The Curious Introvert

Why are Americans paying MORE for healthcare with WORSE results?   Dr. John Abramson was a family physician for 20 years who left his practice in 2002 to devote himself to researching the commercial takeover of medical knowledge. He has since served as an expert in medical litigation, served as a consultant to the FBI & US Dept of Justice & authored two books – Overdosed America & Sick...

Does “tough on crime” actually work? Could Ban the Box policies backfire?   Jen Doleac, PhD, is Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy maximizing evidence based policy & minimizing injustice. She is an economist & the author of The Science of Second Chances who prefers the reliable lens of data over personal values & has a particular interest in...

She used to ask "how could anybody do that?" Then it happened to her family.   Laura & Aaron Beck were devoted parents who, like many, were in the habit of judging other parents who left their child in the back seat of a car until the day it happened to them. In this episode, Laura shares the circumstances leading up to the accident, her new perspective on parenting, how you can prev...

Is the skepticism around breast implant illness driven by science or the cosmetic surgery industry? What protocols (for keeping & removing) are working for patients?   Robert Whitfield, MD is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a board-certified breast explant specialist who has performed over 2,000 explant procedures, published 15 peer reviewed publications & testified at the 20...

Could your mouthwash be causing high blood pressure? Can your spit predict cancer?   Nikki Eisenhauer is a licensed professional counselor, chemical dependency counselor, and professional psychotherapist. She is also an incest & abuse survivor.    In this episode, we discuss if trigger warnings are a tool for healing or a crutch for victimhood, we explore symptoms that your entire childhood ma...

Could your mouthwash be causing high blood pressure? Can your spit predict cancer?   Dr. Staci Whitman is a Functional Dentist board-certified in pediatrics with additional certifications in functional medicine, integrative and naturopathic dentistry.   In this episode, she unpacks why common dental complaints like cavities & bleeding gums shouldn’t be interpreted as normal, which at-home sali...

What is it like to change your mind on something you wrote a best seller on?   Joshua Harris is the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a best-selling book in the late ’90s touting courtship as the superior way to find God’s perfect match for you & avoid the perils of sexual sin. It was a required read for many in the evangelical Christian community. In this episode, Josh shares how he changed...

Do dreams happen in our minds? What can lucid dreaming tell us about the nature of consciousness?    Dave Green is a London-based artist who creates drawings not FROM his dreams, but IN his dreams, which he re-creates upon waking. He’s the author of Doodles In the Dark: An Artist's Guide to Lucid Dreaming & has participated in lucid & precognitive dream research with my other guest, D...

Would you go to a psychic Olympics? Does psi have real-world benefits or is it just a way to make people feel like their special?   Hakim Isler served 4 years in the Army as a psi op specialist in special operations forces, is a 6th degree blackbelt in Ninjitsu, a trained remote viewer under Joe McMoneagle himself. He’s also the founder of the Psi Games, a family-friendly competition & confere...

What is orgasmic meditation? Where is the line between cutting-edge wellness & cult behavior? Is the word “cult” too divisive to be helpful?   Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist who writes for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. Gher investigative piece on OneTaste lead to the FBI investigation & eventually arrest of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz. She also...

"We made an agreement with each other that we would not eat each other no matter how hungry we got." Douglas Robertson is the author of The Last Voyage of the Lucette . He was just a teenager when his family was lost at sea for 38 days.     In this episode he shares more than just a survival story. He shares his unique coming of age story & an opportunity to recalibrate what crisis i...

What made the American funeral industry what it is today? Why do we embalm? How do societal status & funeral styles overlap?   Gary Laderman, PhD, is the Goodrich C. White Prof of Amer Religious History & Cultures at Emory University in Georgia, the author of multiple books & featured on The Mortician: an HBO documentary covering a 1980s funeral home who exploited grieving families.  ...

Is the “ick” factor of cannibalism nature or nurture? What does history tell us (& how much of it is a lie)?   Bill Schutt, a PhD zoologist & author of Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History , answers these questions by sharing the history of human cannibalism. We discuss why accounts of historic cannibalism may have been exaggerated, cannibalism in Europe, eating placenta & taking h...

