Anxiety Book Club

Mental Health Innovation: Unpacking the Business of Mental Health Tech with Steve Duke

In this episode of the Anxiety Book Club, host Josh Malina talks with Steve Duke, founder of the Hemingway Group and author of the weekly substack, the Hemingway Report. They delve into the complexities of scaling mental health innovations, the importance of business strategy for mental health startups, and why some promising companies fail. Steve shares insights from his personal journey with OCD, the role of brand in mental health, and the latest trends in mental health technology and innovation.

Find Steve on LinkedIn here and check out his substack here.

Did you know that you have a nerve that runs from your brain stem to nearly all of your organs, that helps you shift from fight to flight, to freeze? Well, my guest this month, Dr. Stephen Porges, originator of the Polyvagal Theory, certainly does. Together we discuss the importance of this nerve in your mental health, or ill-health, and how autonomic nerve system regulation undergirds much of the way we feel. 

https://a.co/d/fXjacXM

In Episode 51, I speak with Anson Whitmer, co-founder of the men’s mental health app, Mental. We talk about Anson’s graduate research, depression in men, mental health culture, how the mental health app can provide a comfortable space for men, the multitude of things that effect mental health, what bonding looks like in men, the usefulness of cold water, Anson’s personal interest in mental health, rates of suicide in men, the future of AI coaching, the AI infrastructure of Mental’s coaching models, and more.

https://www.getmental.com/

In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Oren Jay Sofer about his brand new book, Your Heart Was Made For This. Oren is a teacher of buddhist mindfulness and author of the previously featured Say What You Mean, which appeared on the podcast as Episode 23. In this episode, we discuss:

• Oren’s motivation for writing the book

https://www.orenjaysofer.com/

https://a.co/d/drecH1G

In this episode, I am joined by therapist, author, and professor Mary Pipher to discuss her memoir, A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence. We discuss her early childhood, participation in activism during the Vietnam War, her tenure as a therapist, her relationship with nature, light and grace, her focus on her family and, more recently, on non-attachment.

https://a.co/d/gpozZHG

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Martha Sweezy, IFS therapist, author and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. We discuss her book, Internal Family Systems Therapy for Shame and Guilt. These topics are covered:

• The multiplicity hypothesis of IFS

In this episode, I talk with trauma specialist Dr. Frank Anderson about his book Transcending Trauma: Healing Complex PTSD with Internal Family Systems. We discuss:

- What is complex post traumatic stress disorder?

- How widespread some kind of trauma or overwhelming experience is

- The usefulness of empathy vs compassion, especially in clinical settings

- The importance and non-importance of distance between client and clinician

- The difference between IFS and other modalities with regard to the clinician’s mental capacities, or “therapist parts”

- The multiplicity hypothesis of internal family systems 

- The difference between grasping the tools of IFS while learning the model and grasping the core message 

In this episode, I chat with Sharon Salzberg about her latest book, Real Life: The Journey from Isolation to Openness and Freedom.

We discuss how useful self compassion is, the difference between remorse and guilt, urge surfing, the limits of mindfulness, the practice of looking directly at difficult feelings, why we might not label hardships as gifts, and the difference between equanimity and resignation, among other topics. Enjoy!

In this episode, I chat with Amy Edelstein, author and creator of the Inner Strength System -- a program for teaching mindfulness to high school aged students. We discuss her book, The Conscious Classroom, and about the impact of her program (over 20,000 students in Philadelphia), the intricacies of its implementation and the special challenges facing teenagers today. 

https://amyedelstein.com/

https://innerstrengtheducation.org/

The Conscious Classroom

In this episode, me and John Astin discover what everything is made of; or we give it a real college try! John works in the field of effortless mindfulness, an approach to present moment awareness that is truly amazing. Enjoy!

John's Website: https://www.johnastin.com/

The book: https://a.co/d/i0jJ7U4

My email: [email protected]

Podcast website: https://anxietybookclub.com/