Your Therapist Needs Therapy

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...

This week Jeremy looks at two recent bible events in the public eye, Trump reading some choice scriptures in the Oval Office and Russell Brand failing to navigate the worn pages of his good book. Jeremy looks at the cynical nature of these events as both a grift and a source of identity protection, while comparing these performances to other “get out of jail free” attempts from past public figures...

Ugh. This week there’s drama to talk about. We’re talking about the recent online firestorm around TherapyJeff, whose response to CNN's reporting on a so-called "rape academy" website was not good. We’ll cover why the way he said it matters as much as what he was, with the best possible reading, trying to say. Before getting to the outcry, we slow down on the CNN story itself, inclu...

Jeremy tries his hand at being an optimist this week! We take a look at a few possible futures and what role mental health might play. Jeremy questions if the profession is ready (and willing) to pivot into different models of care and call on the entire field of mental health to shift tactics to meet the moment, rather than react decades too late. You can decide how Jeremy fares at trying out thi...

This week Jeremy catches up on a sex scandal! And a viral moment from a pastor? But, both stories highlight different aspects of the control culture present both in this authoritarian regime and in high control religions. Jeremy discusses the sex scandal of Kristi Noem and her husband, along with the misogynistic ramblings of podcast pastors. It’s not great, but a microcosm of where we are as a co...

Jeremy gets to chat this week with extremely talented Mario Ismael Espinoza. Mario shares their journey from being a professional dancer to moving into social work, and blending body movement and mental health. Jeremy and Mario talk about some of the similarities and differences of dance and sports performance which also covers some of our thoughts on identity formation and transformation. We also...

This week Jeremy is joined by the incredibly talented Sammy from Haram Doodles. Jeremy and Sammy are both Borgenicht Fellows and they chat about some of the similarities they experienced leaving high control religion. Sammy talks about her deconstruction from Islam and starting Haram Doodles as a way to practice joy in her art while creating a safe space for ExMuslims to connect. Sammy also talks...

This week Jeremy is joined by returning guest Tracy Keller, owner over at Firefly Counseling . Tracy was the guest on episode 81 and this week we check in on the very chill, very normal times we’ve lived through since then. Tracy and Jeremy talk about the importance of community building and collaboration, and Tracy shares info about her ongoing group with Dr Jamie Camphouse “ Raising Little Human...

This week Jeremy takes a look at people deconstructing their civic pride and offers the framework of religious deconstruction as a useful model for navigating the fallout. We look at the “American Dream,” “Manifest Destiny” and even “We’re #1” as mythology that has been shown false and what happens to identity when people begin to pull on the thread of American exceptionalism. We talk about identi...

This week Jeremy tackles the ongoing drama in the world of Polyvagal Theory in the therapy room and online. Jeremy explains why some theories have better scientific data than others, and why therapy as a whole needs to do a better job of holding onto scientific rigour to not lose our professional credibility. Of course, we add the nuance that science cannot be so rigid that it stops being helpful....

This week Jeremy gets to talk about an upcoming symposium he is attending. Jeremy shares the conversation starter paper he wrote, “Questioning the Utility of Religion as Moral Arbiter” in all its nerdy social constructionist glory. Part 2 will be new learnings, great conversations, and hopefully not too much travel drama after the symposium wraps up. To learn more about the wonderful Taos Institut...

This week Jeremy tackles the rising tide of anti-intellectualism, and tries to bring some nuance to the conversation of “expertise.” Is the Internet making us dumber? Not really. Is AI making us dumber? For sure! But the reality of tools is they often reflect the user, and we are left with the fact that the human brain is prone to erroneous shortcuts, and critical thinking is a skill that requires...

This week Jeremy looks at America’s favorite pastime of staging a glossy reassurance ritual that the old prosperity myth is still alive! Three cheers for late stage capitalism celebrating itself! Corporate ads sell nostalgia, AI hype, and body shaming drugs, while the halftime show keeps breaking through with culture that actually feels real. The result is a hollow spectacle that owns the stage bu...

This episode examines why America repeatedly defends powerful men and institutions accused of sexual harm while claiming moral outrage about “protecting children.” From QAnon’s fantasy villains to Donald Trump’s continued political protection, from cultural call-outs like Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us to the church’s billion-dollar abuse coverups, the pattern is the same: accountability stops where...

Authoritarian movements in the U.S. don’t appear out of nowhere, they inherit patterns. In this episode, Jeremy traces the American authoritarian family tree from Gerald L. K. Smith’s Christian Identity movement shaping modern Christian Nationalism, looking at Joseph McCarthy’s fear-based security politics, and finally moving to Paul Weyrich’s Moral Majority and the direct connection to the MAGA m...

This week Jeremy is joined by therapist, writer, and occasional radio host Deana Bianco. Jeremy and Deana talk about her journey to becoming a mental health professional, the decline in journalism standards, and how music helps us through tough times. We wonder if the kids are or aren’t alright, and talk about the lack of shared reality making us all a little crazy. Deana talks the joys of going o...