New Books in Psychology

Marshall Poe

Episodes

Mentioned books

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Mar 29, 2026 • 50min

Nikita Kaur Simpson, "Tension: Mental Distress and Embodied Inequality in the Western Himalayas" (Duke UP, 2026)

Nikita Kaur Simpson, a medical anthropologist at SOAS who studies structural dimensions of mental distress, discusses the Gaddi peoples' concept of “tension.” Short scenes explore how tension shows in bodies and homes, how women disproportionately absorb it, sensory methods for studying it, and how rivalry, land loss, and modern change shape everyday distress.
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Mar 26, 2026 • 47min

167* Addiction with Gina Turrigiano (EF, JP)

Gina Turrigiano, a Brandeis neuroscientist known for work on brain plasticity and sleep, joins to explore addiction through neuroscience, anthropology, and literature. They compare everyday habits to severe addiction. They discuss brain ruts, tolerance and withdrawal, social context and supply, and how different books illuminate desire, pleasure, and the opioid crisis.
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Mar 23, 2026 • 35min

Steven Pinker, "When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life" (Scribner, 2025)

Steven Pinker, cognitive scientist and linguist and author of When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows, explores how common knowledge shapes money, power, and everyday life. He discusses signals like laughter, blushing, and eye contact. He also examines strategic ambiguity, protests and censorship, and how online bubbles and rituals create or block mass coordination.
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Mar 18, 2026 • 31min

Robert J. Coplan, "The Joy of Solitude: How to Reconnect with Yourself in an Overconnected World" (Simon and Schuster, 2025)

Robert J. Coplan, psychologist and author who studies solitude and social connection, shares why alone time can be restorative. He explains different kinds of solitude, how to avoid rumination, and why brief daily solitude boosts creativity and emotional balance. He also examines personality, cultural views, and when alone time becomes unhealthy.
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10 snips
Mar 8, 2026 • 1h 3min

Tibetan Medicine for Meditators, with Tawni Tidwell

Tawni Tidwell, a biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medicine doctor, blends traditional Sowa Rigpa with neuroscience. She discusses how Tibetan medicine frames meditation challenges. Conversations cover tailoring practice to body constitutions, practical retreat first aid, community and teacher roles, and reconnecting with land and embodied healing.
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Feb 25, 2026 • 1h 9min

Mari Ruti and Gail N. Newman, "The Creative Self: Beyond Individualism" (Columbia UP, 2025)

Gail N. Newman, Harold J. Henry Professor of German and Comparative Literature at Williams College, is a scholar of subjectivity and psychoanalytic readings of literature. She discusses how neoliberal pressure erodes solitude and creativity. Short, sharp conversations explore Winnicott and Milner, the value of emptiness, friendship as holding, and small acts of resistance against perpetual productivity.
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Feb 6, 2026 • 1h 3min

Black Beryl: The Modern Remaking of Kundalini, with Marleen Thaler

Marleen Thaler, a historian of religion at the University of Vienna and Graz, traces Kundalini’s journey from a Hindu goddess to a modern psychiatric and spiritual concept. She explores Theosophy’s translations, Gopi Krishna’s distressing account, 1970s Kundalini clinics and therapies, the Spiritual Emergence Network, and how religious and medical vocabularies clash over meaning and care.
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Jan 31, 2026 • 30min

Federico Alvarez Igarzábal and Emmanuel Guardiola, "Video Games and Mental Health: Perspectives of Psychology and Game Design" (Transcript Publishing, 2024)

Emmanuel Guardiola, academic bridging psychology and game design, and Federico Alvarez Igarzábal, game designer turned researcher, discuss how games engage mental health themes. They compare therapeutic applied games and auteur entertainment, recount COVID's role in the field, explore autobiographical and empathetic representations, and consider ethical, design, and clinical collaboration challenges.
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Jan 26, 2026 • 1h 8min

Louis Rothschild, "Rapprochement Between Fathers and Sons: Breakdowns, Reunions, Potentialities" (Karnac, 2023)

Louis Rothschild, clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist, reflects on father–son bonds and cultural shifts. He questions rigid gender binaries and explores what makes a "good enough" father. Conversations touch on masculinity among men, tenderness and power, mastery rituals like learning to ride a bike, and how attachment can be reworked rather than severed.
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Jan 23, 2026 • 27min

Daisy Fancourt, "Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives" (Cornerstone Press, 2026)

Daisy Fancourt, a Professor of Psychobiology & Epidemiology at University College London, explores how arts can significantly enhance health and well-being. She discusses the broad definition of arts engagement, from culinary to horticultural, and its biological impacts like dopamine release and stress reduction. Fancourt reveals surprising benefits of dance over traditional exercise and highlights music's calming effects during surgeries. She also addresses barriers to arts access, emphasizing the need for policy changes to promote arts as a tool for public health.

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