The Gaslight Effect Podcast

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Dr. Peter Salerno , licensed psychotherapist, expert on personality disorders and pathological relationships, and author of The Social Predator's Secret Playbook: Traits and Tactics of Pathological Personalities - And How to Recognize Them . Drawing on both his professional experience and personal history, Dr. Salerno explor...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Marina Tempelsman and Niccolo Aeed , comedians, writers, and filmmakers whose debut feature film, This Will Never Work , takes a darkly comedic look at family dysfunction, intervention, and the complicated stories families tell about themselves. Inspired by their own experiences organizing interventions for family members, M...

In this episode of  The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Marissa Ghavami , an advocate, actor, singer, producer, public speaker, trauma-informed coach, and founder of the nonprofit Healing TREE . Marissa shares the story of the late-adolescent trauma that shaped her life and her work: a friendship and roommate relationship that slowly became psychologically, emotionally, spiritua...

In this special episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast for the International Day of Peace , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Sasan Korangy and Vail Brokaw , co-founders of Young Leaders for Peace , a program developed in partnership with the University for Peace in Costa Rica and its New York office. Sasan and Vail share how their interest in peacebuilding began not with world leaders or international neg...

In this special re-release marking the 25th anniversary of September 11 , Dr. Robin Stern revisits her conversation with Dr. George Bonanno , professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University and author of The End of Trauma and The Other Side of Sadness . Dr. Bonanno has spent decades studying how people cope with loss, grief, and potentially traumatic events, including terrorist attacks, na...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes back Chris Shelton , author, researcher, consultant, podcaster, and host of the Speaking of Cults podcast. Chris is a former Scientologist and former Sea Org member who spent decades inside Scientology before leaving and beginning the long process of understanding what had happened to him. In this conversation, Chris shares...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Dr. Debi Silber , founder and CEO of The PBT Institute, betrayal recovery expert, researcher, speaker, author, and host of the From Betrayal to Breakthrough podcast . Dr. Silber shares the deeply personal story that led her to study betrayal: first a painful betrayal by her family, and later by her husband. Determined to und...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Lisa Sonni , author of Coming Back to Yourself: How to Rebuild Identity and Self-Trust After an Abusive Relationship , trauma bond recovery coach, and one of the most recognized voices in the conversation around abusive relationships, narcissistic abuse, gaslighting, and trauma bonds. Lisa shares how her own experience in a...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Melissa Duge Spiers , award-winning essayist, screenwriter, advocate, and author of Holy Disobedience: Sex, Sin, and Secrets in the Biggest Church No One Knows . Melissa shares her experience growing up as a fourth-generation Seventh-day Adventist in what she describes as a high-control religious system. From rigid rules aro...

For the 100th episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern turns the microphone over to a very special guest: her daughter, Melissa Wild . In this intimate and wide-ranging conversation, Melissa interviews Robin about the origins of The Gaslight Effect , the personal and professional experiences that led her to name and define gaslighting, and what it has meant to watch the term become...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Dr. Elisha Goldstein , clinical psychologist, speaker, and author of Tiny Shifts: How Emotional Health Transforms Stress, Relationships, and Longevity , for a practical and deeply grounding conversation about how small moments of awareness can change the way we move through stress, overwhelm, relationships, and even gaslight...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes her longtime friend Margot Magowan - parent coach, writer, speaker, and former co-founder of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership - for a deeply personal conversation about parenting, power dynamics, and how easily gaslighting can show up at home, even when parents mean well. Margot shares how she moved from leaders...

What happens when a parent keeps lying, and the whole family teaches you not to ask too many questions? In this episode of  The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern sits down with journalist and author Francesca Fontana to explore what happens when the stories you inherit about your family, and yourself, begin to unravel. Francesca's new memoir, The Family Snitch , traces her lifelong search...

In this episode of  The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge, exploring what it takes to stay grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Robin's guest is Scott Levy , author of Why School Boards Matter , a four-time elected public school board member in Westchester County...

In this episode of  The Gaslight Effect Podcast —part of our limited series Conversations at the Edge —Dr. Robin Stern sits down with Mo Edjlali , founder of The Mindful Leader and author of OpenMBSR: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction—Reimagining the Future of Mindfulness , for an honest conversation about what it takes to stay awake, ethical, and human in high-pressure environments. Mo shares hi...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge —a space for staying grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Inspired by Robin's ongoing dialogue with her dear friend Lynn Redleaf, the series is rooted in dignity and respect, and in the belief that making s...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge —a space for staying grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Inspired by Robin's ongoing dialogue with her dear friend Lynn Redleaf, the series is rooted in dignity, respect, and the belief that making space f...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge —a space for staying grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Inspired by Robin's ongoing dialogue with her dear friend Lynn Redleaf, the series is rooted in dignity, respect, and a commitment to resisting mani...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge —a space for staying grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Inspired by Robin's ongoing dialogue with her dear friend Lynn Redleaf, the series is rooted in a simple but urgent belief: we have to be able to ta...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern continues the limited series Conversations at the Edge —exploring what it takes to stay grounded, curious, and connected when conversations move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. Rooted in dignity and respect, the series invites us to make space for someone else's ideas without erasing, attacking, or diminishing t...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern launches a new limited series, Conversations at the Edge —exploring what it takes to stay grounded, curious, and connected when discussions move into charged, uncertain, or deeply divided territory. The goal isn't to "win" an argument, but to understand how we can remain in relationship without erasing, attacking, or diminishing the...

In this special start-of-year episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern sits down with her producer, Mike Lenz, for a more personal conversation, reflecting on 2025 and looking ahead to 2026. Robin shares what felt most meaningful across the past year—especially the human connections that have shaped her work at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, in her clinical practice, a...

In this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern welcomes Zibby Owens —bestselling author, podcaster, and the founder/CEO of Zibby Media —for a conversation about the stories we're told, the stories we tell ourselves, and how those narratives can help ground us in truth. Zibby has built a women-led, book-loving ecosystem—spanning a boutique publishing house, a beloved independent b...

In this energizing episode of  The Gaslight Effect Podcast , Dr. Robin Stern is joined by Dr. Christina Cipriano —associate professor at the Yale Child Study Center, Director of the Education Collaboratory at Yale, award-winning psychologist, and one of the leading voices in social and emotional learning (SEL) and the science of how children learn and thrive. Chris's work centers on making schools...

On this episode of The Gaslight Effect Podcast, Dr. Robin Stern sits down with  Dr. Natalie Fabert , a psychologist, faculty member at Arizona State University, and board member and Director of Continuing Education at the Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion . Dr. Fabert specializes in helping adults heal from trauma, abuse, and coercive control, especially in cultic and spiritually abusive environ...