Keyword: grief

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The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook with Diana Denholm April 17, 2012

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Diana Denholm, John Valerio, Linda Vanella
Category: Aging & Mortality, Family & Parenting

Caring for a seriously ill spouse strips away plans, freedom, and identity. Dr. Diana Denholm, MD, author of “The Caregiving Wife’s Handbook,” joins Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, to examine how caregivers manage resentment and burnout, and what the person being cared for can do to preserve their partner’s dignity and wellbeing.

The Danger of Unmet Expectations January 24, 2012

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

Unmet expectations trigger a threat response in the brain far stronger than the pleasure of getting what we want. Armand DiMele examines how to stay adaptive when life diverges from the plan, drawing on callers dealing with job searching, a father’s death, and a partner’s crack addiction.

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.

Finding Your Loving Self April 1, 2011

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

What does it mean to be your real self, and is it even worth it? Armand DiMele argues that when you love someone, you are really loving the feeling of yourself in their presence, which reframes heartbreak, authenticity, and the search for connection as fundamentally inward journeys. Callers push the question further.

How We React to Catastrophe March 16, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Amhara, Anthony, Daphne Rose Kingma, Dr. Ronald Fieve, Linda Vanella, Monroe, Pat Moffitt, Vincent
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Emotions & Inner Life

Different personalities respond to mass catastrophe in recognizably different ways: some blame, some freeze, some go numb, some take action. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, use the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami as a lens for examining these patterns, drawing on Japanese cultural values of harmony and collective responsibility along with calls from listeners.

Complicated Grief with Nicole Alston January 4, 2011

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella, Nicole Alston
Category: Grief & Loss, Trauma & Healing

Prolonged grief can quietly hollow out a life for decades. Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, describes her group work helping bereaved parents move a lost child from unconscious suppression into conscious memory. Nicole Alston, LMSW, shares her own stillbirth loss, two-year withdrawal from life, and how that experience led her to found the Sky Foundation and produce a documentary on infant death in the African-American community.

The Many Faces of Loneliness December 8, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Linda Vanella
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Loneliness is not a feeling but a perception, Armand DiMele argues, shaped by how many connections we hold and whether we feel truly heard. With Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, he maps the spectrum from highly connected people to those who isolate as self-protection, and examines how shopping, affairs, and caretaking often mask the ache of disconnection.

Overreaction and Emotional Flooding September 29, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Elisa, Feli Stengel, Lauren Sykes, Marcus, Thelma Wingate
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Love & Romantic Relationships

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.

The Power of Yearning August 26, 2010

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Lauren Sykes
Category: Depression & Mood, Emotions & Inner Life

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.

Mothers Remembered and Mourned May 4, 2010

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Family & Parenting, Grief & Loss

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.