Keyword: shame

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Stealing as a Search for Love July 9, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Jenny, Sarah, Stephanie D'Ambra, Susan
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Armand DiMele argues that theft, in nearly all its forms, is rooted in a felt absence of love. From childhood shoplifting to time theft at work, he traces how people take what they cannot seem to receive. Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW, joins to discuss fighting institutional systems, and callers weigh in on corporate fraud and righteous anger.

The Masks We Wear When Wounded April 22, 2009

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Anne Marganow, Claudia Fox, Diane, Matilda, Susie
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

Hiding pain behind a strong face is survival instinct, but it costs us. Armand DiMele uses the silverback gorilla as a metaphor for how wounded people perform strength, weaving in the Platters’ “Great Pretender” and a famous poem by Charles Finn to show how masks protect us while keeping us unknown and alone.

The Fear Behind Procrastination with Gloria Aronson October 14, 2008

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Gloria Aronson
Category: Anxiety & Fear, Personal Growth & Change

Fear, not laziness, drives chronic procrastination. Armand DiMele talks with Gloria Aronson, author of “Procrastination Nation,” about the false beliefs keeping people stuck, from fear of failure and success to childhood shame, and how to trace avoidance back to its earliest roots.

The Normal and the Unusual June 24, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Identity & The Self

What makes a person abnormal? Armand DiMele walks through the criteria psychiatry uses to define abnormality, from maladaptivity to cultural norms, then turns to paraphilias, hidden secrets, and the shame that grows the harder we work to conceal them. Callers share their own experiences of feeling outside the norm.

The Psychology of Financial Fear April 15, 2008

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

Fear of financial ruin runs deeper than money, Armand DiMele argues, touching the soul itself. Callers share job loss, mounting debt, and creeping shame, while Armand connects compulsive buying disorder, depression-era mentality, and the surprising opportunity hardship can offer to relationships.

The Pressure of Power March 11, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Society, Culture & Current Events

Why do powerful people sabotage themselves? Armand DiMele uses the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal as a lens to examine the crushing psychological pressure of public power, the unconscious drive toward self-destruction as relief, and how personal histories with infidelity shape the stones people throw at others.

The Habit of Making Excuses January 24, 2008

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Personal Growth & Change

Excuses block growth by turning avoidance into belief. Armand DiMele traces the impulse to dodge responsibility from the Garden of Eden to the modern workplace, arguing that owning your mistakes builds confidence and integrity far more than clever deflection ever could. Callers explore criticism, fear, and defensiveness in real time.

How Close Is Close Enough January 17, 2008

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

Fear of intimacy comes down to three wounds: abandonment, betrayal, and rejection learned in childhood. Armand DiMele argues that most people want the right things from the wrong people, that parents trained us to hide our true feelings, and that real closeness begins with releasing judgment rather than demanding honesty.

The Invisible Outhouse We Carry December 27, 2007

Host: Armand DiMele
Category: Identity & The Self, Personal Growth & Change

We all carry invisible psychological shields, shaped in childhood, that distort how we see ourselves and others. Armand uses the Mr. Bean outhouse gag as a running metaphor for these blind spots, then takes calls from listeners who recognize their own, from chronic tension to conflict avoidance to a lifelong pattern of addiction.

Finding the Noble Self with Stephanie Roth-Goldberg December 13, 2007

Host: Armand DiMeleGuests: Stephanie Roth
Category: Emotions & Inner Life, Personal Growth & Change

Every dysfunctional behavior hides a noble intent. Armand DiMele and Stephanie Roth-Goldberg, LCSW explore this idea through vivid examples, from the alcoholic who drinks to get to work, to the teenager selling drugs so his mother can quit her second job, revealing how focusing on the wellness rather than the illness can transform how people see themselves.