The Joe Martino Show

What if everything you think you know about therapy isn’t quite right? And what if therapists themselves are getting some important things wrong? Can anyone be a therapist? Isn’t it just talking? In episode 365 of The Joe Martino Show, Erica and I pull back the curtain on the world of therapy. From Hollywood myths to uncomfortable truths about our own profession, we’re talking about what really ha...

There are millions of blended families in America, and we don’t talk nearly enough about the challenges that exist inside these homes. Should step-siblings date? What kinds of conflict might look like ordinary family drama but are actually common challenges in blended families? How should parents respond? And what potential dangers exist in blended homes that aren't typically present in nuclear fa...

What if our efforts to help people are teaching them they can’t handle life? Nobody wants to watch someone they love struggle. But when we keep removing discomfort, lowering expectations, or stepping in to make everything easier, what are we actually teaching them about themselves? This week, Erica and I talk about how accommodation culture can hurt the very people it’s meant to help. Where is the...

This week Erica and I talk about the power of pursuit in a relationship. So many marriages start falling apart before either person realizes it because pursuing each other slowly falls behind other things. Often, they’re good things. Important things. They’re just not more important than the relationship. So how do couples avoid becoming roommates? How do they keep the passion going? How do they k...

Are guys’ trips and girls’ trips killing marriages? Erica recently watched a clip from an attorney who made that argument. When she told me about it, I’ll admit, I thought he had a point. Now, we’re not talking about the occasional weekend away with your friends. Friendships matter. Having a life outside of your marriage is healthy. But what happens when your friends consistently get the best of y...

September is Suicide Awareness Month. Approximately 2,000 people die each day by suicide worldwide. Approximately 134 people a day die by suicide in America. Suicide affects three groups of people: those who live with someone who uses the term as a threat, those who wrestle with it themselves, and those who survive the loss of someone they love to suicide. In today’s episode, Erica and I talk to a...

If you’ve read American Prometheus, you know that after helping create the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer began warning the government about the consequences of the nuclear arms race. Rather than seriously considering what he had to say, powerful people worked to discredit and silence him. Reading the book got me thinking about how often I see a version of this in the therapy room. As humans,...

Was Erica missing her privilege in a previous episode? Some listeners thought so and wrote in to tell us. After we deal with that, we look at the University of Michigan’s new grading system for freshmen! No Failing! Pass or No Credit is the only option now. We can’t say you failed. The stated purpose is to “curb the mental health crisis.” But does this work? Are we helping students or hurting them...

We seem to be living in a world that has lost kindness. And everyone seems to have someone else to blame. But what does it actually mean to be kind in a relationship? When does trying to help, correct, or influence someone cross the line into control? What’s the difference between critiquing, criticism, and nagging? We don’t want fake positivity. We don’t want relationships where no one can say wh...

About one in six kids in America lives in a blended family, and stepchildren are often one of the top stressors listed for second marriages. After the pain of a divorce, you’ve fallen in love again, and the kids are threatening to ruin it. What do you do? How do you parent as a stepparent? How do you allow your kids to grieve what happened in the divorce? What if they openly tell you they don’t li...

356. The Back-to-School Battle: Anxiety, Stress, and Avoidance by Joe Martino

**Please Note: Some podcast players were unable to load the full version of this episode, therefore I am reloading it here. ** If you haven't heard, child estrangement with adult parents is on the rise. A recent research article reported that nearly 30% of parents who are estranged from their children blame therapy. But, is that a good way to construct a study? What does it mean for us today as we...

If you haven't heard, child estrangement with adult parents is on the rise. A recent research article reported that nearly 30% of parents who are estranged from their children blame therapy. But, is that a good way to construct a study? What does it mean for us today as we try to live and be fully human? In today's episode, my wife joins the show and we discuss both the clinical side and the perso...

Summer is almost over. For many that means it’s time to buy new spikes, water bottles and fall sports gear. It’s time to send half of the family north for one game, while the other half goes south for a different game. It’s time to either eat late at night at home or in a fast food joint. It's time for life to speed up to chaos level (if it ever slowed down). And it’s for a good cause. Youth sport...

Today's episode takes us all the way back to episode one as part of my somewhat sporadic summer review series. We're revisiting one of the foundational ideas behind almost everything I do as a counselor, consultant, and in my own relationships: emotional security. What is emotional security? Why does it matter? How does it change the way we handle conflict, build trust, and grow stronger relations...

You hear it regularly. I know I do. “I don’t feel safe.” And that can be important. Manipulation exists, Abuse, and real danger is out there. But what if we've started using the language of safety to describe something else entirely? What if we actually confuse discomfort at being disagreed with or being held responsible for our actions with feeling unsafe? In this episode, Joe explores the growin...

Summer is almost over. What do you want to do because you're afraid people will judge you? What are you afraid to try because you might fail? Life is so short. Make sure you live it. If this resonates with you, this is what I talk about in today’s episode of the Joe Martino Show.

Today's episode deals with grief. How do we experience it? How do we live fully when we feel heartbroken and our world is falling apart around us? A friend of mine recently lost his son who was trying to save someone else. Twenty-four hours later, another friend lost her dad unexpectedly. Grief and sorrow is part of life and comes for us all. Originally recorded and shared almost two years ago whe...

Today's episode is a replay of a previous episode on constructs. What are they? How do they help us? How do they potentially hurt us? If you've heard it before, may it serve as a fresh reminder. If you've never heard it before, may it bring you something to chew on and grow from. From the original episode description: Constructs serve as the scaffolding of our understanding, akin to mental models,...

The current conversations around phones and our kids reminds me a lot of past conversations around our kids, spanking and what it means to train our children. There was a lot of all or nothing fallacies thrown around back then. I think that’s happening often today with the conversation around phones and our kids. Phones are not going away. Social media is not disappearing. AI is only becoming more...

Mental health diagnoses can be incredibly helpful. They can bring understanding, reduce shame, and help people find the support they need. But somewhere along the way, many of us started turning diagnoses into identities. In this episode of The Joe Martino Show, I talk about the growing tendency to define ourselves by anxiety, trauma, ADHD, depression, and other labels instead of seeing them as pa...

People love blaming phones for everything. Social media is ruining kids. Technology is destroying families. Phones are why people don’t want children anymore. But what if that explanation is far too shallow? In this Mental Health Awareness Month episode of The Joe Martino Show, I push back on the growing tendency to blame objects for deeply human problems. This conversation explores why technology...

Life gets hard. That’s not a surprise. What throws people off is how they think we handle that reality. Most people slow down, overthink, and wait for things to feel better before they move. And that’s exactly where they get stuck. In this episode, I breaks down why growth doesn’t come from feeling ready, motivated, or certain. It comes from movement. Even small movement. Especially small movement...

Mental Health Awareness Month is everywhere. But awareness alone doesn’t change anything. In this episode, I take a look at what helps beyond awareness. There is not vague advice nor is there an overcomplicated systems. Just simple, practical ways to start improving your mental health right now. You’ll learn why waiting to feel better keeps people stuck, how your daily habits shape your mental sta...

Everybody’s ex is a narcissist. Your boss is toxic. Your parent is a psychopath. At least that’s what the internet would have you believe. In today’s episode, Joe tackles the rise of weaponized psychology labels and what happens when real clinical terms become everyday insults. He explores why people reach for words like narcissist, gaslighting, toxic, and sociopath after painful relationships, wh...