Power is neither good nor bad, but how we wield it reveals our deepest wounds. Armand DiMele maps the many faces of power, from fear-based authority and birth-order dynamics to the narcissistic traits of those who dominate others, and asks how we make peace with our own hunger for it.
Sibling rivalry is rooted in biological competition for scarce resources, chiefly parental time and attention. Armand DiMele traces the dynamic from birth order through adult behavior, drawing on callers’ stories, and offers parents concrete guidance on reducing destructive competition at home.
Testosterone levels shape how competitive you are, and your finger length reveals which hormones dominated your development. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti break down three types of competitors, explore how social and sexual dominance often diverge, and connect hormone science to career choice and attraction.
Fugue states are everywhere: in drinking, meditation, marathon running, internet use, even falling in love. Armand DiMele argues that any habitual escape from the present moment is a form of dissociation, explains the neurological cost, and offers practical steps for learning to stay.
Being truly heard is something most people rarely experience, argues psychotherapist Kevin Heaney, a specialist in addiction and family therapy. Armand and Kevin unpack how attunement and validation work in therapy and in everyday relationships, why hearing someone’s truth matters even when the story is incomplete, and how therapists can teach couples and families to do the same.
Surviving hardship is only half the story. Armand DiMele talks with Daphne Rose Kingma, Psychotherapist and Author, about her book on navigating life’s worst moments, from job loss to sudden illness. They argue that real recovery demands genuine grief, honest self-inventory, and a willingness to let the old self die so something new can emerge.
Our closest genetic relative isn’t the violent, male-dominated chimpanzee but the bonobo, a peaceable ape in which females run the group and sex defuses conflict. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti draw out what this means for human assumptions about aggression, gender, and our own nature.
Dolly Shulman, a Philadelphia psychotherapist who lost her mother at age six, shares how that early grief became the foundation of her lifelong work. Armand DiMele walks through her heartwarming workshops, where participants reconnect with childhood feelings, release buried emotions, and rediscover their inner essence.
Why do people fail to feel what others expect them to feel? Armand DiMele examines the gap between expected and actual emotion, from maternal instinct and monogamy to pride, generosity, and remorse. Callers share their own struggles, including one survivor reconnecting with spirituality after trauma.
The holidays bring the year’s highest rates of despair, and Armand DiMele and Dr. Kent Robert Short dig into why: family expectations, economic inequality, and the grief of absences. Dr. Michael B. Schachter, MD, Author, joins by phone to explain how reduced sunlight depletes vitamin D and disrupts melatonin, and what actually helps.
