CTA Podcast

"Our children need a hero and it's us" - Lydia Lydia is a mother from California whose daughter fell victim to gender ideology during her very sensitive and impressionable adolescent years. She tells her story about her daughter's social struggles, and how her school, a peer at school and online gender activism induced and exacerbated her gender dysphoria. But Lydia also relate...

Dr. Lucas Klein is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and former forensic psychologist. He is an author in psychiatric research, psychological testing and public health, and the owner and host of his podcast, Real Clear Podcast.  In this fourth and final instalment in a multi-episode series, Christine, Jaco and Lucas critically analyse the third and fourth chapters of the controversial, expens...

Birgit Ewald is a UK-based counsellor, clinical supervisor, and lecturer in counselling. She has a longstanding interest in psycho-spiritual development, the interface between psychology and spirituality and the nature of relationships. She is currently researching the therapist's experience of therapeutic presence, in particular the transpersonal/spiritual dimension of presence. Birgit is th...

In this fascinating interview, we discuss Bret Alderman’s latest book, Eternal Youth and the Myth of Deconstruction – A mythical reading of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler. We discuss what is meant by deconstruction, and paradoxically notice that deconstruction itself is a psychological enactment of deeper mythical narratives. The mythical narrative identified is captured in the stories of Icaru...

Laurent Holt is an accountant and adjunct educator. In 2020 she enrolled in a clinical mental health counselling programme at a university in the south east of the United States. What she experienced during her training was something she did not sign up for. In this episode we discuss Lauren's experiences, which are very similar to other students who have spoken out about Woke counselling tra...

Dr. Lucas Klein is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and former forensic psychologist. He is an author in psychiatric research, psychological testing and public health, and the owner and host of his podcast, Real Clear Podcast.  In this third instalment in a multi-episode series, Christine, Jaco and Lucas critically analyse the second chapter of the controversial, expensive and problematic Ho...

Amy Gallagher is a psychotherapist and outspoken critic of the Woke ideological capture of the NHS in Britain. She participated in a panel discussion at the Battle of Ideas Festival in London, where she highlighted the historical precursors to the current brand of Critical Social Justice within psychotherapy.  Battle of Ideas Festival: https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/politicisation-of-the...

Prof. Jon Mills is a Canadian philosopher, psychoanalyst, and clinical psychologist. He has been an outspoken critic against the troubling turn psychological and psychoanalytic organisations have made when they adopted the radically illiberal identitarian positions of Critical Social Justice.  Jaco and Jon discuss various problematic developments within prominent psychoanalytic organisations over...

Carole Sherwood (DClinPsy) is a retired UK-based clinical psychologist, co-director at Critical Therapy Antidote and co-author of the book, Cynical Therapies. Carole was part of the panel discussion at the Battle of Ideas Festival in London discussing the rapid radicalisation and politicisation of psychotherapy. She discusses what this anti-therapeutic style of therapy involves and compares this t...

Dr. Howard S. Schwartz is an emeritus professor of organizational behaviour at Oakland University. A former student of Herbert Marcuse, Howard started formulating what he observed in organisations and Western society since the 1990s in psychoanalytic terms. He is the author of several academic papers and books, including Narcissistic Process and Corporate Decay (1990), Society Against Itself: Poli...

Dr. Lucas Klein is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and former forensic psychologist. He is an author in psychiatric research, psychological testing and public health, and the owner and host of his podcast, Real Clear Podcast.  In this second instalment in a multi-episode series, Christine, Jaco and Lucas continue to critically analyse and discuss the controversial, expensive and problematic...

Dr. Lucas Klein is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and former forensic psychologist. He is an author in psychiatric research, psychological testing and public health, and the owner and host of his podcast, Real Clear Podcast. This is the first in a multi-episode series where Christine, Jaco and Lucas will critically analyse and discuss the controversial, expensive and problematic Holmes Rep...

Dr. Lucas Klein is a clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst and former forensic psychologist. He is an author in psychiatric research, psychological testing and public health, and the host of the Real Clear Podcast. In this episode we take a deep dive from a psychoanalytic perspective on narcissistic large-group regression, the precursors to such regression in the West, the psychotic aspects of such...

