Episoder
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Today I interviewed Jan Borowicz about Perverse Memory and the Holocaust: A Psychoanalytic Understanding of Polish Bystanders (Routledge, 2024).
"The assumptions of my book rely on a simple thesis: indifference to violence is impossible and that the primal scene for Polish culture is the experience of Nazism. In Poland we have still a humanitarian crisis by our border. And there is a tiny minority of local and non-local activists who sacrifice themselves and who give help to the people that are dying in the forests, especially during the wintertime. And there are people who live nearby and live day to day-by-day helping the helping the people crossing even and crossing the border and they're harassed and victims of police brutality. And then I had a very strange thought that now I can understand what happened during the during the war and during the Holocaust where exactly this where exactly this happened. And people who deal with Holocaust history and Holocaust memory had the same association, same analogy, that this is somehow and gruesomely very, very similar. And it struck me, the thought that now I understand because as if I was not entirely sure or not entirely certain if I believed it and in the first place. My book is about denial and disavowal. Knowing something and not knowing at the same time."
– Jan Borowicz from the interview
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In Mapito: Embrace Yourself (BookBaby, 2025), Chani Getter presents both a collection of stories and a personal guide to becoming your most authentic self. Through a collection of memorable stories―sometimes funny, often poignant―this trailblazing trauma expert reveals profound truths about the human experience. "Mapito" reconnects you to what really matters, offering a fresh perspective on life, love, and self-acceptance.Drawing on deeply personal experiences, Getter's narratives are both relatable and illuminating, providing insights into human psychology and the shared struggles we all face. With warmth, humor, and compassion, "Mapito" gently encourages readers to wake up, slow down, and embrace the parts of themselves they may have overlooked or forgotten. "Mapito" is trauma therapy made accessible, a celebration of the human spirit, and a guide to living more freely and authentically than you ever imagined.
Interviewee: Chani Getter is a psychotherapist, a queer activist, and interfaith minister. Chani also serves as the Scholar-in-Residence at Footsteps, a NYC-based nonprofit that supports people leaving insular religious communities.
Host: Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com.
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Mice are used as model organisms across a wide range of fields in science today--but it is far from obvious how studying a mouse in a maze can help us understand human problems like alcoholism or anxiety. How do scientists convince funders, fellow scientists, the general public, and even themselves that animal experiments are a good way of producing knowledge about the genetics of human behavior? In Model Behavior: Animal Experiments, Complexity, and the Genetics of Psychiatric Disorders (U Chicago Press, 2018), Nicole C. Nelson takes us inside an animal behavior genetics laboratory to examine how scientists create and manage the foundational knowledge of their field.
Behavior genetics is a particularly challenging field for making a clear-cut case that mouse experiments work, because researchers believe that both the phenomena they are studying and the animal models they are using are complex. These assumptions of complexity change the nature of what laboratory work produces. Whereas historical and ethnographic studies traditionally portray the laboratory as a place where scientists control, simplify, and stabilize nature in the service of producing durable facts, the laboratory that emerges from Nelson's extensive interviews and fieldwork is a place where stable findings are always just out of reach. The ongoing work of managing precarious experimental systems means that researchers learn as much--if not more--about the impact of the environment on behavior as they do about genetics. Model Behavior offers a compelling portrait of life in a twenty-first-century laboratory, where partial, provisional answers to complex scientific questions are increasingly the norm.
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In Episode 8, Dr. Messina and Dr. Gill, the host and co-host of this podcast, talked about the emotional toll that is associated with lost time---time that cannot be reclaimed. While there are many things in life that can be found or recovered when lost, time is not among them; once it is gone, it is lost forever.
They highlighted the impact of technology on human connections and the importance of judicious use of time for personal growth and well-being since the risks of constant digital device usage can lead to depression, suicidal ideation, and social isolation. However, alternative activities to foster more meaningful connections can mitigate losses.
The inherent ambiguity of this type of loss – its lack of clear definition or resolution – is precisely what makes it so difficult to process. Because the loss is intangible (lost presence, loss of potential connections) and is ongoing rather than a single, definable event, it prevents the typical processes of grieving from unfolding naturally. Individuals can become stuck.
It is also the case for older adults. While they may not spend too much time on smartphones or scrolling through their social media accounts—some older adults do engage in these types of activities---they can lose time by watching continuous episodes of a television show versus connecting with friends.
