The Face of the Deep

In this episode, I have a deep and wide-ranging (and not nearly long enough!) conversation with Dean Abbott about the dilemmas and diversions of self-development and romantic unhappiness. We discuss the crisis of emotional immaturity in modern relationships, the over-functioning woman/underfunctioning man dynamic, why women are exhausted and men are dissociated, the real reason women get "the ick,...

In this episode I chat with Professor Eric Turkheimer at the University of Virginia about why the fact that "everything is heritable" doesn't actually mean very much; why the concept of "heritability" itself might just be the most misunderstood term in science; how the field of behavior genetics continues to struggle to disentangle its research priorities and methodological assumptions from the se...

In this episode, I explain my concerns and criticisms of the claim that "everything is genetic." I explain both why I once found the hereditarian literature very persuasive, as well as the philosophical and epistemological reasons I am no longer willing to agree that the case can be considered closed. I've listed a few resources that might be useful for further reading below. Of course I don't agr...

This week I sat down with Joshua Slocum, co-host of the "Disaffected" podcast. I reached out to him to discuss the convergence of "Cluster B" pathology and the flattering mimicry of AI, as documented in one of his recent episodes (linked below.) We wound up discussing all kinds of things, including a bit of the AI question as well as the heritability (or lack thereof) of homosexuality, the consequ...

In this episode of Face of the Deep, I talk a bit about my own difficult relationship with my mom, and reflect on some themes that have come up in my groups and with clients recently about mother-daughter ruptures and how we can think about them and potentially heal them. If you'd like to join my community for more conversations like this, you can find more information at https://collective.jenhow...

In this episode I sit down with the brilliant Lisa Marchiano, an award-winning author, podcaster, and certified Jungian analyst. I found Lisa through the depth-psychology podcast "This Jungian Life," from which I have learned so much, and I look forward to listening to each week. I also wanted to talk to Lisa specifically because of how her work draws on the wisdom of fairy tales to help women con...

In this episode, I sit down with clinical psychologist Dr. Jay Joseph to discuss the issue of genetic research in IQ, personality, and psychiatric disorders—particularly in the context of the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of "The Bell Curve." While twin studies are exalted by behavioral geneticists as the gold standard research that definitively settles the so-called nature-nurture deba...

You can order my e-book "Truth Be Told" directly for immediate download at https://jenhowk.gumroad.com/l/truthbetold To order the audio book, you can do so via https://jenhowk.gumroad.com/l/truthbetoldaudio For more information or to join my mailing list, please visit: https://www.jenhowk.com My ebooks: https://jenhowk.gumroad.com Join my membership community (courses, group coaching, 1:1 connecti...

This is an excerpt of my new e-book, "Truth Be Told." For more information about Iain McGilchrist, you can visit his website here: https://channelmcgilchrist.com My advisor Steve Hanson's book on ideological clarity can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2mx35dub To pre-order my e-book for electronic delivery when it is released July 1, you can visit: https://gumroad.com/l/truthbetold For more upd...

This episode is about how in too many ways, the plant-based world is just another face of diet culture, and how it encourages (and monetizes) the binge-restrict cycle just like everyone else does. I talk about my own lifelong experiences of weight gain and loss and discuss how a singular emphasis on dietary "compliance" misses the bigger picture for those of us who have struggled with compulsive e...

This episode discusses Episode 6 (an interview with therapist and somatic experiencing practitioner Jenna Pacelli) in more depth, and also explores my current conceptualization of developmental trauma and how its lingering influence can shape our adult lives (and what to do about it, or at least a few ideas.) -- My ebooks: https://jenhowk.gumroad.com Join my membership community (courses, group co...

In this episode, I sit down with Jenna Pacelli, a licensed marriage and family therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for a rapid-fire discussion on a variety of topics and perspectives including: her background in wilderness therapy, early developmental trauma vs. "shock" trauma and what distinguishes them, how and why early trauma can linger in the body, how individuals can begin experi...

In this episode I sit down with behavioral wellness and nutritional expert Adam Sud to discuss the roots of addiction and the promise of recovery. Why do some of us become addicted in the first place? Is it just a question of "supernormal stimuli" and unlucky genetic susceptibility, as I had always believed growing up and as we tend to think of these things in evopsych land? Or is addiction solvin...

This episode is an overview of my central New Year's resolution for 2024, which is to intentionally seek out challenging and uncomfortable situations to explore what's actually "real" about my nature and personality and what's just an evasive maneuver to avoid feeling something unpleasant. This marks a significant departure from my "potted plant" theory of the last several years, and involves more...

My guest this week, Courtney Pool, is a nutritionist and coach who, like so many of us, "tried everything" to resolve the binge eating issues that have been with her since age 5. What finally worked for her was a combination of a healthy plant based diet and also a brutally honest, emotionally-driven investigation directly into her triggers and patterns. We discuss Courtney's history with compulsi...

In this episode, I sit down with my good friend Chrissy Benson for a conversation about Internal Family Systems, or IFS. Chrissy is a trained IFS practitioner with a decade of experience in the field, and she is, like myself, someone who has struggled with compulsive overeating/binge eating, and who has found the "beginner's mind" openness and inherent creativity of an IFS approach to be a powerfu...

In this first episode about my it's-a-show-about-everything podcast, I talk about the midlife unraveling of our protective armor, and how a radical honesty practice is the most brutally efficient (and for me. necessary) way to finally encounter the truth of who we really are. General topics covered: 0:26 : Brene Brown discusses the impact of carrying emotional armor and the need to shed it for per...