The Dr. Zwig Show

Sandy, a 46 year-old receptionist, had been depressed ever since her divorce a year earlier, and despite doing her best to get on with life she couldn’t seem to break out of her sadness. I asked her to describe her feelings in detail and she said, “I feel lost and sad and empty but I try not to focus on it. It’s such a struggle.” I suggested she focus directly on these feelings but she shook her h...

Your awareness is a wild animal. If you let it do whatever it wants it will run amok and control you. Many life problems are reactions to this. The most important part of personal growth is training your awareness so you can use it in a conscious, controlled manner. This involves learning the art of neutral, non-judgmental, objective self-observation and the directing of your focus. Transforming y...

New research in physics reveals that your psychology doesn’t only manifest through your mind; it expresses itself through your physiology, as well. The notion of mind and body as distinct entities is a misnomer since at the deepest level they’re inseparable. Your biochemistry isn’t only governed by physical interactions but also by unconscious mental and emotional processes. Psychology and self-he...

Understanding your problems is important, however, it’s not enough. In fact, it can take you off track without you knowing since it's difficult to verify whether your ideas about yourself are right or wrong. It can also promote the false notion that merely understanding your issue will solve it. Sometimes it does but oftentimes it doesn’t. Instead of just trying to think your way through your prob...

The key to personal growth is learning how to use your awareness in a way that intervenes in and transforms your problems. You have the power to do this. You’re not a victim of a “chemical imbalance.” The problem with neuroscience is that it has given us knowledge of neurons, neural circuits, neurotransmitters, and brain lesions but it's completely in the dark about awareness itself and how we ach...

To process and transform your problems you can’t just think and talk about them. You must learn how to use your senses--seeing, hearing, feeling, and moving--to engage with your perceptions in real time. This involves far more than just observing what’s going on in yourself, as, for example, one does in mindfulness meditation (although mindfulness is a foundational tool of the work). It requires i...

Mindfulness meditation is a personal growth method for developing neutral, non-judgmental self-awareness. While practicing this method, instead of just thinking or feeling something, you simultaneously observe yourself having this thought or feeling, and you’re able to comment on it in an objective manner: “Oh, look at how this person triggered me,” or “There’s my inner critic again.” You’re in th...

“Bipolar Disorder” is a conceptual invention with no basis in science. It was created in a small plebiscite of psychiatrists who voted on the idea rather than using peer-reviewed studies. A person experiencing severe mood swings does not have a “disorder” or a “mental illness” but rather a meaningful and purposeful process of change and growth trying to come forth. “Bipolar” refers to alternations...

Mainstream psychology and psychiatry have it all wrong—painful states of mind like depression, anxiety, attention deficit, bipolar, post-traumatic stress, etc., aren’t “diseases”; they’re symptoms of personal growth and change trying to happen. Everything in your life, including your worst agony, aims, ultimately, at helping you grow. Managing your difficulties and healing your wounds are importan...

Having a life problem is painful but it’s not a pathology to simply suppress. It’s a meaningful and purposeful process designed to wake you up about something, increase your self-awareness, and expand who you are. It’s your personal growth trying to happen. Each of your issues has an inherent purpose, and even though it messes up your life, that’s not its purpose. Its aim is to push you to become...