The Psych Effect

Former porn director Vic Lagina joins me to talk about his book Filthy, a retrospective about his time as a director with Brazzers, the #1 porn website in the world. The industry he helped launch with them, the toll it took on him and the mental health issues he witness while shooting scenes and dealing with the personalities that came (pun intended?) through this misunderstood industry. I also pl...

Has identifying with your sports team crossed over into other areas of life? I argue that this identity and trash talking culture of sports has begun to cross over into other areas of culture and is getting worse with potential dire consequences. Then I give my take on the assassination of United Healthcare's CEO this week and how the continued gulf between classes is building rage. This rage migh...

How did this happen? Are people inherently bad? Friend of the show, psychologist Dr. Evan Longin returns to discuss his book The Roots of Evil, what makes someone evil, and how to deal with that in ever day life. We also talk about my long standing theory on people. Whether we are inherently bad by nature and therefore prone to this behavior. The Healthcare Horror Stat of the Week begins what migh...

It took Trump's surprise win to pull me out of mothballs after two month to finally come back and record a podcast, but it was too much to stay away since everyone's been asking for a psychiatrists opinion on what happened this week. I give my take on the election results and also on Tua Tagovailoa's traumatic brain injury from last month and how I view doctor's role in advising players on returni...

Back with not one but TWO Healthcare Horror Stats of the Week that will terrify you going into the fall season. I also give my take on the Tua Tagovailoa & Brian Flores story that came out this week and continue the conversation from the last show about valuing people in the workplace and also becoming a better person in general. I'm also going to take psychic credit for predicting Tua's contr...

What is the value of a human being in the workplace? That's the debate that the Dolphins had with Tua Tagovailoa until Friday when they finally signed him. Since I recorded this podcast three hours before that happened I made a stunning prediction about the outcome. Also Sean McVay is a new age type of NFL coach that thinks sleep is important, which pushes out the old guard of sleep deprived tough...

What's the moment that's made you the most emotional in sports? I start the show by exploring what did that to me and it happened recently. Following along this theme I then talk about recency bias research because there's been a lot of discussion about how if the Florida Panthers blew a 3-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Finals it would have been the worst loss in sports history. But this forgets some o...

Darren Waller retired this week after an excellent career as a prototypical tight end in the NFL. Was it because of mental health issues after his divorce from Kelsey Plum? Was it after catching flake for an awkward music video he made for his ex-wife? I dive into trying to find research on athletes and their relationships. You might be surprised by the results of the study that I found. I also go...

Pointing fingers has become our national pastime. But why do we do it? I cover two research articles on theories & relate them to our current social, political, and sports climates. Do politicians feed us narratives, sports identify us with our teams, and refs are against us? Plus I give my take on the outrage machine after Harrison Butker's commencement speech.. Then it's your Mental Health T...

It's not the clock dangling in your face or the magician making you think you're a chicken. Clinical hypnosis is real and can really help you in therapy. Dr. Sera Lavelle explains the history and how she uses this current therapy in her practice in New York. We talk about how hypnosis can help people with eating disorders, ADHD, and infertility. And also about her fascinating research of relations...

School shooters, terrorists, lone gunmen, cult leaders. What do they all have in common? It's a system of thought that can be classified as an Extreme Overvalued Belief. We talk about the history of the term delusion and overvalued idea and how this new term came into the psychiatric vernacular. Why it's important and how it will come to describe dangerous people and possibly even stop them in the...

I welcome Dr. Dana Anderson, forensic psychologist, and host of The Killer Psychologist Podcast. We talk about what it takes to be a forensic psychologist and deal with weird and creepy criminal that try to manipulate you and get back into the OJ Simpson case from a different angle. We revisit the scene of the crime, The Killer Psychologist podcast asked whether OJ had an accomplice and I ask Dana...

Party people! DC The Brain Supreme joined me to talk about Tag Team's HUGE hit Whoomp! There It Is! that went multiple platinum in 1993. What an incredible story, from Chicago to Denver, to Atlanta, and then to the world. A song that almost didn't happen. DC talks about the success, the failures, what it's like to be called a "one hit wonder" and how he continues to hustle. Get some great life les...

