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.
Being ignored can wound, protect, or punish depending on who is doing it and why. Armand DiMele traces the impulse from passive aggression and childhood family dynamics to the shame many women feel at puberty, drawing on observations from Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, and calls from listeners navigating neglect in their own relationships.
What does it mean to steal from your employer when the workplace has already stolen your sense of self? Armand DiMele traces how cubicles, microchips, and smartphones eroded worker identity, then opens the question of workplace theft, personal ethics, and what it costs to live with or without integrity.
Why do we sometimes refuse to see betrayal even when it’s right in front of us? Armand DiMele examines betrayal trauma, drawing on Jennifer Freyd’s research to explain how the brain suppresses painful truths when a relationship is central to our sense of self. Callers share their own struggles with trust and control.
Triangulation is both a normal developmental step and a source of lasting dysfunction. Armand DiMele traces how children get pulled into taking sides between parents, how gossip and confiding in friends repeat the same pattern, and why splitting the world into all-good and all-bad leaves people stuck. Callers share their own family triangle experiences.
Why do couples end up screaming about toothpaste? Armand DiMele argues that the real fight always happened days earlier and went unnoticed. He traces how unspoken irritation builds into passive aggression, how unmet needs distort perception, and why infidelity is often just an exit from a conversation nobody knew how to have.
Beneath belligerence lies fear, not rage. Armand DiMele and co-host Linda trace the signs of belligerent behavior from nervous hyperactivity through verbal attacks, explaining the hormonal drivers and why people cannot think their way out of the state. Callers share real conflicts, and yoga is offered as a practical path back to calm.
The questions we ask others are rarely the questions we really need to answer. Armand DiMele argues that most of our probing, deflecting, and loaded questions in relationships mask a single deeper fear: am I safe? Callers explore jealousy, marital uncertainty, and longing through this lens.
The mind evolved to keep us safe, but its habit of replaying the past can turn it into an enemy. Armand DiMele sits down with author Stephen Fogle and co-host Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW to examine how mislabeled memories trigger overreactions, why reason rarely wins against a fired amygdala, and how body awareness can break the cycle.
Why do people overreact, and what can you do when someone you love is on a tear? Armand DiMele examines the biology and culture of emotional flooding, from the moon cycle to reality TV’s exploitation of raw feeling, drawing on office manager Thelma Wingate’s experience managing flare-ups in dementia care. Callers weigh in on phobias, past life regression, and partners carrying divorce pain.