At any age, no matter how much time anyone has lost, it is important to come to the realization that our time spend with others is a precious commodity that can’t be reclaimed but there are ways to change our behavior.
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About 100 years ago, prominent psychologists Stanley Smith Stevens, Edward Tolman and Clark Hull spearheaded the idea of linking psychological concepts, such as “memory”, to specific experimental designs. In Operationism in Psychology: An Epistemology of Exploration (University of Chicago Press, 2025), Uljana Feest offers a rich analysis of this link as a method for making progress in epistemically uncharted scientific territory. Feest, a professor of philosophy at Leibniz University in Germany, considers the conceptual, epistemic, and methodological issues involved when it is not clear what a target of research is like or even whether it exists. She provides an updated interpretation of what operational definitions are and how they function in psychology, and shows how these foundational issues in psychology intersect with philosophical debates about conceptual change, natural kinds, and mechanistic explanation.
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A fascinating exploration of how algorithms penetrate the most intimate aspects of our psychology—from the pioneering expert on psychological targeting.
There are more pieces of digital data than there are stars in the universe. This data helps us monitor our planet, decipher our genetic code, and take a deep dive into our psychology.
As algorithms become increasingly adept at accessing the human mind, they also become more and more powerful at controlling it, enticing us to buy a certain product or vote for a certain political candidate. Some of us say this technological trend is no big deal. Others consider it one of the greatest threats to humanity. But what if the truth is more nuanced and mind-bending than that?
In Mindmasters: The Data-Driven Science of Predicting and Changing Human Behavior (Harvard Business Press, 2025), Columbia Business School professor Sandra Matz reveals in fascinating detail how big data offers insights into the most intimate aspects of our psyches and how these insights empower an external influence over the choices we make. This can be creepy, manipulative, and downright harmful, with scandals like that of British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica being merely the tip of the iceberg. Yet big data also holds enormous potential to help us live healthier, happier lives—for example, by improving our mental health, encouraging better financial decisions, or enabling us to break out of our echo chambers.
With passion and clear-eyed precision, Matz shows us how to manage psychological targeting and redesign the data game.
Mindmasters is a riveting look at what our digital footprints reveal about us, how they're being used—for good and for ill—and how we can gain power over the data that defines us.
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This episode delves into the intense conflicts surrounding race, history, and education in America, asking why classrooms have become such volatile battlegrounds. Moving beyond surface-level political or ideological debates, two psychoanalysts, Drs. Karyne Messina and Felecia Powell-Williams apply some of the tools of psychoanalysis to uncover the deeper, often unconscious, psychological forces at play. The discussion explores how the enduring legacy of racism in the United States, particularly the unacknowledged weight of historical trauma and guilt related to anti-Blackness, fuels a societal "War on Knowing."
Central to this analysis are the defense mechanisms mobilized, both individually and collectively, to ward off the psychic pain associated with confronting uncomfortable truths. The episode focuses particularly on Denial, examining its manifestation not just as simple lack of knowledge, but as an active refusal to acknowledge the ongoing realities of systemic racism, its historical roots, and its contemporary impact. This denial serves to protect a cherished, often idealized, national or group identity from information that would create profound dissonance and distress.
Furthermore, the discussion explores the powerful role of Splitting and Projective Identification. These complex mechanisms involves unconscious splitting of people into good and bad groups followed by casting off unwanted or unbearable aspects of the self or the group (such as guilt, aggression, or vulnerability related to racism) while attributing them to the external 'other' – be it individuals, groups, or institutions. The target is then subtly induced to feel or behave in line with the projection, allowing the projector to disavow these difficult feelings while simultaneously controlling or attacking the externalized 'badness'. In the context of racism, this can manifest as projecting blame, divisiveness, or even racism itself onto those advocating for racial justice or onto institutions perceived as challenging dominant narratives.
The episode argues that this "War on Knowing," driven by defenses like Denial and Projective Identification, plays out with particular ferocity in educational settings. Prestigious universities like Harvard and Columbia, often seen as centers of knowledge production and increasingly engaging with their own complex histories, including ties to slavery, become potent symbolic targets. Actions directed at these institutions – such as investigations into admissions policies (affirmative action), attacks on diversity initiatives, or challenges to curricula addressing systemic racism (like Critical Race Theory) – can be understood from a psychoanalytic perspective.
