Your Therapist Needs Therapy

Jeremy is back at it this week tackling the worst part of the internet, the manosphere! After calling out misogyny last week I got all sorts of trolls defending dudes, so this week I’m helping the bros see the parallels between high control religion and high follower count influencers. We’re looking at how these grifts operate in selling a product that keeps you broken, so you always come back as...

It's not another misogyny episode, except that somehow, it is. Jeremy is looking at the connection from Shane Gillis’ SNL monologue manufacturing consent for the culture wars to how that normalizes an entire culture of sexual violence, political spectacle, and abject cruelty. We're also taking a critical look at how misogyny gets packaged as entertainment and reinforced by the institutio...

This week Jeremy is talking about spooky season! It’s almost Halloween, so we're talking reclamation, the strange Christian obsession with Satan and the hilarious fear-mongering to people who don’t believe a fallen angel with a pitchfork is giving us candy. We ponder the fascinating idea that maybe you can keep the ritual, ditch the doctrine, and build a post-religious life that still has roo...

This week Jeremy is talking about duels! Ten paces, turn and fire, except, actually, modern violence looks a lot more like insurance claim denials and qualified immunity than any version of fisticuffs. Jeremy digs into why we still think of violence in only person-to-person terms, and who gets to decide which violence is visible and allowable. Looking for retreat details? Come hang here at Rest &a...

Jeremy is joined by one of his favorite collaborators, Emily Lapolice, to announce a retreat for May 14-16, 2027. Jeremy and Emily talk about their thought process in putting the retreat together, share some of their hopes for what might be accomplished in that weekend, and highlight some of the ideas for a safe, calm, trauma sensitive retreat that centers autonomy and community.  To learn more ab...

This week Jeremy grapples with the paradox that everyone wants community but so few people actually do community well. Using some real life examples from his own lived experience, Jeremy highlights some of the common pitfalls of too many humans interacting with one another, and lays out some of the high points of communities that unfortunately still tend to fail at scale. We wrap this week’s episo...

This week Jeremy asks why is it so hard to do the things we actually want to do? He explores the gap between desire and capacity, and why exhaustion, perfectionism, and the lure of immediate gratification can make even the things we love feel like chores. Maybe the answer isn't more discipline, but less shame, less friction, and permission to do things badly simply because we enjoy them. As a...

This week Jeremy talks about the tiny tyrants who make everyday life miserable. From HOA presidents and angry customers to sports parents screaming at umpires, we unpacked why small amounts of power can bring out our worst impulses. We explore the psychology and social conditions that turn ordinary people into enforcers, and what it looks like to use the small amounts of power we all have to build...

This week Jeremy pulls out some cork board and red string to connect all the ways in which late stage capitalism wants you to be burnt out. Jeremy talks about the extractive nature of late stage capitalism and how it creates and then profits from your exhaustion. While self care is always lovely and stress management is never a bad thing, Jeremy makes the case that no rest will ever truly cure bur...

This week Jeremy gets the chance to sit down with Dhyana Levey, a journalist who specializes in working with survivors of insular religious groups. Dhyana and Jeremy chat about the modern hype around cult documentaries, and the spaces where both (either?) the media and survivors can get the story wrong. Dhyana shares some tips about deciding when and how to share a survivor story with the media, a...

This week Jeremy channels his inner “world’s greatest detective” to be able to look at the overt evil we encounter in the modern world. We ponder on what it means that corruption no longer feels the need to hide itself, war crimes do not merit front page coverage, and the government is full of a cast of villains that would make a comic book writer blush. Jeremy also talks about the mental toll of...

This week Jeremy gets to chat with Packers fan extraordinaire and very funny human Tom Grossi. Tom shares his journey from being a teacher to a Packers podcaster to announcing a draft pick, and he highlights the incredible connections the internet can create. Jeremy and Tom talk about some of the ways that sports can be a wonderful community in spite of endless monetization, and Tom talks about so...

