Psychologists Off the Clock

Michael Herold, a Vienna-based confidence trainer and ACT coach who runs workshops and teaches social skills through roleplaying. He explains why waiting for the perfect mindset stalls action. He reframes anxiety as a passenger you can still move with. He dismisses social scripts and promotes low-stakes comfort-zone challenges to practice courage and build confidence.

Chris Moore, developmental psychologist and author of The Power of Guilt, explores how guilt signals that a valued relationship may be harmed. He recounts a life-changing accident, traces guilt from childhood to caregiving, and discusses apology, forgiveness, manipulation, restorative justice, and collective responsibility. Brief, thought-provoking takes on why guilt matters in shaping repair and connection.

Julia Minson, Harvard public policy professor and founder of the Constructive Disagreement Lab, studies why disagreements escalate. She explains why trying to win backfires. She describes naive realism, the gap between thinking and showing receptiveness, and the HEAR language framework. She shares stories and metaphors that show curiosity can restore willingness to keep talking.

Kerry Makin-Byrd, a clinical psychologist and burnout expert, shares a simple illustrated toolkit for moments when thinking feels impossible. She explains how overwhelm shows up in body and mind. Short practices to calm the nervous system, shift perspective with self-compassion, and take one small values-aligned step are highlighted.

Jill Stoddard, psychologist, bariatric coach, and TEDx speaker, shares her personal weight journey and work with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. She discusses choosing gastric bypass, life after major weight change, cultural stigma around medical weight tools, and therapeutic strategies like values work and experiential craving practices. Short, candid conversations about body judgment, health motives, and long-term maintenance.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, happiness researcher and author, and Harry Reis, relationship scientist on intimacy, discuss why people can be loved but not feel loved. They explore how being truly seen and understood matters, how small mindset shifts and going first change connection, and why stress, attachment patterns, and misread gestures block feeling cared for.

Leslie John, a Harvard Business School behavioral scientist and author studying self-disclosure, explores the surprising social power of revealing more about yourself. She discusses why we hold back, how slight vulnerability sparks reciprocity, techniques to move past small talk, and when sharing helps or harms in friendships and at work.

Ingrid Clayton, a licensed clinical psychologist and author focused on relational trauma, joins to explore fawning and people-pleasing. She explains how fawning develops as a survival response, how it hides in success, and why reconnecting with the body is key. Conversation covers beginning to 'unfawn,' setting boundaries, expecting backlash, and small practices to reclaim authenticity.

Allison Daminger, a sociologist at UW–Madison and author of What’s on Her Mind, unpacks cognitive household labor as the invisible mental work of running a family. She explores why thinking tasks drain energy, how gender shapes who carries the load, differences across couple types, and practical ways to shift and share mental work at home and in institutions.

Elissa Strauss, journalist and cultural critic who writes about parenting and caregiving, discusses caregiving as a source of self-knowledge and meaning. She reframes care beyond sacrifice. She reviews research on when care helps or harms, explains how men’s brains and identities shift with care, and argues for structural support that integrates care into public life.