Psychologists Off the Clock

Performance pressure is pushing down on us and Queen was right - that pressure is terrifying! In this Psychologists Off the Clock podcast episode, Yael speaks with Dr. Sian Beilock, an expert on performance and brain science, and author of Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting it Right When You Have to. Listen in to hear Sian's insights and about her research into how our exper...

Compassion is not a passive process, but an active one. It means being aware that someone (including you) is suffering and moving toward that suffering so that you can offer help. Compassion takes courage, wisdom, and strength. And, we can build more compassionate minds with practice. In this episode, Diana talks with Dennis Tirch and Laura Silberstein-Tirch about Compassion Focused Therapy, how t...

Join Diana for a short but sweet Soothing Rhythm Breathing break!   Soothing Rhythm Breathing is an exercise from Compassion Focused Therapy. It is particularly helpful when you feel anxiety, anger, or other emotional dysregulation. Soothing Rhythm Breathing stimulates the vagus nerve, increases heart rate variability, and activates the Parasympathetic Nervous System. Soothing Rhythm Breathing shi...

Microaggressions. These small, often unintentional acts of racism are probably affecting you more than you know! In this week’s podcast episode, Dr. Monnica Williams, author of Managing Microaggressions: Addressing Everyday Racism in Therapeutic Spaces and co-author of Eliminating Race-Based Mental Health Disparities: Promoting Equity and Culturally Responsive Care across Settings, and our co-host...

A great wizard once said, “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it." Humans are social animals who thrive on effective communication. However, each of us has a different communication style, and sometimes, differences in those communication styles inflict injury. In today’s world, where communication looks...

We all have unhelpful habits, and whether you overeat, use substances, or worry, you may have noticed these habits have gotten worse lately. In this episode, Diana joins Dr. Judson Brewer (Dr. Jud), neuroscientist and author of The Craving Mind: From Cigarettes to Smartphones to Love - Why We Get Hooked and How We Can Break Bad Habits, for a fascinating conversation about why stress makes our habi...

Dr. Seuss told us, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” But what do you do when you’re in charge of many brains in many heads? What happens when you’re in charge of steering many feet (some of which have tiny shoes) traveling in many different directions? Is there any room left to choose? In this week’s episode, Sarah Argenal...

How you talk informs who you are, who you group up with, and how you perceive others. But while language is a profoundly powerful influencer of how we engage in the social world, we seldom acknowledge its impact on social injustice. In this episode, Yael talks with professor and psychologist Katherine Kinzler about the role of language and accent in prejudice, empathy, identity, morality, and ingr...

If you are experiencing Pandemic Stress, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) can help! This is a stressful time for most of us; the mental health aftermath of a pandemic is sometimes called a "second pandemic" because of the rise of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. And in addition to fear of the coronavirus itself, we are currently facing other major, global stressors like climate change, forest...

Women are told to be nice, but not too nice. Be successful, but not too successful. Just be likeable. Join Jill for her interview with award-winning journalist and author of the book The Likeability Trap, Alicia Menendez, as they examine the impossible bind women find themselves in: to succeed, women must be competent and likeable; but the more women are seen as competent, and the more they achiev...

In this episode, Diana interviews Dr. Karen Suyemoto, the chair of the APA Guidelines on Race and Ethnicity in Psychology. Race and culture are present in all of our interactions. As mental health professionals, it is our ethical responsibility to understand the ways in which race and ethnicity impact us personally, our interactions with clients, and the communities we serve. Everyone is also caug...

Modern parenting is high stakes, leaving parents terrified of failure in their parenting and in their children. But it turns out that the overprotective behaviors driven by our fears undermine our children’s—and our own—successes throughout life. Join Yael for a conversation with best-selling author, teacher, podcaster, and parent Jessica Lahey for a thought-provoking conversation about how parent...

Parenting is stressful right now. This is because we are educating our kids at home while juggling work with limited childcare. We are also navigating difficult, important conversations about racism, the pandemic, and world events. How can we regain our sanity and parent in a way that is meaningful? Join us for a conversation with Jen Lumanlan, a child development expert and podcast host from Your...

