Mood: Scared

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Covert Brutality and Passive Aggressive Behavior March 2, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Communication & Conflict, Emotions & Inner Life

Hidden aggression can be harder to name than overt abuse, and that difficulty is precisely what makes it so damaging. Armand DiMele breaks down passive-aggressive behavior as a form of covert brutality, tracing its roots in repressed anger and exploring how it shows up in forgetfulness, obstruction, blaming, and withheld intimacy. Callers share their own stories of living with or breaking free from passive-aggressive partners and parents.

How People Survive Catastrophe January 14, 2010

Category: Meaning, Spirituality & Philosophy, Trauma & Healing

What happens in the mind and body when people face catastrophic loss? Using the 2010 Haiti earthquake as a focal point, Armand DiMele examines the psychological and biological mechanisms that carry people through the unthinkable, from dissociation and stress chemistry to religious ritual and the drive to live for others.

Unfinished Business and Gestalt Therapy January 13, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Unresolved childhood patterns drive adult behavior, and Gestalt therapy offers tools to name them. Armand DiMele walks through core Gestalt concepts including retroflection, deflection, confluence, and projection, showing how each keeps people stuck in the same drama. The episode opens with a heartfelt reflection on the Haiti earthquake.

The Heart Is Not Just a Pump January 6, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel, Teresa Palmer
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

Neurocardiology is upending the old idea that the heart is merely a pump. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. examine how extreme stress and emotional loss can literally stop the heart, where serotonin is actually stored in the body, and why fragmented specialist care leaves patients powerless.

The Anxious Brain and Doomsday Fear January 5, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Some people are simply born to worry, and doomsday predictions like 2012 give them a target. Armand draws on Jerome Kagan’s landmark longitudinal study of infant temperament to show how a hyperreactive baby becomes an anxious adult, and explains how the amygdala drives fear that has no real object.

Why Love Fades Over Time December 22, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Stephanie D'Ambra
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Love & Romantic Relationships

Love doesn’t just end, it erodes through unmet needs and biological programming. Armand DiMele argues that fading attraction follows a natural but not inevitable course, drawing on evolutionary drives and caller stories, including one man’s struggle with touch after years of violation.

How the Brain Fills in the Blanks December 16, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Sherri Siegel
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, The Mind & Neuroscience

The brain is wired to fill in gaps, and that drive shapes everything from vision to dreams to romantic longing. Armand DiMele and Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. trace the neuroscience of synapses and blind spots outward to nightmares, compulsive thinking, and why an excited amygdala conjures danger from thin air.

Healing the Addicted Brain with Dr. Hal Urschel December 15, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Hal Urschel
Category: Addiction & Compulsion, The Mind & Neuroscience

Addiction is a physical brain disease, not a failure of willpower. Dr. Hal Urschel, author of “Healing the Addicted Brain,” explains how alcohol and drugs injure the limbic system, why talk therapy alone fails, and how proper nutrition and extended sobriety can actually reverse the damage.

How Modern Messaging Changes Us December 10, 2009

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Communication & Conflict, The Mind & Neuroscience

Armand DiMele traces how communication technologies from handwritten letters to cell phones have eroded intimacy and altered brain chemistry. Callers weigh in on texting at work, including a nurse whose story links phone distraction to a patient’s stroke.

Music Therapy and the Brain with Connie Tamiano December 9, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Connie Tamiano
Category: Aging & Mortality, The Mind & Neuroscience

Music reaches the brain in ways words cannot, and trained music therapist Connie Tamiano explains why. She and Armand discuss customizing song lists for dementia patients, how rhythm drives movement, and why watching rather than asking reveals how music affects someone you love.