Peace, Love, and Psychology

Send us Fan Mail Some people serve in roles to protect their neighbors and communities. In this episode, I address those professionals whose dedication to service requires them to face dangerous situations. We begin by examining compartmentalization , an ability that enables all human beings to respond in some degree to a crisis situation. The professionals who deal with danger on a daily basis ha...

Send us Fan Mail Setting boundaries is a fundamental skill that we must practice and master in order to have healthy connections with the important people in our life. However, it is something that many people struggle with throughout their life. In this episode, we explore the concept of boundaries. We start by reviewing how boundary setting fits into the overall process of healing anger and defu...

Send us Fan Mail Continuing our deep dive into the emotion of anger, this episode specifically addresses the person who does not see how the issues they are facing might be connected to unresolved anger.  In this episode, we start with an overview of why anger is so often a focal point in therapy. We review the meaning of anger in terms of the lessons it is trying to teach us about our needs in th...

Send us Fan Mail Anger is one of the least understood and appreciated of the primary human emotions.  Like all energy in the universe, anger, in the form of electrical and chemical energy, does not just go away on its own. When we try to ignore it, push it away, or pretend we don't see it, anger builds up inside of us . It affects our minds, distorting our thoughts and our moods. It affects o...

Send us Fan Mail How we treat ourselves—our self-talk, our self-criticism, and the attributions we make about our emotional state—is one of the most significant determining factors that affects our emotional well-being and our functioning in life. Over the course of three seasons of Peace, Love, & Psychology podcasts, we have discussed how to understand and address issues such as emotions, cog...

Send us Fan Mail A very common issue many of us struggle with is the apparent conflict between our logical minds and our feelings. There are times when the tension between what we think is logical or right and what we feel is like a perpetual tug-of-war. In this episode, we discuss the classic struggle between head and heart . We begin by discussing the dimensions of the conflict. We explore how w...

Send us Fan Mail The issue of narcissism has found its way into the culture as a popular topic in the realm of intimate relationships, work relationships, and family dynamics. In this episode, we examine the topic from the perspective of what it means to be parented by someone with narcissistic traits . We begin our exploration with an overview of what narcissism is. We review the criteria in the...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we continue the discussion about recent advances in understanding and treating neuroplastic pain . Pain can exist on a spectrum between purely structural and purely neuroplastic, and many types of chronic pain might involve elements of both. We explore different clinical indicators that can point to the role of learning and neuroplasticity in the development of chr...

Send us Fan Mail Recent developments in the area of neuropsychology have highlighted the role of neuroplasticity in the perception of chronic pain . In this episode we will first examine current research about neuroplasticity and how it relates to the perception of sensations within the body and the interpretation of these sensations as chronic pain. The long-standing neuroscientific principle, “n...

Send us Fan Mail Do you want to gain insight into the meaning of your anger and master it once and for all? Dr. Raker's new book, Disarm the Bomb! Defuse ANGER Before it Derails Your Life , along with the Workbook & Study Guide , are now available at www.drdanraker.com . Now we will take an in-depth look at one of the most controversial and difficult emotions for most people to experience...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we explore two fundamental principles in Clinical Psychology that have far-ranging implications for the way we feel, think, and relate to other people. These ideas are simple to understand, but they play an important role in diagnosing and treating a wide variety of mental disorders. First, we discuss the concept of Needs Fulfillment . All living organisms are eng...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we address the topic of Emotional Hijacking , a process where our emotions are stirred up in a way that we may struggle to make rational, healthy choices or engage in effective planning for our long-term benefit. We examine the meaning of the phrase, and we review and explain the neurophysiological basis behind the process. We explore how systems that are designed...

Send us Fan Mail I recently asked a group of people familiar with the podcast what subjects they would like to hear addressed in a future episode. With little hesitation, two people suggested the topic of Religious Trauma . This is a topic that comes up fairly regularly in therapy sessions. As a trauma specialist, I have met people who have been through all kinds of difficult situations, and a siz...

Send us Fan Mail It is impossible to go anywhere in life if we do not know where we want to go. In this episode, we explore a famous technique used throughout the history of psychotherapy to help people clarify their direction in life. Known by many names, this exercise is commonly referred to as the “ Lottery Question .” By practicing this technique, even if we are not currently in therapy, we ca...

Send us Fan Mail Although there are not as many books and resources about it, the topic of friendship comes up often in therapy. In a general sense, problems with friends and friendship fall into one of two broad categories: problems with the relationship dynamics in existing friendships, or the lack of friends and meaningful friendships. In this episode, we begin by discussing the evolution of fr...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is an in-depth discussion of meditation as it is specifically used in Behavioral Health settings to produce positive effects on psychological well-being . First, we discuss what meditation is, starting with a good definition: that it is a practice in which an individual uses a technique to train attention and awareness , to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal...

Send us Fan Mail This second episode focusing on the experience of chronic pain focuses on how psychologists and counselors support the patient in pain treatment. We first discuss how a person being treated for chronic pain would come to also be in psychological treatment. There are two pathways: the patient may be referred by their treating physician, or the patient may refer themselves. Physicia...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we begin to explore the psychology of pain and pain management . We begin by discussing what pain is and what the function of pain is. We explore how acute, localized pain  can develop into chronic, generalized pain. We then discuss the effect of chronic pain on the body and mind. Acute, localized pain will tend follow an “ideal” arc of pain treatment , beginning w...

Send us Fan Mail In this fourth episode on the topic of trauma, we shift from discussing the impact of trauma exposure on individuals to a discussion of how it affects families and couples. First, we discuss the phenomenon of intergenerational trauma , in which the negative consequences of exposure are passed from the generation directly involved to subsequent generations. There are two classic me...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we continue the discussion of trauma by focusing on the impact of early childhood traumatic exposure throughout the lifespan and into adulthood. Exposure to trauma in early childhood can carry through to adulthood and may present in one of the following experiences: obsolete decisions, misdiagnosis, and the “frozen self.” We review how trauma can affect anyone, and...

Send us Fan Mail In order to give hope and provide context to the healing process, in this episode we look at the three levels of coming back from a traumatic exposure: recovery , healing , and post-traumatic growth . In trauma recovery, the primary focus is on learning how to manage the symptoms that persist after exposure to traumatic stress. During this stage, the therapy process will focus on...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we discuss the phenomenon of traumatic exposure in three parts. First, we define what trauma is and explore how the definition has changed and expanded over time. Second, we break down what is happening within our bodies when we are in the middle of a traumatic event . We discuss how the information associated with danger produces rapid, profound changes in our bod...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we conclude our two-part look at the process of psychotherapy. We discuss how therapy can be seen to fail when a patient participates but does not experience any relief from their symptoms and how therapy can be seen to be “stuck” when the patient does not feel any sense of progress in their treatment. We examine the phenomenon of therapeutic failure by discussing...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode we begin a two-part look at the process of psychotherapy. We define the process of talk therapy, and we discuss the roles and responsibilities of both the person seeking therapy and the person providing therapy. We explain the difference between the use of the terms “client” and “patient” and examine the context behind the use of these two terms. The person seeking...

Send us Fan Mail Part Two: The Power of Patterns In the second part of this two-part series on relationships, we look at how repeating patterns of conflict are created in relationships, and we look at how to identify and address these negative cycles. First, we discuss how our earliest experiences as infants with our caregivers condition the neurophysiological basis of these patterns. Second, we d...