Bat Therapy: Mental Health through the Lens of Comics and Film

What good are superpowers if you don’t use them to sit at the top of Mount Everest to reflect and take in the view?

We finally joined forces with Team JVS! Keeden’s podcast and YouTube worlds collide for a review of Invincible. We focus on the psychology of Mark Grayson, a teenager who must learn to manage his superpowers while also dealing with the knowledge that his father is not who Mark thought he was.

Sources: Invincible Seasons 1 & 2 (episodes 1-4)

Keeden and Emilia got to hang out in-person this holiday season! To celebrate, we answered your questions. Listen in if you want to hear our thoughts on the future of superheroes, best holiday superhero episodes, and Dick Grayson’s mullet.

As you steel yourself for battle, you practice your martial arts fighting skills with your aunt. But she surprises you. When you tense up to spar, she walks over to you and flattens out your fists. She invites you to flow with the energy around you rather than fighting against it.

Clinical psychologist and fellow Batman enthusiast Dr. Jack Tsan is Program Director of the Multicultural Counseling Institute and the host of the People of Color in Psychology Podcast. He joins us as we talk about grief, the experience of eternal life, and how in holding too tightly to what we have lost we can lose everything else we care about. We also talk about what it is like to see under-represented groups finally take the spotlight as the main character and break the stereotypical mold, with Dr. Tsan referring to the interesting tidbits he’s learned from taking Implicit Association Tests. Sources: film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Check out Dr. Tsan’s podcast People of Color in Psychology Podcast and The Multicultural Counseling Institute (with Continuing Education courses for mental health professionals).

Want to check out your own implicit biases? Click here to test out your own implicit biases.

It’s your favorite time of day. You have on your Robin uniform, and you are ready to get on your motorcycle and drive out of the Batcave into Gotham. Let’s take in the moment.

The original Robin, the child who took Batman from solo superhero to Dynamic Duo. Their similar childhood traumas form a unique bond that helps Dick Grayson see beyond Bruce Wayne’s stubborn and stoic exterior.

Source: Batman TAS: Robin’s Reckoning

You are Marie Moreau and you can manipulate blood. But then Senator Neuman wants you to do something strange – she wants you to tell her something about herself by sensing her blood. Unsure of what to do but determined to expand your powers, you use mindfulness as your guide.

A college full of superpowered teenagers/young adults…what could go wrong? There are so many interesting tidbits – we talk about eating disorders, inflexible beliefs and odd perceptual experiences of psychosis, the conflict within generation v on how to react to the betrayal of adults they thought they could trust, and so much more.

It is hard to believe we’re already at Season 5! We chat about our plans for Heroes in Training and discuss our thoughts on what makes someone a sidekick. And please chat with us on Discord – we would love to hear from our listeners!