Does OJ Simpson have traits in the dark triad of psychopathy, narcissism, and machiavellianism? I define those terms and answer that question during the week that people remember OJ's legacy as one of the best running backs in football history, but also someone who divided America further also racial lines. But is OJ's trial really a race issue? You get my take on that. You might be surprised. I a...

Is Bill Maher right that we over pathologize normal behavior? In his New Rules from March 15, 2024 he makes the point that no one can just have feelings anymore, everything has to be a disease and uses a number of stats to back up his point. I go into details about those stats and give my take on whether he might be right about the over pathologizing of what could be considered just every day feel...

The Psych Effect give you the viewpoint of a seasoned forensic psychiatrist's take on the current events in sports, politics, and news as it's happening in the world today from a mental health perspective. Who better to comment on what you see every day then someone who's been in every type of psychiatric practice and seen nearly every type of individual in nearly every setting?

Dmitry, Steph, & Suzanne get into it right off the bat when the Healthcare Horror Stat of the Week launches Dmitry into a anti-insurance rant. Close your children's ears this week parents. There's no censorship on the bad words in this segment. Then the docs give their takes on Elon Musk who sent out a tweet about him never having been to therapy, followed by the threesome's rebuttals to Dr. P...

Maria is back with her post game show. This time trying to pick out NFL players from a lineup. Hilarity ensues. Of course this is better on video so go check out this segment on our YouTube channel. But stick around this audio podcast because the docs welcome Dr. Barry Krakow a board certified sleep expert of over 30 years who has research that shows breathing problems are at the root of your inso...

What calamity will befall us in March? The last time the 49ers and Chiefs played in a Super Bowl was the month before COVID. Dmitry postulates that another disaster awaits. The docs then welcome Dr. Evan Longin, a clinical psychologist who wrote a book on the roots of evil and how to recognize them. The discussion begins with the four factors that define evil to how they apply from politics to rel...

It's The Psych Effect's one year anniversary! Just like the first show, it's Dmitry & Steph by themselves all over again. The guys talk about the Tyreek Hill's issues on twitter recently and how much it would take for them to be the fall guy for a wealthy person to publicly shame them for making a mistake that they were hired to actually make on purpose. Then recent mental health trends in sti...

The Reluctant Sports Fan is holding her own against the NFL.com insiders with her picks. She's back with another week of strong football analysis of this week's AFC and NFC Championship games. Picking the Chiefs vs Ravens & Lions vs 49ers. Will it be chalk across the board? Or will she ride with the dogs?

Nostalgia begins the episode as the docs talk about what was happening in the world of news and sports on or around the last time the Dolphins and Lions won a playoff game in December 2000 & January 1992 respectively. A stroll down memory lane that makes Suzanne sad. The Reluctant Sports Fan returns to recap her Super Wildcard Weekend picks against the NFL.com insiders and make new ones for th...

So many things happened in the week that we couldn't do our more serious segment on Draymond Green potentially having a breakthrough. Instead Chandler Jones sings a love song to Bill Belichick to start off. The Reluctant Sports Fan makes her return to pick the NFL playoff games against industry insiders. Then the docs welcome Gavin Stone, a former British intelligence officer to talk all things sp...

The docs return in 2024 with a potpourri of general topics including is there a birthday or holiday gift they've ever regretted giving and is there a more sinister story behind The Nutcracker ballet? But also, conspiracy theories about aliens in Miami, Super Bowl logos, and a preview of an upcoming episode on the Aaron Rodgers/Jimmy Kimmel story. The group delves into the Detroit/Dallas referee co...

A Psych Effect Podcast breaking alert: The dog discriminator has been located, but the barker is still on the loose. Also, Steph gets pulled over for DWB. The Healthcare Horror Stat of the Week dives into healthcare worker burnout. Then Evan Jarschauer & Jessica Meraz join the show to talk about interventions and how their practice helps people & their families get through tough times. The...