When is a mild case of a disorder more dangerous than the full-blown version? Armand DiMele argues that the ‘almost psychopath,’ charming and high-functioning but lacking empathy, causes far more harm than the obvious criminal. He connects this to betrayal, neediness, and why the most vulnerable people are most at risk.
Armand DiMele and Lisa Arnone, LCSW break down a four-part framework of thinking styles, concrete sequential, concrete random, abstract sequential, and abstract random, showing how each shapes personality, stress responses, and the fit between therapist and client. The conversation ends on trust as the core of healing.
Trust is not a virtue to be automatically granted but a skill built through experience and self-knowledge. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, argue that rage, self-doubt, and fear of one’s own reactions are the real barriers to trust, and that radical honesty in relationships matters more than blind faith in others.
Family secrets don’t just hide the truth, they divide families, freeze emotional development, and corrode trust for generations. Armand DiMele and Linda Vanella, LCSW-R, walk through four ways secrets damage families and offer practical guidance on breaking destructive triangles, with callers sharing their own experiences.
Why do we sometimes refuse to see betrayal even when it’s right in front of us? Armand DiMele examines betrayal trauma, drawing on Jennifer Freyd’s research to explain how the brain suppresses painful truths when a relationship is central to our sense of self. Callers share their own struggles with trust and control.
Most of us carry a story about how others see us, and that story is often wrong. Armand DiMele examines the gap between self-image and social reality, touching on trustworthiness, sarcasm as a defense, online dating personas, schadenfreude, and what it would take to simply be yourself.
Why do couples end up screaming about toothpaste? Armand DiMele argues that the real fight always happened days earlier and went unnoticed. He traces how unspoken irritation builds into passive aggression, how unmet needs distort perception, and why infidelity is often just an exit from a conversation nobody knew how to have.
The questions we ask others are rarely the questions we really need to answer. Armand DiMele argues that most of our probing, deflecting, and loaded questions in relationships mask a single deeper fear: am I safe? Callers explore jealousy, marital uncertainty, and longing through this lens.
Jealousy poisons relationships yet has deep evolutionary roots. Armand DiMele and Stephanie D’Ambra, LCSW trace the emotion from its origins in mate guarding and animal behavior through its cultural history, then break down the A-B-C jealousy triangle and how self-doubt, dominance, and fear of abandonment drive it. Callers share real struggles with trust and infidelity.
Most of us say we want the truth, but go to great lengths to avoid it. Armand DiMele and guests Dr. Sherry Siegel, M.D. and Catherine Altieri, LCSW examine what happens when someone must deliver unwelcome news, covering everything from bad breath to terminal diagnosis, and why doctors, friends, and partners so often fall silent.