This is the first of a series of episodes that feature opposing sides of a hot topic. Today it’s the a tech entrepreneur who founded a grief bot service vs a cyberpsychologist specializing in the ethics of death & the digital.   We ask, is this healing or avoidance? Can the dead consent to this? What is the potential for harm?   John Kammer is the founder of Guardian A[I]ngels, a subscription...

What exactly is considered "sexless"? What are we counting as sex? What would cause someone to not want to have sex all of a sudden?   These are all questions I unpacked with Xanet Pailet. She was a successful healthcare lawyer married to an attorney with two children. She lived in a beautiful home in NYC as well as a sexless marriage. At age 45 and no sex for over 15 years, she consider...

Can napping replace medication? How do you get your brain to slow down enough to take a nap?    Dr. Hector Rodriguez is a psychiatrist, who views naps as medicine for your brain. He is the owner of the White Butterfly Clinic in Miami, FL. With both an MD and a Masters in theology, he is a psychiatrist who treats the soul, integrating neuroimaging, psychopharmacology, and evidence-based psychothera...

Meredith for Real: the curious introvert is now The Curious Introvert! When I started this show in 2019, there were a few other shows with the words curious & introvert in them, but fewer with the name Meredith.  Now that time has passed, there’s more room in the podcast landscape for a more concise name. So, I introduce you: The curious introvert podcast. It’s still the great content you’ve c...

What’s the difference between social anxiety & social anxiety disorder? What should you do if you’re spiraling?    Dr. Ali Mattu was so socially anxious as a child, that he had selective mutism. Since then, he’s become a clinical psychologist specializing in treating anxiety disorders. Wanting to create more accessible mental health education, he created a YouTube channel with over 8.5 million...

Did the NFL cover up what they knew? Is football causing early dementia?   Mark Fainaru-Wada is an award-winning investigative reporter & journalist with ESPN. He’s also the co- author of League of Denial, the book co-written with his brother, that inspired the Frontline documentary by the same name. In this episode, you’ll hear how the discovery of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy – CTE – spa...

Is it possible to age without aches & pains? Are some people just cursed with bad genes?    Eileen Kopsaftis is a physical therapist with a Fellowship in Applied Functional Science & a nutrition educator diploma with decades of hands-on work in acute hospital care, outpatient rehab & nursing homes. She is currently serving as a chronic pain & health conditions consultant with Have...

How are these abusive teen rehab centers still open? Why are parents still sending their kids there? Can’t they be shut down?   Maia Szalavitz is an award-winning author and journalist who covers addiction and neuroscience. Her book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids , is the first comprehensive look at systemic abuse in “tough love” programs and helped s...

What do you do if you have religious trauma, but don't want to abandon your faith? Catherine Quiring is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor who specializes in helping ex-evangelicals overcome religious trauma. In this episode, she shares what that looked like for her, how to know if you have limiting thoughts leftover from controlling doctrine, how to keep your faith while you separate from sy...

If you're not happy, it means something is wrong ... right?    Dr. Loretta Breuning is a PhD researcher & author. Since becoming unconvinced by prevailing theories on human behavior, she has researched everything from monkeys to the mafia. Now she’s not only helping people hack their brain, she’s shedding light on how the altruistic outlook may be popular, but ultimately damaging.   In th...

How old is the oldest vibrator? Does self-pleasure steal affection from your partner? Carol Queen has a Ph. D. in Sexology & a passion for pleasure. She is the curator of the Good Vibrations Antique Vibrator Museum in San Francisco, CA. In this episode, she shares the origin story of the museum & explains how vibrators went from doctor’s offices to bedside tables. She also explains why par...

Dr. Neil Nathan is Board Certified in Family Medicine and Pain Management as well as a Founding Dip-low-mitt of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine & International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illnesses. He spent over 50 years treating patients with chronic conditions related to environmental factors & now dedicates himself consulting & mentorship, writing sever...