Mood: Sad

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How Defense Mechanisms Shape Our Lives January 18, 2012

Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Anxiety is the antenna that triggers self-protection, and Armand DiMele and co-host Linda Vanilla walk through the full spectrum of psychological defenses, from denial and repression to dissociation and passive aggression. Caller stories ground the theory in real family pain, showing how childhood coping habits outlive their usefulness.

The Limits of Tolerance January 4, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Tolerance is not just a virtue but a spectrum with a dark side. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, examine where healthy acceptance ends and harmful condoning begins, covering religious intolerance, parenting, couples, and the fine line between endurance and enabling abuse.

Does Life Get Better With Age November 30, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Kent Robertshaw, Linda Vanella
Category: Depression & Mood, Personal Growth & Change

Life does get better for most people, and Armand explores why with Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R. Three forces drive improvement over time: burnout from exhausting old patterns, learning to manage triggers, and growing self-acceptance. Psychiatric advances, caller stories about ambivalent relationships, and the transformative love of parenthood all figure in.

Growing Up With Radio November 22, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Radio as a surrogate parent, a comfort, and a formative presence. Armand reads listener memories of golden-age programs, transistor radios under pillows, and male voices that filled the absence of distant or missing fathers, revealing a common emotional thread running through decades of devoted listening.

How We Learn to Get Loved November 8, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Why do we pursue love the way we do? Armand DiMele traces how childhood strategies for earning affection harden into adult personality patterns, using the Enneagram’s nine types to show how perfectionists, caretakers, performers, and others each chase bonding in ways that can undermine the very connection they crave.

Why We Fear Getting Close October 4, 2011

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Love & Romantic Relationships

Loving others feels good, so why do so many people sabotage it? Armand DiMele traces the roots of intimacy fear to conditional childhood love, laying out the defense mechanisms, control dynamics, blame patterns, and victim roles that quietly wreck adult relationships. A co-host named Linda and callers add their voices.

Parenting Through Schizophrenia with Randy Kay August 23, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Randy Kay
Category: Family & Parenting, Grief & Loss

Randy Kay, author of “Ben Behind His Voices,” joins Armand to trace her five-year journey recognizing her son’s gradual-onset schizophrenia. They examine how parents normalize early warning signs, why diagnosis so often comes only at crisis, and how education, NAMI, and redefining hope made recovery possible.

How Family Secrets Scar Us August 17, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Family & Parenting, Identity & The Self

Family secrets don’t just hide the truth, they divide families, freeze emotional development, and corrode trust for generations. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, walk through four ways secrets damage families and offer practical guidance on breaking destructive triangles, with callers sharing their own experiences.

The Many Ways We Ignore and Get Ignored August 16, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes, Linda Vanella
Category: Communication & Conflict, Emotions & Inner Life

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.

The Instinct to Protect August 10, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Joseph, Linda Vanella, Lynn, Tom Bond, Yvonne
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Protecting others often masks an inability to protect ourselves. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, unpack the Enneagram’s three instinctual drives (self-preservation, social, and sexual) as frameworks for understanding why we over-give, and callers share vivid stories of caretaking that costs them.