Pandemic, online school, social distancing, climate change… this is an especially difficult time for adolescents, who are already in a transitional time of life. Dr. Louise Hayes is one of the world’s foremost experts on using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Adolescents. She joins us on the podcast for the second time, to talk about her new book for adolescents, and share her thoughts on he...

In this episode, Jill speaks with Lori Gottlieb, psychotherapist and best-selling New York Times author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, about her smash hit book and the art and heart of therapy. Join their intimate discussion about ultracrepidarianism (one of Lori’s favorite words!), vulnerability, breaking therapy rules, reducing mental health stigma, and more! About Lori Gottlieb: Lori Gott...

Our culture shies away from talking about death. But Katy Butler, author of The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life, argues we have an obligation to think about what constitutes a well-supported death. In this episode, Yael embarks on a thought-provoking, important, and timely conversation with Katy. In their discussion, Katy shares ways we can honor the death process relati...

Join Diana for an important and empowering discussion with Dr. Helen Neville, Dr. Hector Adames, Dr. Bryana French, and Dr. Grace Chen, four BIPOC psychologists and members of The Psychology of Radical Healing Collective, about steps we can take at the individual and community level to heal from racial oppression. Collectively.  Listen and Learn What is radical healing? How does radical healing di...

You are not alone if you’re feeling more stressed out and using unhealthy means to cope. Four months into the pandemic may find you Netflix binging, stress eating, or reaching for that extra glass of wine more than you would like. Or you may be struggling with addiction and/or working hard to maintain recovery in the midst of increased pandemic stress. In this episode Yael speaks with Dr. Rebecca...

Healthcare professionals usually choose their careers because patient care is meaningful; most want to make a positive impact and help others. However, with a broken healthcare system and unending occupational stressors, burnout is all-too-common, sometimes resulting in tragic consequences. Join Debbie for Part 2 of a rich two-part series with health psychologist Dr. Abbie Beacham, a clinical psyc...

Healthcare professionals usually choose their careers because patient care is meaningful; most want to make a positive impact and help others. However, with a broken healthcare system and unending occupational stressors, burnout is all-too-common, sometimes resulting in tragic consequences. Join Debbie for Part 1 of a rich two-part series with health psychologist Dr. Abbie Beacham, a clinical psyc...

How can we, as helpers, give the best care to our clients, loved ones, and ourselves during this unprecedented time? We’re being called to live through something as massive as a global pandemic while simultaneously helping others experience and process it too. In this episode, Jill speaks with Harvard Medical School psychologist and popular TED speaker, Dr. Susan David, about the importance of get...

Many of us struggle in our relationship with food and weight. If we are going to have a chance at restructuring our relationship with food, it helps to understand the complex interactions at the individual and systemic levels. In this episode, Evelyn Tribole shares her expertise on intuitive eating, a non-diet approach to healing your relationship with your body and food.  Listen and Learn: 10 pri...

Over 40 million US residents are foreign-born. Immigrants and refugees face many circumstances impacting their mental health. These include the trauma of the immigration process and the acculturation process that follows. Additionally, many face systemic oppression and the threat of deportation. These challenges are complex and multifaceted. Therefore, therapy and psychology need to do a better jo...

Summer is here, which for parents means Season Two of pandemic parenting. Parent tempers are triggered in so many ways now and we’ve lost access to the time and space that we need to calm our buttons. If you’re a parent and losing your cool more than you’d like with your kids, join Yael for an engaging and refreshingly irreverent interview with Dr. Carla Naumberg, author of How to Stop Losing Your...

Criminal Justice Reform is an important, and often overlooked element of Racial Justice. In the U.S., Black men are significantly more likely to be incarcerated. Individuals in the criminal justice system are likely to experience inhumane and dehumanizing practices, including solitary confinement. Severe social isolation can have a harmful long-term impact on physical and mental health. In this ey...