Listeners will hear an exploration of the profound psychological costs of this ongoing battle: the invalidation and potential re-traumatization experienced by students of color, the fragile and incomplete understanding fostered in white students shielded by these defenses. Ultimately, the episode suggests that meaningful progress requires moving beyond mere factual debate or political maneuvering. It calls for recognizing these powerful unconscious dynamics and fostering approaches rooted in the psychoanalytic concept of "working through" – creating spaces capable of containing the difficult emotions associated with confronting historical truths, rather than perpetuating cycles of defense, projection, and acting out. This psychoanalytic perspective offers a crucial, if challenging, lens for comprehending the deep-seated resistance to fully knowing and reckoning with racism in America.
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Drs. Messina and Gill discussed the concept of technoference, which refers to the interference of technology with human connection and its impact on personal interactions and relationships. They emphasized the importance of being present in the moment and not letting devices like smartphones and laptops distract us from connecting with others, highlighting the negative impact of constant distractions on relationships.
Dr. Messina provided an example that focused on a family gathered around their dinner table, the aroma of food mingling with the day's leftover stress suggesting this time was meant to be a time to reconnect and perhaps to share stories. A young child, eager for attention, started to recount an exciting event from school but their parents’ attention was elsewhere. Their phones rested beside their plates, "just in case." Their thumbs were busy scrolling through social media feeds. They both offered distracted acknowledgments like "uh-huh," and "that's nice" – without ever making eye contact. The child’s story faltered; his enthusiasm visibly dimmed. He felt ignored as though his story was unimportant.
Research confirms that children notice and dislike when parents prioritize devices during family time. This perceived neglect can lead to frustration, sadness, or even acting out as a bid for the attention they crave. This isn't just about a missed story. It's a lost opportunity for vital family bonding during a core routine. The parents missed the chance to validate their child's experiences, to engage in a shared moment, and to reinforce the child's sense of being seen and valued. A precious "micro-moment" of connection, irreplaceable, vanished into the glow of a screen.
They also discussed the how blue light effects the production Melatonin which is the key hormone responsible for regulating our natural sleep-wake cycles. This disruption not only makes it more challenging to fall asleep but also reduces the quality and duration of those crucial sleep stages required for effective memory consolidation. Consequently, even if an individual manages to stay awake and seemingly absorb information during a meeting or lecture, that information might not be properly encoded and stored if their subsequent sleep is compromised by late-night screen use. This neurological mechanism resonates strongly with frequent clinical reports of individuals experiencing a pervasive sense of mental fog, increased forgetfulness, and a subjective feeling that their memory is simply not as sharp as it once was.
The conversation ended with a call to manage notifications and regulate the relationship with devices, and to be present and mindful in our interactions with others.
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While Kim Crespi was getting a haircut, her husband David murdered their five-year-old twin daughters during a game of hide and seek. In the aftermath, family, friends, and even David have more questions than answers.
In 2005, Kim Crespi had what she later described as "the perfect life." She and her husband, David--a gentle giant of a man, devoutly religious, a loving father, and a proven star in the world of finance--had five healthy, happy children. No one, least of all Kim, ever suspected that the life the Crespis had lovingly woven together could be destroyed in less than forty minutes.In Medication, Mental Illness, and Murder, author Edward L. Jones III chronicles David Crespi's struggles with insomnia and depression, the role SSRI antidepressants may have played in the killings, and Kim's unimaginable journey of trauma, suffering, and eventual forgiveness as documented by her journal entries.Using letters and other forms of personal communications with David, plus excerpts from scholarly articles and more, Jones takes readers on a journey into the dark heart of psychosis, of North Carolina's penal and mental health systems, and of Big Pharma.
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In You Have More Influence Than You Think (Norton, 2023) social psychologist Vanessa Bohns draws from her original research to illustrate why we fail to recognize the influence we have, and how that lack of awareness can lead us to miss opportunities or accidentally misuse our power. Weaving together compelling stories with cutting edge science, Dr. Bohns answers the questions we all want to know (but may be afraid to ask): How much did she take to heart what I said earlier? Do they know they can push back on my suggestions? Did he notice whether I was there today? Will they agree to help me if I ask?
Whether attending a meeting, sharing a post online, or mustering the nerve to ask for a favor, we often assume our actions, input, and requests will be overlooked or rejected. Bohns and her work demonstrate that people see us, listen to us, and agree to do things for us much more than we realize—for better, and worse. You Have More Influence Than You Think offers science-based strategies for observing the effect we have on others, reconsidering our fear of rejection, and even, sometimes, pulling back to use our influence less. It is a call to stop searching for ways to gain influence you don’t have and to start recognizing the influence you don’t realize you already have.
