Bear Psychology Podcast

Disconnected People in positions of power make the world more dangerous for everyone – Bear Psychology Radio hosted by Dr. Anna Baranowsky with guest Dr. Steve Taylor. Disconnected people have the tendency to gravitate toward power.  When Disconnected people rule in positions of power societies trend toward patriarchal, hierarchical and warlike. In contrast, societies with connected leaders trend...

Experiencing stressful or traumatic experiences during childhood leads us to develop certain coping mechanisms to get us through. While these strategies might have helped us feel secure when younger, they often fail us in adulthood. Richard Brouillette's book " Your Coping Skills Aren't Working: How to Break Free from the Habits that Once Helped You But Now Hold You Back " offers an evidence-based...

Raheel Raza, a Muslim Canadian born in Pakistan, migrated to Canada in 1988, has a unique perspective on what is happening right now in the Israel-Hamas war and her reflections on misinformation and what Peace would take.  She has visited Israel 13 times in the 16 years. In her National Post Article  "I'm a Muslim and I love Israel. Here's why"  published in February 2023, Raza details what she ha...

What does it mean to lose someone so close to you that your world will never be the same? What if this happens when the whole world is locked down during a global Pandemic, a collective trauma?  How do we navigate terrible loss with great compassion and love?  Journalist Mitchell Consky has something important to share with us about this based on personal experience. During the worst of the COVID...

After 20 years in practice, Dr. Jonice Webb noticed the painful struggle of people who grew up in homes where they were emotionally neglected.  She identified this neglect as an "invisible factor" that continued to affect adults often leaving them feeling depleted and dissatisfied or what she described as "Running on Empty". In Dr. Webb's books "Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional...

Recovery from trauma is not simply about healing the mind but about healing the body as well. Often the approach when treating trauma is solely focused on the mental and emotional effects and fails to address the physiological imbalances that trauma leaves behind on our bodies. In Dr. Arielle Schwartz's newest book "Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery: Applying the Principles of Polyvagal Theory...

Every wonder why you make poor food choices? Have you ever tried a new diet just to end up miserable and eating even more than before? Kim Shapira will help us understand how to put an end to disordered eating habits and improving your health and happiness in the process. Shapira recognizes that unhealthy food habits can occur as a result of life stressors and old patterns of self-soothing.  Her w...

I know you are creative and innovative at your core. However, most of us just don't know how to access the deep wealth of creativity that sits inside.  Dr. Ronald Alexander's book "Core Creativity: The Mindful Way to Unlock Your Creative Self"  guides you through using mindfulness practices to train your mind so that it more easily opens the portal to core creativity: the unconscious mind. I am re...

Disconnected people have the tendency to gravitate toward power.  When Disconnected people rule in positions of power societies trend toward patriarchal, hierarchical and warlike. In contrast, societies with connected leaders trend toward egalitarian, democracy and peace. Although most people have a deep need to be connected, life events/upbringing and trauma exposure can interfere in this profoun...

We all want to feel free to be our true selves and live in a way that feel authentic.  I want to live my life to the fullest and I imagine you do as well.  Despite this, we can get sidetracked by demands and expectations that throw us off our true gifts and passions.  Instead we might follow the preferences and aspirations that society, family, and friends have for us, rather than what we truly wa...

There are times when someone describes in detail a relationship that seems unkind, unhealthy and even dangerous.  Or maybe we have experienced this personally in a relationship with a person we thought would be a wonderful partner to begin with only to realize after falling deeply in love that this person is self-centered, arrogant, attention seeking and lacks basic empathy and consideration for o...

Across North America, almost half of all marriages will end in divorce or separation. Even though divorce is a complex process that requires legal, psychological and financial considerations, there may be ways to make it just a bit less painful. Nanci Smith's book "Untangling Your Marriage: A Guide to Collaborative Divorce" attempts to dispel some negative messaging about divorce and show us that...