This week Jeremy looks at how celebrity culture has convinced us that visibility is the same as wisdom, turning artists, athletes, and influencers into stand-ins for philosophers, political analysts, and moral authorities. Jeremy uses the recent example of Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame rubbing elbows with Tucker Carlson as to why it’s a bad idea that our culture keeps outsourcing its thinking to...

This week Jeremy talks about one of his favorite topics: safety! Jeremy looks at what safety for our system actually looks and feels like, and how that is different from discomfort. Jeremy breaks down why working through being uncomfortable is part of healing, and how safety as a signal isn’t necessarily a sign to shut down. We also apply a critical historical lens on how therapy continues to rebr...

This week Jeremy looks at the algorithms we consume. Jeremy breaks down how these mindless math equations actively shape who we become by rewarding outrage, insecurity, and endless engagement over truth and connection. We touch on how the attention economy reinforces the same psychological patterns found in authoritarian systems, from identity formation to fear-based messaging, and why that's...

In this week’s episode, Jeremy explores how therapy speak terms like gaslighting, narcissist, attachment, and trauma have drifted from clinical concepts into everyday weapons, and why curiosity is more healing than diagnosis. Jeremy talks about how to recognize the difference between using psychological language to build understanding and using it to shut conversations down. Basically, diagnosis c...

CW: Suicide This week Jeremy sits in the complex emotions surrounding the recent death of Ryan Stollar. Jeremy looks at how we try to hold the tragedy of a loss simultaneous with anger at harm perpetrated, and how that gets even more complex with holding space for mental health and complex trauma. Jeremy talks about accountability mattering even for the dead as a way to protect the living, and hig...

This week famed podcaster and friendly neighborhood therapist Jeremy Schumacher talks about parasocial relationships. Jeremy explores why these relationships feel so real, when they can be helpful, and how they can slide into dependency, especially in religious, therapeutic, and influencer spaces. Along the way, we examine the continuum between connection and exploitation, and ask what ethical res...

This week Jeremy takes a look at what happens when therapeutic frameworks evolve from useful models into systems of certainty. Jeremy uses Internal Family Systems (IFS) founder Richard Schwartz (among others) as an example of how authority, insider language, and resistance to criticism can emerge in therapy communities just as they do in religious and ideological movements. Rather than asking whet...

This week Jeremy talks about the dirty laundry involved in major sporting events, such as this year’s upcoming World Cup. We look at the terrible environmental impact that will make this the worst World Cup ever for pollution, the nightmarish public transportation situation in the US, and how three host countries actually is a pretty bad idea. And since Jeremy knows so little about soccer, he also...

This week Jeremy peels back a dark corner of the internet to look at how meme culture and edgelord attempts at irony contribute to mass violence. We look at the recent shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego where three victims died while the perpetrators posted livestream links and a manifesto full of in-group jokes and microwaved 4chan references to show they culturally belong to a group of...

This week Jeremy discusses some therapy business drama! Aetna and/or Alma are the worst and blaming each other for what is in effect a huge pay cut for a majority of therapists. Jeremy breaks down the comically evil way in which this pay cut will happen, who it all effects, and what therapists can do moving forward. He also rants about capitalism and therapists with bad business practices! As alwa...

One of Jeremy’s greatest adversaries is the topic today, as we’re doing a deconstruction of professionalism! Hooray! Jeremy takes a look at how the arbitrary and socially constructed meaning of a concept like professionalism serves to protect people in power, and perpetuates harm specifically against marginalized communities. We also question how far the charade of professionalism can go while mod...

This week Jeremy goes over the recently released ‘Mental Health Action Plan’ from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Jeremy breaks down what he likes about it, what he really doesn’t like about it, and questions why more mental health providers aren’t involved in the process. It’s a mixed bag for sure, but an educational trip hopefully to read boring government documents with a therapist...

When the news feels like a fever dream, it's easy to ask whether truth even matters anymore. This week we look at propaganda's long history through authoritarian regimes, dystopian fiction, and how this all affects our collective mental health. Spoiler: reality always wins. It just takes longer than we'd like. Can’t believe I forgot to mention that the literal book on propaganda was...