Our guest is: Dr. Vanessa Bohns, who is the Braunstein Family Professor and Chair of Organizational Behavior at Cornell University’s ILR School. Professor Bohns holds a PhD in Psychology from Columbia University and an AB from Brown University. Her research has been published in top academic journals in psychology, management, and law, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and The Economist, among others. She is the author of You Have More Influence Than You Think.
Our host is: Dr. Christina Gessler, who works as a developmental editor. She is the producer and host of the Academic Life podcast.
Playlist for listeners:
Talking to Strangers
Understanding Disinformation
Do You Have Imposter Syndrome?
Leading from the Margins
Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides
Teaching While Nerdy
Welcome to Academic Life, the podcast for your academic journey—and beyond! You can support the show by downloading and sharing episodes. Join us to learn from experts inside and outside the academy, and around the world. Missed any of the 250+ Academic Life episodes? Find them here. And thank you for listening!
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Why do our attempts to control uncertainty often leave us feeling more adrift? What if our greatest source of stress could become our deepest well of creativity?
Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and two decades of experience across advertising and venture capital, Dessy T. Levinson offers a radical reframing of how we relate to intensity. From Overwhelm to Flow: Sailing the Seas of Self with Courage, Meaning, and Resilience (Crate Mind, 2025) reveals how our nervous system actually processes complexity-and how understanding this transforms our relationship with uncertainty. Through intimate stories and cutting-edge research, the book introduces CRATE-a framework that combines cognitive insight with emotional intelligence to build lasting resilience. At its core, this book challenges our default response to overwhelm. Rather than trying to eliminate intensity or bypass emotion, we learn to welcome these experiences as portals to deeper understanding. Whether you're a founder navigating startup chaos, a leader building psychological safety for your team, or simply someone seeking to understand why your emotions feel like they're steering the ship, you'll discover practical tools for charting a new course.
The journey unfolds in three parts. First, we dive into the science of how our minds and emotions actually work, discovering why traditional approaches to managing stress often backfire. Next, we explore the CRATE framework-Clarity, Regulation, Agency, Trust, and Energy-learning how to transform these insights into practical tools for navigating complexity. Finally, we discover how personal transformation extends beyond the individual, creating ripples that enhance our relationships, teams, and communities. More than just another self-help manual or management guide, this is an invitation to remember what we've always known but perhaps forgotten: that our struggles become our strengths when we learn to sail with, rather than against, the seas of our nature.
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In this episode, Matthew Pieknik and Christopher Russell speak with Gohar Homayounpour about her book Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning (Routledge, 2023)
Psychoanalysis is, Homayounpour tells us early in the interview, “a profession for dreamers, for people who don't know what to do with themselves. for freaks. This is not a profession for people in suits at universities who have a clear idea of the status quo. It's the absolute opposite. It's the carnival, you know, it's still unofficial, it's the subversive because that's the discourse of the unconscious. But this is a dangerous business, you know, and it should be for both analytic subjects in the room. I'm in favor of absence. I'm in favor of disturbance. I'm in favor of pollution and darkness. I think these are things that need to be celebrated.”
In Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning, Gohar Homayounpour plays a theme and variations on loss, love, and family against the backdrop of Iran’s chaotic recent past. Homayounpour is simultaneously Shahrzad, the fearless storyteller, and Shahrzad’s analyst: subjecting fairy tales to fierce new insights, while weaving an indigo thread through her own devastation on the death of her father and the wonders and horrors of motherhood. A blue thread, or melody, runs though the separations and emigrations of her family and patients driven or broken apart by war, and likewise through the fraught world inhabited by Persian women. This book breaks new psychoanalytic ground, offering a radical rejection of traditional clichés about Iran, and Iranian women, but its unsparing elegance transcends any political agenda, bridging the ocean of a shared and tragic humanity. Persian Blues, Psychoanalysis and Mourning will be of great interest to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytically informed readers, as well as those interested in grief, Iran, and women’s experiences.
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Drs. Messina and Gill talked about cognitive offloading in our digital age—how smartphones, AI, and other technologies are reshaping our mental habits, our memory, our capacity for attention, and ultimately, our emotional lives.
