Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast

Dr. Lital Meldnik, psychiatrist in adolescent care who illustrated sublimation with a Batman example. Dr. Amanda Sekijima, child psychiatry fellow with cross-cultural movement experience, on identification and reversal. Chris D'Adana, counselor focused on transformational change, on reaction formation. Dr. Natalie Dreyfus, psychodynamic NP and clinic founder, on undoing. Dr. Katya Rene, psychiatrist working cross-culturally, on moralization. Dina Golden, PMHNP and professor, on rationalization. Dr. Jeanette Hotelling, psychodynamic PMHNP, on isolation of affect. Dr. Olga Kuznetsova, hospital psychiatrist, on compartmentalization and repression. Dr. Jason Mallow, outpatient psychiatrist, on regression and clinical formulation. They discuss mature defenses like sublimation, humor, repression, compartmentalization, isolation of affect, intellectualization, rationalization, moralization, undoing, displacement, reaction formation, identification, and reversal in vivid clinical contexts.

Danny Martino, PA with psychiatry training, links idealization/devaluation to med management. Grant Lamone, early-career psych NP, contrasts projection and empathy. April Staples, clinical psychologist, explores acting out and therapeutic responses. Heidi Lin, NP and clinic co-founder, examines splitting in systems. Johan Ortizzo, psychotherapist, covers dissociation and grounding. Sheila Coles, integrative psychotherapist, unpacks projective identification. Evan Sumisup, clinician, on sexualization as defense. Arielle Schatz-Wilderman, psychotherapist, on omnipotent control. Erica L. Reynolds, psychiatrist, on withdrawal and denial.

Fredric N. Busch, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and clinical professor, outlines a focused psychodynamic approach for clear symptom relief. He discusses identifying core problems in the first session. He highlights targeting relationships, trauma-linked over-responsibility, disavowed anger, role-play for assertiveness, and integrating behavioral change and skills training.

Franciska de Beer, researcher and PhD candidate focused on first-episode psychosis, discusses psychiatrist-driven outcome differences and why clinicians explain about 10% of symptom and functioning variance. She covers antipsychotic tapering versus maintenance, dopamine supersensitivity after strong D2 blockers, tapering strategies to avoid rebound, and sex- and menopause-related drug level differences.

Lauren Lebois, cognitive neuroscientist studying dissociation; Matthew Robinson, trauma program director treating complex trauma; Melissa Kaufman, trauma psychiatrist with lived experience of DID and recovery. They examine DID as a developmental response to repeated childhood maltreatment. They unpack controversies and media myths, review neuroscience contrasting hyperarousal and shutdown, and outline clinical signs, assessment cues, and pathways to recovery.

Dr. Blaire Heath, child psychiatrist with pharmacy and corrections experience, and Dr. Michael Cummings, forensic psychiatrist from a large state hospital, discuss how different delusion types relate to violence. They cover persecutory, Capgras, Cotard, erotomanic, jealous, somatic, and referential delusions. They also explore assessment scales, pharmacologic strategies, CBT timing, and AI risks amplifying false beliefs.

Dr. Miriam Steele, researcher, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst known for early work on reflective functioning and attachment research. She defines reflective functioning and contrasts it with empathy. They cover origins in the London Parent-Child Project, RF’s role in predicting attachment, mentalization-based treatments for BPD and eating disorders, therapist RF’s impact on outcomes, body representations, and smartphone effects on parenting.

Daniel Smith, psychotherapist and New York Times bestselling author, offers a candid tour of shame, envy, annoyance and other hard feelings. He reads childhood memories, links shame to freezing and dissociation, and explores annoyance as a temperamental sensitivity. They discuss cultural forces shaping envy, parenting against social-media comparison, and therapy as a way to reclaim connection.

Dr. Douglas Flemons, a marriage and family therapist and author, offers decades of clinical and supervisory experience. He reframes empathy as an active skill, contrasts it with sympathy, and debates cognitive versus affective empathy. Conversations cover microexpressions, translating somatic distress into language, handling suicidality and safety, and rituals to prevent vicarious trauma.

Jennifer Reid, MD, psychiatrist and author of Guilt Free, specializes in guilt, boundaries, and burnout. She explains why guilt has surged after COVID and how it differs from shame. The conversation covers childhood roots like parentification, professional moral injury, narcissism’s impact on empathy, and practical approaches such as boundary-setting, cognitive reframing, and self-compassion.