Are smartphones and social media bringing families closer or hollowing out real intimacy? Armand DiMele and co-host Lisa Arnone examine adult children moving back home, how texting reshaped parent-child bonds, and the painful gap between online connection and genuine closeness. Callers bring it to life.
Armand DiMele argues that compulsive sexual behavior in both men and women is really a search for a missing parent: women seeking the nurturing of an absent mother, men seeking the masculine affirmation of an absent father. Callers push back, share personal stories, and probe the theory’s limits.
Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, take Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” line by line, testing each piece of wisdom against real life. The episode argues that genuine new thinking beats hollow resolutions, and that many fears are simply born of fatigue and loneliness.
Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, use the prose poem “Desiderata” as a springboard for the new year, pushing back on its platitudes while extracting real wisdom about fear born from fatigue, gracefully letting go of youth, staying curious, and being gentle with yourself.
Most older adults are not depressed, not dependent, and not eager to move in with their children. Dr. Bernard Starr, PhD, Psychologist, joins Armand to dismantle those myths with research, and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, weighs in on seniors who self-isolate. Hidden alcohol abuse, the loneliness of widowhood, and a bold proposal to tap elder wisdom in education all get airtime.
Touch is not a luxury but a biological and emotional need, and its absence quietly drives depression, disconnection, and longing. Armand DiMele surveys how affection works across cultures, life stages, and temperaments, from the bonding chemistry of parent and child to what elderly people lose when their partners die.
The most common New Year’s resolution, spending more time with family and friends, reveals a quiet seasonal depression and a fear of disconnection. Armand DiMele examines why friendships fade over time, how divorce, aging, shame, and shifting priorities pull people apart, and what it actually takes to stay connected.
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.
Gratitude is not automatic, Armand argues, and it depends on cost, intention, and empathy. He walks through the psychology of why we feel it, when we don’t, and how giving to others can unlock it. Callers share their own experiences of being alone during the holidays and finding meaning through volunteering.
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.
