Yearning is not a weakness but a biological imperative, as fundamental as photosynthesis. Armand DiMele explores how suppressed yearning shapes depression, stunted sexuality, and lopsided love, and why grief research now identifies yearning, not denial, as the defining feature of loss.
Self-hatred often masks a frightened inner child, not a moral failing. Armand DiMele traces self-loathing from passive-aggressive behavior and ethnic shame to physical self-criticism, arguing that the antidote is treating yourself with the same protective warmth you would offer a hurt child.
Anger is not just emotional but biochemical: cortisol drops, testosterone rises, and the left brain activates when we rage. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW discuss how anger functions as the body’s shortcut out of depression, why blaming others is an addiction, and what the latest neurochemical research reveals about rage, closeness, and self.
Revenge feels like it should bring relief, but research shows it usually makes people feel worse. Armand DiMele examines why humans obsess over getting even, from schoolyard feuds and Internet bullying to workplace injustice, and whether letting go is ever truly possible.
What separates the person who pursues degree after degree from one who is content to sit still? Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. trace motivation from hypothalamic hormones like ghrelin and leptin to subconscious drives rooted in early experience, drawing on theorists Steven Reiss and Daniel Pink along the way.
Depression is not weakness but a physical stress reaction triggered when the brain exhausts its supply of neurotransmitters. Armand DiMele explains the neurochemistry of collapse, the narcissistic wounds that drive suicide, and why a depressed person genuinely cannot imagine a way out. Callers share personal recoveries, including one with an MAO inhibitor.
Mother’s Day triggers some of the deepest and most complicated feelings people carry. Armand DiMele traces the holiday’s activist origins, examines why therapists are trained to watch for crisis around it, and opens the phones to callers sharing tender memories, estrangement, infertility, and the particular ache of becoming an orphan at any age.
Most people enter relationships with an unconscious escape plan already in place. Armand DiMele argues that children, debt, sexual withdrawal, hobbies, and infidelity all serve as built-in exit strategies, and that the people who suffer most after a breakup are those who never had one.
Why can’t we ever have enough? Armand DiMele traces greed from Wall Street scandals to everyday wanting, arguing that insatiability is driven by competition, relative status, and the brain chemistry of the hunt rather than the reward. Callers share their own struggles with desire, money, and contentment.
The ancient concept of acedia, a toxic blend of restlessness and boredom distinct from depression, gets a modern examination. Poet and author Kathleen Norris draws on monastic wisdom and her own memoir to show how acedia quietly drains connection to others, community, and meaning.