We may believe that asylums are a thing of the past but practices of enforced psychiatric confinement continue today, much to our surprise. Author Wipond, argues that, now more than ever, North Americans are being forced into treatment and involuntarily committed supposedly "for their own benefit." Rob Wipond's book "Your Consent Is Not Required" gives us a look into the psychiatric practices of f...

In a house full of turmoil, sometimes the person who you hope has your back may become your enemy. Sisters Ronni Tichenor and Jennie Weaver know this better than most. In their book "Healing Begins with Us" they share their journey in overcoming childhood abuse that pitted the two against one another.  In the book they discuss how they healed and strengthened their sibling bond after a tumultuous...

Most of us are stressed these days and don't know how to manage it. While stress is an inevitable part of life, it doesn't have to take over our lives. Dr. Doni Wilson's book "Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health" walks us through identifying our unique type of stress and the best ways to manage it to make stress actually work for us. Listen to our conversation with naturopath & author Dr. Doni W...

Are you interested in adding mindfulness, meditation or contemplative exercises into your life to help you manage the demands of daily living or better manage stress and anxiety?  If your answer is yes, then this show will prove to be a perfect fit.  I am excited myself.  I have been a bit lazy with my meditation practice lately and looking forward to getting some guidance myself! Carla is a lawye...

Not everyone has a picture-perfect childhood. In fact, some of us grow up in homes where our parents need parenting or we have to parent ourselves.  Dr. Lindsay Gibson's book "Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents" helps you overcome the crushing role of catering to parents who were (for whatever reasons) not up to the job of parenting. Dr. Lindsay Gibson is clinical psychologist, author,...

If you have ever fallen into negative patterns of action or thoughts that fail you often AND you identify as male (or know a man you want to better understand) then this self-help guide provides humorous and relevant instruction.  David and Corey write this book together as a patient & therapist duo with insight into the pitfalls and possible strategies to deal with 4 primary destructive patterns...

Surviving a violent or abusive relationship can leave us broken hearted and in need of healing. Dr. Amelia Kelley & Kendall Ann Combs' book " What I Wish I Knew: Surviving and Thriving after an Abusive Relationship " offers strength, guidance and clarity on this difficult life experience. The book covers how a dangerous relationship can look like a fairy tale at the beginning only to unravel into...

If you have struggled with a serious depression or PTSD that does not resolve, even after trying everything, then you might have considered Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy.  This might involve a plant medicine like Ayahuasca, Psilocybin or maybe MDMA or Ketamine therapy.  Whichever approach you might have investigated you probably have noticed that there are huge costs, very little professional...

It seems clear to me, that if we are constantly striving to experience  only pleasure  we will certainly land in a hurting world of pain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (or chemical messenger, which the brain produces) that plays a big role in the experience of pleasure. Instant hits of pleasure can keep us hooked into a cycle of gratification that results in an escalating need for reward, but ins...

Dr. Taylor is a senior lecturer in psychology at Leeds Beckett University, and the chair of the Transpersonal Psychology section at the British Psychological Society. He is also the bestselling author of The Calm Center, The Leap and the Clear Light. His work has been described by Eckhart Tolle as "an important contribution to the shift in consciousness which is happening on our planet at present....

Writing can be used as a powerful tool for self-healing.  We all have a unique journey as we grow and evolve.  The beauty of the practice of writing is that it is available to help us anytime and anywhere. Albert Flynn DeSilver is a gifted writer and author coach.  He provides online programmes for exactly this type of experience and opens the door to honest dialogue for healing in his work. His p...

Dr. Cammy Froude has a very unique perspective on the cross-section between medical and mental health and trauma recovery. She was a Postdoctoral fellow in Medical Family Therapy (University of Colorado) and has a Ph. D. in Human Development and family studies, with a specialization in trauma and health. This is a particularly important combination, as at any time we may find ourselves needing to...

Every moment is an opportunity to learn something valuable about ourselves. Let's be honest though, it can also be hard to be focused on the little moments in life, and instead, we may often take life for granted. We may tune out and waste precious experiences focusing instead on negative, unproductive thoughts.  I know I am guilty of this at times. So how do we capture what is really meaningful a...