporary insanity.

The History and Purpose of Emotions January 19, 2010

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

Every emotion has a full personal history, and the ones missing from your parents reveal as much as the ones present. Armand DiMele maps the six basic emotions, then introduces newer candidates like elevation, interest, and pride, exploring their physiological roots and social purpose. Callers from Haitian immigrant families reflect on inherited emotional suppression.

Unfinished Business and Gestalt Therapy January 13, 2010

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

Unresolved childhood patterns drive adult behavior, and Gestalt therapy offers tools to name them. Armand DiMele walks through core Gestalt concepts including retroflection, deflection, confluence, and projection, showing how each keeps people stuck in the same drama. The episode opens with a heartfelt reflection on the Haiti earthquake.

Finding Your Balance with Gestalt Therapy January 12, 2010

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

True balance comes from within, not from relationships, pills, or endless talk therapy. Armand DiMele introduces Gestalt therapy’s core ideas, including dream analysis and the here-and-now philosophy, while fielding calls from listeners stuck in old patterns and questioning whether antidepressants are actually working.

Music as a Healing Process with John Pelletieri January 7, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Pelletieri, Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Music stirs feelings that words cannot reach, and John Pelletieri, author of a textbook on music therapy, explains why. Armand and Pelletieri trace how rhythm, melody, and imagery each activate different brain regions, and how therapists use that to unlock the unconscious. Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, co-hosts.

The Heart Is Not Just a Pump January 6, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel, Teresa Palmer
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Neurocardiology is upending the old idea that the heart is merely a pump. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. examine how extreme stress and emotional loss can literally stop the heart, where serotonin is actually stored in the body, and why fragmented specialist care leaves patients powerless.