The Broken Brain

Buck Black is the Trucker's Therapist, or at least that is one of his specialties. Buck is a LCSW who provides online and in-person therapy with on-the-road truckers who might otherwise never get to see their therapist. He is also a certified sex therapist and a general practitioner in the community of Lafayette, Indiana. Lucky for me, and you (the listeners), he is also a spirited, energetic, and delightful human being. Being delightful, Buck is also involved as a volunteer with a host of community organizations, including St Christopher's Fund (a medical and support fund for truckers and their families) and the group Women in Trucking.

Raney Mills Keiley rejoins us after her long sabbatical to field your questions. Mike and I assist by making dumb jokes as she answers your questions about tricky family communication with a needy or controlling parent, and whether or not therapists are emotionally bulletproof enough that we are impervious to freaking out. Plus we fondly recall the time she made us make tinfoil statues of ourselves in an Art Therapy group. Make sure to ask your questions for our panels of therapists at #askatherapist on twitter, or tweet at me @breakabrain, or just shoot me an email at dwighthurst@gmail.com.

Dr. Calli Estes, the Addictions Coach, is the founder of the Addiction Academy and a friend of the show. She joined me today to talk about the news regarding the death of cultural icon and rock star Prince. We discuss addiction, the risk of overdose, and how shame, indulgence, and denial of the problem risk people's lives.

Michael Denniston (of the War Machine vs War Horse Podcast) has joined us before and will join us again, but never before has he joined us to discuss M Night Shyamalan and how everyone pretends they didn't love all his movies once upon a time. The emotion of Fear plays a large role in the lives of everyone. In the movie Signs, we are shown a story of an alien invasion, in which the real villain seems to be fear and an ongoing loss of faith by the main character. We discuss, riff, joke, and ponder the implications of this story as it relates to fear, narration, and the logical survival mechanism of hitting an alien with a baseball bat.

Mike Fitch & Lee Messersmith, the OG Broken Brain Gang join for an ask a therapist segment, with newcomer and therapist intern Chris Tittle! We talk about more than just Lee's new guitar, which is made out of an oilcan. We answer listener questions about relationships, incompatible sex drives, and some parenting stuff. Get your questions to our AskATherapist segment through twitter @breakabrain, email dwighthurst@gmail.com, or tweet #AskATherapist and we will assemble our panel. Listeners like this sort of thing so we plan to do an AskATherapist panel once per month on the show.

Guy Macpherson is the founder of the Trauma Therapist Project a fellow podcaster, and an expert on early childhood mental illness, trauma, and somatic sensory psychotherapy. He joins me today to discuss pointers for therapists learning to deal with trauma, the prevalence of trauma within mental illness, and treatment techniques. I can already tell Guy will be a good friend of the show, hear his first Broken Brain interview right here, right now. Also give him a listen on his podcast, The Trauma Therapist Podcast, and check out his website and FaceBook Group.

It's our addiction look, at the top of this wonderful month of April. What better way to start it than by reading an article by author, psychologist, and relationship expert Jenev Caddell! In her article "Busting 5 Common Mythes About Addiction," Dr. Caddell captures some dangerous and important misnomers about substance use, abuse, and dependance. I review 3 out of the 5 myths (go read the rest yourself lazybones) and add my own thoughts and insights for your education and enjoyment. Have a good start to April!

Clay Cockrell of the Online Counseling Podcast and Walk and Talk Therapy return to our show to discuss his new search database for online therapists. In creating this new service and hosting his own podcast Clay has done a TON of research into Online Psychotherapy, the newer type of telehealth in the mental health industry. Clay is the founder of Walk and Talk practice, a form of outdoor counseling he practices in Central Park, NY. He is also a pioneer in the field of online counseling. He is offering a discount for therapists who are listeners of The Broken Brain Podcast and wish to list themselves in his Online Therapist Database. Give this episode a listen for the special sale code.

Arianna Jeret, relationship expert, frequent guest and friend of the show, returns to discuss the idea of "rebuilding," a life following divorce. We discuss whether or not the concept of rebuilding is accurate or helpful, the components to emotional pain following a break up, flexibility vs rigidity in communication, and many other parts of relationships, marriage, and divorce. Follow Ariana on YourTango or The Good Men Project!

We have been focusedon self confidence a LOT lately on the Broken Brain, and I found this recording of Mike Fitch and I discussing the clinical elements of confidence, what role it plays, and how mental illness can impact it. We discuss the differences between self-esteem, self-worth, and other forms of self-lovin' (self-loving for oyu search engines out there).