Cognitive offloading refers to the process of using tools and technologies to take over mental functions we used to perform ourselves. Whether it's using GPS to navigate, storing phone numbers in our contacts, or asking ChatGPT for help organizing thoughts, we’re increasingly externalizing our thinking.
They also discussed the psychoanalytic defense mechanisms involved in our reliance on technology, how AI impacts metacognition, and how this process influences us both individually and collectively.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, cognitive offloading is similar to projection—placing uncomfortable labor or responsibility outside of ourselves. It may also involve disavowal: we know we’re becoming dependent, but we ignore or deny the psychological cost.
Dr. Messina mentioned that Freud saw memory as a core element of identity adding that when we delegate memory to devices, we risk fragmenting the ego. She also elaborated on the concept of “metacognition” which refers to the awareness and regulation of one’s own thought processes, also described as “thinking about thinking.” It involves understanding how we learns, plans, monitors, and evaluates our cognitive strategies to achieve specific goals.
Dr. Gill talked about cognitive offloading from a neuroscience perspective noting that the practice of using external tools or resources to reduce mental effort involves complex interactions between several brain regions. He discussed how the prefrontal cortex plays a central role in cognitive offloading while the hippocampus is critical for memory encoding and retrieval.
How to mitigate problems that arise from cognitive offloading was also discussed as well as the risks of overreliance on AI chatbots which can lead to cognitive atrophy. This is now referred to as artificial intelligence chatbots induced cognitive atrophy or AICICA.
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What makes one sentence easy to read and another a slog that demands re-reading? Where do you put information you want readers to recall? Drawing on cognitive neuroscience, psychology and psycholinguistics, Writing for the Reader’s Brain (Cambridge University Press, 2025) provides a practical, how-to guide on how to write for your reader. It introduces the five 'Cs' of writing - clarity, continuity, coherence, concision, and cadence - and demonstrates how to use these to bring your writing to life.
Dr. Yellowlees Douglas is the founder of ReadersBrain Academy and has spent over twenty-five years teaching writing to everyone from professors to freshmen.
This interview was conducted by Renee Hale, who holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and works in R&D for the food and beverage industry. She is the author of The Nightstorm Files, a voracious reader, and enjoys sharing the joy of new perspectives with listeners.
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What do you do when faced with a big, important question that keeps you up at night? Many people seek quick answers dispensed by “experts,” influencers, and gurus. But these one-size-fits-all solutions often fail to satisfy, and can even cause more pain.
In How to Fall in Love With Questions, Elizabeth Weingarten finds inspiration in a few famous lines from Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, and then takes this insight – to love the questions themselves – to modern science to offer a fresh approach for dealing with the uncertainty in our lives. What if our questions—the ones we ask about relationships, work, meaning, identity, and purpose—are not our tormentors, but our teachers? Weingarten offers a fresh approach for dealing with seemingly unsolvable questions, not as a quick fix but to deepen our sense of being fully alive. Weingarten shares her own journey and the stories of others, including a part of my own story after the events of 9/11 in New York City when I first turned to Rilke’s letters, to chart a different, and better, relationship with uncertainty.
Designed to inspire anyone who feels stuck, powerless, and drained, How to Fall in Love with Questions challenges us to unlock our minds and embark on the kind of self-discovery that’s only possible when we feel most alive—that is, when we don’t know what will happen next.
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The secret insights of economics, translated for the rest of us. Should I buy or rent? Do I ask for a promotion? Should I tell people I’m pregnant? What salary do I deserve? Should I just quit this job? Common anxieties about life are often grounded in economics. In an increasingly win-lose society, these economic decisions—where to work, where to live, even how to live—have a way of feeling fixed and mistakes terminal. Daryl Fairweather is no stranger to these dynamics. As the first Black woman to receive an economics PhD from the famed University of Chicago, she saw firsthand how concepts of behavioral economics and game theory were deployed in the real world—and in her own life—to great effect.
Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work (U Chicago Press, 2025) combines Fairweather’s elite knowledge of these principles with her singular voice in describing how they can be harnessed. Her great talent, unique among economists, is her ability to articulate economic trends in a way that is not just informative, but also accounts for life’s other anxieties. In Hate the Game, Fairweather fixes her expertise and service on navigating the earliest economic inflection points of adult life: whether to go to college and for how long; partnering, having kids, both, or neither; getting, keeping, and changing jobs; and where to live and how to pay for it. She speaks in actionable terms about what the economy means for individual people, especially those who have the sneaking suspicion they’re losing out. Set against her own experiences and enriched with lessons from history, science, and pop culture, Fairweather instructs readers on how to use game theory and behavioral science to map out options and choose directions while offering readers a sense of control and agency in an economy where those things are increasingly rare.
