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.
Some people are wired to seek more risk, more novelty, more intensity, and it comes down to gene length. Armand DiMele and co-host Roberta Maria Atti break down how dopamine receptor efficiency, inherited through long or short gene sequences, shapes attention, risk-taking, sexuality, and vulnerability to addiction, and how stress hormones can actually switch genes on and off.
Chronic stress, hostility, and depression are stronger predictors of heart disease than most people realize, accounting for a significant share of cardiac risk. Dr. Austin Hayes, a clinical psychologist working with cardiac patients at Mount Sinai, explains how personality, social isolation, and loss of control drive heart disease and how optimism and support speed recovery.
Thinness is socially prized but psychologically understudied. Armand DiMele and nutritionist Roberta Maria dig into the BMI research linking low body weight to higher suicide risk and lower serotonin, then argue that extreme thinness is a ‘being disorder’ as much as an eating disorder, one that rarely gets the clinical attention it deserves.
Can the brain actually grow new cells, and does stress physically prevent it? Armand and molecular biologist Christine Ulrich examine neurogenesis research from Princeton and Yale, explaining how chronic stress and poverty reshape brain anatomy, and why doing something new every day may matter more than we think.
The holidays bring more psychological distress than any other time of year, and Armand DiMele offers practical strategies for navigating them. Topics range from seasonal affective disorder and family dinner blow-ups to the Italian phrase “stataziti” (zip it), loneliness, and a caller’s anxious child.
Food is not just fuel for many people but a mood-altering drug, and Armand DiMele argues the difference is rooted in brain chemistry and early conditioning. Drawing on research into serotonin, sugar dependency, and stress eating, he shows how grief, anger, and childhood comfort rituals wire us toward specific foods.
Maternal depression affects millions of mothers yet remains largely hidden behind the stigma of admitting struggle. Tracy Thompson, author of “The Ghost in the House,” joins Armand to discuss how depression intersects with motherhood, the genetics of vulnerability, what a mother’s typical day actually looks like, and why men need to understand this too.
