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Self-Knowledge and the Patterns We Repeat in Love October 10, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Why do we keep choosing the same partners and recreating the same dynamics? Armand DiMele argues that relationship problems are never really about the other person but about unexamined childhood wounds. With co-therapist Lisa Arnone, LCSW, he traces how early needs for attractiveness, desirability, and parental attention shape adult love patterns.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves September 18, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

We are all method actors in stories we invented, and the stories we tell others are shaped as much by what listeners want to hear as by what we want to say. Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW explore how anxiety, denial, and the compulsive need to “fix” others often trace back to unfinished business from childhood.

Magical Thinking and the Double Bind September 4, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Brian Jefferson, Dr. Annalisa Erba, Ilana Rubenfeld, Johnna Valerio
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Armand DiMele breaks down two foundational distortions in human thinking: magical thinking, the belief that we cause or control others’ feelings, and the double bind, the no-win trap that forces children to bend reality rather than expose a parent’s lie. Both patterns, rooted in childhood, quietly drive adult dysfunction.

What Your Voice Reveals About You August 29, 2012

Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Your speaking style gives you away. Armand DiMele and voice specialist Elizabeth Sastry break down the psychological types behind how people talk: the deferential, the dramatic, the worrier, the scattered, the controlling, and the silent. Callers then test the framework against their own relationships.

How the Unconscious Runs Your Life August 7, 2012

Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Ninety percent of your choices are driven by the unconscious, Armand DiMele argues, and the episode makes that case through vivid examples: a fear of dogs from a forgotten childhood bite, the smell of lilies tied to buried grief, vanilla cake linked to a sister’s rage. Callers test the ideas live, including one who traces his social anxiety to a single humiliating childhood moment.

The Mask We Wear in Public August 1, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Are the coping styles we develop in childhood defenses or simply who we are? Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW explore whether an authentic self actually exists beneath our social masks, or whether stripping away our defenses leaves nothing behind. Callers and the Enneagram illuminate the argument.

The Art of Self-Inquiry July 31, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Most people ask the wrong questions about themselves. Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW walk through a structured framework for deeper self-inquiry, moving from surface-level complaints through feelings, causality, and self-acceptance, with caller conversations illustrating each step live.

The Fear of Being Loved July 11, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Audrey Clark, Lisa Arnone
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

What if part of you refuses to be loved? Armand DiMele and studio guests Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and Audrey Clark dig into the paradox of lovability: how people unconsciously push away love, choose cruel or unavailable partners, and replay childhood wounds in adult relationships. A listener letter about borderline personality anchors the discussion.

Normal and Abnormal in the Therapy Room June 26, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: John Valerio, Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

What separates normal from abnormal, and who gets to decide? Armand DiMele, joined by Lisa Arnone, LCSW, and social work student John Valerio, teaches therapists-in-training how to read the spectrum from too much to too little, using Carl Menninger’s framework and the hyper-hypo model to map human behavior.

The Part of You That Resists Change June 20, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lisa Arnone
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Growth has three stages: awareness, knowledge, and personal change. Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW, walk through each, arguing that real transformation begins not with making changes but with seeing your situation clearly and without judgment. The episode’s centerpiece is the “engineer,” an inner force that fights to keep you exactly as you are and can only be moved by negotiation, not force.