Legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins talks with Armand and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, about growing up on Sugar Hill, marching alongside his activist grandmother, the role of artists in social change, and the deep grief of losing his wife of 40 years, Lucille. Music and loss intertwine throughout.
Crying is not the cause of being upset but the sign of having already been upset, a release of accumulated stress hormones and toxins. Armand DiMele walks through the biochemistry of emotional tears, the handicap syndrome in animals, why suppressing tears feeds depression, and how to actually be present with someone who is crying.
Five years after 9/11, Armand DiMele examines how the attacks amplified whatever psychological vulnerabilities people already carried, driving surges in anxiety, sleep disorders, PTSD, extramarital affairs, addiction, and antidepressant use. Callers share firsthand accounts, including one man who found that volunteering broke his sense of helplessness.
Armand DiMele and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, examine why people lock away unbearable pain rather than face it, how children assign themselves blame for disasters and abuse, and why denial of death costs us empathy for suffering near and far.
Toxic shame drives addiction, numbness, and violence, and Hurricane Katrina made that truth impossible to ignore. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti trace how collective shame over race, poverty, and government failure sent millions into emotional deadness and substance use, and urge listeners to feel the pain rather than go numb.
Why do certain people, places, and memories haunt us long after they’re gone? Armand DiMele argues that ghosts serve a function: they keep us from sinking into depression by giving us a focus outside ourselves. Callers share their own ghost stories, revealing how anger, longing, and comparison all sustain these invisible presences.
Holiday cheer masks real pain, and Armand DiMele digs into why. He traces seasonal depression and Scrooge-like bitterness to absent or cold fathers, unpacks the hidden psychology of gift giving and receiving, and takes calls from listeners carrying loneliness, loss, and family estrangement into the season.
Why do holidays hit so hard? Armand DiMele and Dr. Kent Robertshaw, MD, Psychiatrist, explore the biology and psychology of seasonal depression, joined by Dr. Michael B. Schachter, MD, Author, who draws on his book about depression to discuss vitamin D, melatonin, light therapy, and the genetic roots of seasonal mood shifts.
When someone you love or work with takes their anger out on you unfairly, what do you actually do? Armand DiMele walks through the spectrum of responses, from fighting back to showing genuine hurt, and argues that expressing pain rather than matching anger is both more natural and more disarming. Callers explore grief-fueled resentment and chronic irritability at home.
The holidays bring the year’s highest rates of despair, and Armand DiMele and Dr. Kent Robert Short dig into why: family expectations, economic inequality, and the grief of absences. Dr. Michael B. Schachter, MD, Author, joins by phone to explain how reduced sunlight depletes vitamin D and disrupts melatonin, and what actually helps.
