Keyword: anxiety

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A Nation of Wimps with Hara Estroff Marano May 15, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Hara Estroff Marano
Category: Family & Parenting, Personal Growth & Change

Overprotective parents are raising psychologically fragile children, and college counseling centers are overwhelmed with the fallout. Hara Estroff Marano, Author and Psychology Today Editor, joins Armand DiMele to argue that well-meaning parents who bubble-wrap their kids’ lives are producing adults who can’t tolerate failure, rejection, or uncertainty.

Dutiful Personalities and the Enneagram with Don Riso and Russ Hudson April 3, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Don Riso, Russ Hudson
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Don Riso and Russ Hudson, authors of “The Wisdom of the Enneagram,” join Armand DiMele to map the three “dutiful” Enneagram types: the perfectionistic One, the people-pleasing Two, and the anxiety-driven Six. The conversation traces how duty hardens into resentment, hidden depression, and self-imposed slavery to an inner judge.

Anxiety as Friend and Foe with Dr. Sarah Denning March 26, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. Sarah Denning
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Anxiety can motivate or paralyze, and the difference often comes down to catching it early. Dr. Sarah Denning, Founder of Adaptive Behavioral Therapy, joins Armand DiMele to map anxiety from low-grade nervousness to full panic attacks, introducing a stress scale and practical tools for identifying and lowering anxiety in the moment.

Phobias and Secondary Gain March 20, 2013

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Phobias are never just about the feared object. Armand DiMele argues that every phobia carries a hidden secondary gain, an unconscious payoff such as withdrawal from adult responsibility, and that understanding this dynamic is the real key to treatment. The episode covers agoraphobia, paranoia, and a catalogue of named phobias.

The Physiology of Anxiety and Fear with Dr. William Astwood March 19, 2013

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Dr. William Astwood
Category: Anxiety & Fear, The Mind & Neuroscience

Anxiety, excitement, and fear are physiologically identical. Armand DiMele and Dr. William Astwood break down the fight-or-flight response in plain language, explaining how the sympathetic nervous system drives panic, phobias, obsessions, and social anxiety, and how understanding the body’s mechanics can restore a sense of control.

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 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.