Carob Marcelle  is a mother and local advocate representing multiple parent groups. She is a former foster child who repudiates the victim narrative and promotes values for flourishing communities and individuals. These values include meritocracy and resilience. She is the host of the podcast, Be Not Afraid (  @CarobMarcelle ),  where she explores social issues with both reason and compassion.  In...

Dr. Bonnie Snyder (D.Ed) is a former teacher, counsellor and professor. She is a Certified College Planning Specialist and director of High School Outreach at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) - a nonpartisan, nonprofit organisation whose mission is to defend constitutional freedoms on campus. Bonnie is the author of the book, Undoctrinate: How politicized classrooms harm ki...

Colette Colfer is an academic who lectures in ethics and world religions. She is a writer, past-life journalist and national radio-award winner. She is a member of Heterdox Academy and has a particular interest in Jungian psychology.  Gender ideology as a religion is a bold claim. Does this claim have any basis from a sociological perspective? Colette and I discuss this claim.

Leslie Elliott is a life coach in Washington State, founder of the Radical Centre and Antioch University whistleblower. Leslie earned a BA in Psychology in 2008. After enrolling in the Clinical Mental Health Counselling Master's programme at Antioch University in 2019, she met with ideological overreach by her programme lecturers, and had to discontinue her studies due to ideological impositi...

Stephanie Winn is a Licenced Marriage and Family Therapist in Portland, Oregon. She is the owner and host of You Must Be Some Kind Of Therapist Podcast, writer, advocate for victims of gender medicine, and associate producer of the film, No Way Back - The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care. In this episode, we discuss the documentary, No Way Back - The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care with Stephanie...

Zander Keig is a licensed clinical social worker and first-generation Latino transsexual man. He is a Board Member of the Institute for Liberal Values and a co-founder of the LGBTQ Caregiver Center. He serves on the National Alliance of Caregiving Mental Health Advisory Committee and the Rise Registry LGBTQ Dementia and Alzheimer's Research Advisory Board.  In this episode, we deeply dive int...

To conclude our series of book interviews, we reflect on the author interviews we had, we discuss whether the content of Cynical Therapies is still relevant, we consider areas of improvement, and assess what further needs to be done for the psychotherapy field to return to its healing ethos. This is a panel discussion with book editor Dr. Val Thomas and chapter author Dr. Carole Sherwood.

Our guest today is Dr. Philip J. Pellegrino, PsyD. He is a Licensed Psychologist in private practice in the United States, who specialises in Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Dr. Pellegrino is board certified in Behavioural and Cognitive Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP) and is a co-author of a book chapter on CBT for insomnia in The Handbook of Cognitive-Behav...

Nick Opyrchal, MA (Transpersonal Psychology) is a psychotherapist in private practice in the UK, and a doctoral student researcing the meeting of transpersonal psychotherapy and identity politics. He is a former professional Thai boxer and martial arts instructor. Nick authored the chapter entitled, Psychotherapy, Ideology and the New Aristocracy of the Cynical Therapies book. We discuss the fusio...

Kirsty Miller is a lecturer in Scotland, who has a PhD in social and clinical psychology. Her interest is in the psychology of groupthink and the ideological conformity within academia. She is a member of Heterodox Academy, and The Society for Open Inquiry in the Behavioural Sciences. In this episode, we discuss Kirsty's chapter, From Helping to Hating - Critical Social Justice from a Social...

Tim Courtois, MA, is US-based Licensed Professional Counselor. He is qualified in narrative-focused trauma therapy and sexual health, and he specialises in issues relating to sexuality, including sexual abuse, trauma and sexual identity.  In this episode, we discuss how trendy ideology goes unchallenged in sexual health training. We talk about the introduction of ideological no-go zones in the psy...

Christine Sefein, MA, is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who specialises in grief and trauma work. She has worked as Clinical Director at a grief support center, Clinical Supervisor at California Lutheran University, and full-time lecturer at Antioch University. She is a member of Critical Therapy Antidote, and cohost of the CTA Podcast. It was a pleasure to interview my cohost, and explo...