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Working with Parents in Therapy: A Mentalization-Based Approach, by Norka Malberg, Elliot Jurist, Jordan Bate, and Mark Dangerfield (American Psychological Association, 2023) presents parenthood as a developmental process that can be supported by a mentalization-based model of intervention. The authors first provide an overview of mentalization (i.e., making sense of the mental lives of ourselves and others) and its related concepts, as well as guidance on assessment, formulation, treatment, and supervision from a mentalization framework. They then review challenges and opportunities for parents across development, with rich case examples and vignettes for each developmental phase.
Dr. Jurist, who has doctorates in both philosophy and clinical psychology, brings a philosophical lens to our discussion of this book. We talk about mentalization and its development, as well as its role in culture, psychological health, and parenting.
About the Guest:
Elliot Jurist, Ph.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at the Graduate Center and The City College of New York, CUNY. From 2004-2013, he served as the Director of the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at CUNY. From 2008-2018, he was the Editor of Psychoanalytic Psychology, the journal of Division 39 of the APA. He is also the editor of a book series, Psychoanalysis and Psychological Science, from Guilford Publications, and author of a book in the series, Minding Emotions: Cultivating Mentalization in Psychotherapy, from the same publisher (the book has been translated into Italian, Chinese and Spanish, and was named best theoretical book in 2019 by the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis). He is the author of Beyond Hegel and Nietzsche: Philosophy, Culture and Agency (MIT Press, 2000) and co-author with Peter Fonagy, George Gergely, and Mary Target of Affect Regulation, Mentalization and the Development of the Self (Other Press, 2002), the latter of which has been translated into five languages and won two book prizes. He is also the co-editor of Mind to Mind: Infant Research, Neuroscience, and Psychoanalysis (Other Press, 2008). His research interests concern mentalization and the role of emotions and emotion regulation in psychotherapy. In 2014, he received the Scholarship Award from Division 39 of the APA, and in 2024, he was given the Leadership award from the same organization. He also writes a Substack newsletter Mental(izing) Health, in which he elaborates on the relevance of mentalization in art, government, culture, philosophy, and other wide-ranging topics, as well as in the mental health world. He is currently writing a book titled When Therapy Met Memoir, which is about references to therapy in contemporary memoirs. Along with his wife and two children, he lives with two ancient, insubordinate dachshunds, one of whom smiles.
Links:
Mental(izing) Health Substack newsletter
Dr. Jurist’s website
Mentalized Affectivity Lab
Dr. Malberg's website
Dr. Bate's faculty page
Dr. Dangerfield's website
Emily Pichler is a clinical psychologist practicing in Burlington, Vermont.
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What if the key to understanding your child’s toughest behaviors isn’t just about discipline or routines – but about how their body and brain are processing the world around them?
In this episode of the New Books Network, Parenting Trainer Patrick Ney sits down with Nancy Ceulemans, neurodevelopmental educational consultant and co-author of From Awareness to Action – Empowering Early Childhood Educators to Support Children with Autism (2024). While the book is aimed at early childhood educators, the insights Nancy shares are just as powerful for parents of both autistic and neurotypical children.
Our conversation goes straight to the heart of the matter – why children act out in ways that often leave adults confused, overwhelmed, or stuck. Nancy brings decades of experience and a deeply holistic view of child development, tying together neuroscience, sensory integration, motor function, and family dynamics in a way that’s easy to understand and immediately useful.
Here are some of the highlights from our conversation:
– We talk about the impact of environmental toxins on children’s behavior – and some of the surprising sources many parents overlook
– Nancy explains how the sensory systems can be hypo- or hyper-reactive, and how this plays a major role in behaviors like meltdowns, shutdowns, or extreme reactions to everyday situations
– We offer practical tips for parents – whether your child is autistic or not – on what to do in the heat of a meltdown or when sensory issues are getting in the way of daily life
– Nancy dives into the role of muscle tone and motor systems in regulating emotions and behavior – something that’s rarely discussed but often the missing piece
– She also shares moving and insightful stories from her own life and clinical practice – including helping a child with selective mutism and working with a girl who refused to wear clothes, uncovering the hidden sensory cause behind it
The big message in this conversation is simple – when we look beyond the surface of behavior, we can start to understand what a child is really asking for. Whether your child is hitting, kicking, biting, spitting – or just struggling to cope with the world – this episode will give you new tools, new perspectives, and a deeper sense of connection.
Nancy Ceulemans is available for consultation at www.uniquelearning.ca
To learn with Patrick Ney in free Masterclasses, visit www.allaboutparenting.com
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In episode 5 Dr. Karyne Messina and Dr. Harry Gill talked about what can happen when middle-age and older adults watch screens too much as opposed to engaging in other important tasks in life during Erik Eriksson’s last two stages of development.
In the “Generativity versus Stagnation” stage (ages 40-65), productive individuals focus on contributing to society by raising families, engaging in meaningful work, and connecting with their communities. This can’t be done in optimal ways when people spend too much time watching screens. Excessive screen time may also lead to a sense of stagnation if it prevents individuals from engaging in life in meaningful ways.
In the “Integrity vs. Despair” stage (65+ years old), people who are connected to others don’t watch screens excessively because they are engaged in life in their later years reflecting on what they have accomplished whether it is through writing books or sharing information with others in different ways. Too much screen time can interfere with the ability to engage in a meaningful review of one’s life. Instead of sharing wisdom with younger generations, older adults who focus of watching screens for many hours a day may become isolated and disconnected from real-world interactions, potentially leading to a sense of despair.
Dr. Messina discussed the fact that adults who spend 6 or more hours a day on social media platforms tend to be much more depressed and anxious than those who don’t.
Dr. Gill talked about the effects of too much screentime on sleep, explaining how blue light emitted by screens interferes with falling asleep because of the lack of production of melatonin. This prevents people from falling asleep.
They both talked about the benefits of turning off phones and televisions early in the evening so that a person, couple or family can have quality time participating in some type of meaningful activity versus watching what people on screens are saying or doing.
Another topic included in this podcast and YouTube video outlined ways to mitigate problems associated with too much screen time. Dr. Messina focused on the importance of community which she thinks is important at all ages. If getting together in person isn’t possible, talking with a friend on the phone is better than using this device for passive purposes such as scrolling through social media posts.
Dr. Gill reminded people how important it is to meet in person and said some of his patients have actually enjoyed going back to work full-time once they have gotten used to it again. He added that screen aren’t always negative later in life if people aren’t able to meet in person. For example, if older people can’t drive or easily meet with friends or family members in person, he said some of his patients have weekly Zoom meetings with others which helps them feel connected.
Drs. Gill and Messina talked about being addicted to screens and what people can do about this condition which starts with a commitment to set limits and make rules about screentime. Finding other worthwhile or pleasurable activities was included in the discussion such as listening to music, reading, painting, doing crossword puzzles, etc.
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In today’s episode, Dr. Pierce Salguero sits down with Miguel Farias, an experimental psychologist and researcher of religion, spirituality, and cognition. Together we try to get to the bottom of whether meditation is actually good for you through a comparison of Miguel's research on the adverse effects of meditation with my research on Asian notions of meditation sickness. Along the way, we discuss the limitations of modern Western understandings of consciousness, and explore whether we can develop a more expansive, multifaceted understanding of altered states both pleasant and unpleasant.
If you want to hear scholars and practitioners engaging in deep conversations about the dark side of Asian religions and medicines, then subscribe to Black Beryl wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out our members-only benefits on blackberyl.substack.com. Enjoy the show!
Resources mentioned:
Miguel Farias and Catherine Wikholm, The Buddha Pill: Can Meditation Change You? (2019).
Miguel Farias, Oxford Handbook of Meditation (2022).
Miguel Farias et al, “Adverse Events in Meditation Practices and Meditation-based Therapies: A Systematic Review” (2021).
Pierce Salguero, “‘Meditation Sickness’ in Medieval Chinese Buddhism and the Contemporary West” (2023).
Peter Berger, The Homeless Mind (1973).
Joseph Henrich et al. article on the Müller-Lyer illusion (2010).
The source for the term “monophasic bias” is apparently Charles Laughlin’s chapter “Transpersonal Anthropology” in Roger Walsh’s book Paths Beyond Ego (1993).
Pierce Salguero, A Lamp Unto Yourself (2025).
Resources provided by the interviewee on blackberyl.substack.com:
Introduction to the Oxford Handbook of Meditation
Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. www.piercesalguero.com.
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