Hardcore Humanism with Dr. Mike

What’s up Hardcore Humans! This week on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we talked with Jamey Jasta, lead vocalist of the Grammy nominated metalcore band Hatebreed and host of The Jasta Show. Hatebreed -- with their blazing combination of extreme metal and hardcore punk -- has been churning blazing music for over 25 years and is considered one of the greatest metalcore bands of all time. Their debut album, Satisfaction is the Death of Desire (1997) is typically rated as one of the best metalcore albums of all time, with Loudwire saying, “Jamey Jasta refused to be held down by anyone, his words giving the music an empowering tough love spin.” And they are about to release their highly anticipated eighth studio album, Weight of the False Self.

Which brings us to the topic of the conversation – how we understand the dangers of a false self. The term “False self” was originally developed by David Winnicott and is used to describe a distorted portrayal of one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors – either to oneself or others – that was thought to interfere with a true authentic connection with one’s identity and emotions. In theory this discrepancy between the false self and true self is maladaptive, as the efforts to suppress one’s true self in order to maintain the façade of the false self is stressful and inherently suppresses authentic thoughts and emotions. 

One of the consequences of a false self that Jasta discussed during our conversation is emotional suppression, whereby we feel that we have to avoid our negative feelings to present our false self. This can be a pivotal moment for people that leads them away from being authentic. When we feel anger, sadness, loneliness and emptiness, and feel forced by ourselves or others to hide those emotions it can be harmful emotionally and physically. For example, one study of 625 participants aged 14–19 years who were seeking emergency room services were evaluated on measures of adverse life events, coping strategies, and suicidal ideation and attempts. The results indicated that adverse life events were more likely to engage in emotional suppression, which in turn increased risk for suicidal thoughts and attempts. This suggested that emotional suppression in the face of adversity may be harmful, increasing risk of suicidality.

When we are connected in with our true self, we are much more likely to be motivated to achieve what we want in life. And even if we don’t achieve everything we want in life, it feels good living in an authentic way. Unfortunately, there are many reasons why we may live in a false way. Maybe we are afraid of how others will react if we live our most authentic life. Or in some cases, we may live out someone else’s plan for us – whether family, friends, teachers - just because we assume that’s what we were supposed to do. And that false self can be devastating because even if we live that false life well, we’re not going to feel connected to the person we’ve become.

If you like the podcast, please subscribe, give us a rating and write a review. And if you’d like to take the next step and make change in your life, check out the Hardcore Humanism therapy and coaching program at HardcoreHumanism.com.

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On this week’s episode of The Hardcore Humanism Podcast, we talk with mental health advocate Lily Cornell Silver. Silver is the daughter of the late Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave, and music industry manager Susan Silver. On July 20th, in honor of what would have been her father’s 56th birthday, Silver launched the Instagram Television (IGTV) interview series Mind Wide Open, which tackles the difficult topic of how we understand, cope with and challenge the stigma of mental illness. Her show includes guests from varying backgrounds, including rock stars such as Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Duff McKagan of Guns and Roses, academic scientists such as Marc Brackett and David Kessler, and leaders of charitable organizations such as Harold Owens of MusiCares and Laura Lipsky of The Trauma Stewardship Institute, all sharing their experience struggling with and/or working with mental illness.

 One of the most powerful things that we as a society can do is be willing to share our personal stories and talk about mental illness in a public forum as Silver is doing with Mind Wide Open. Having people from all walks of life, including our most famous rock stars talk about mental illness humanizes the experience, and models the types of open and in-depth conversations we need to be having in order to learn from each other about the causes and treatments of mental illness. And by doing so, Silver is helping us all challenge the stigma of mental illness and tear down one of the biggest barriers to efficacious treatment. In our discussion we talk about why she chose the path of becoming a mental health advocate, the barriers she has faced in pursuing this path, and where she sees Mind Wide Open and her advocacy work going in the future. 

 We hope you find this discussion informative and helpful as you chart your path to purpose. If you enjoy the podcast, we would be so grateful if you’d leave a rating and write a review!

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This week I had the pleasure of talking on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast with none other than the legendary Jello Biafra. Many people know Biafra – born Eric Reed Boucher -- as the front man of the seminal hardcore punk group Dead Kennedys. Dead Kennedys are generally considered one of the greatest punk rock bands of all time, and both Rolling Stone and Revolver have called their album Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables one of the greatest punk rock records of all time. And Biafra is considered by many to be one of the greatest punk rock vocalists of all time, with Far Out Magazine succinctly concluding, “…Jello Biafra was truly one of a kind.” More recently Biafra has been working with his band, Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, on their new album Tea Party Revenge Porn. 

For many people, Biafra was not only a great vocalist, songwriter and performer, but also the living embodiment of the confrontation of authority. Confronting authority artistically and politically often revealed one of Biafra’s gifts -- to be able to take complex issues such as racism and censorship and point us in a direction that seemed ultimately straightforward: racism is wrong, free speech is important. 

And yet, not all confrontations of authority can be so neatly divided into right and wrong, or good and evil. So, I was very grateful to discuss with Biafra what is for many of us the most complicated confrontation – our understanding and connection with our parents. For many of us, our parents are our first authority figures and how we resolve the confrontation with our parents’ authority can have an impact on how we see ourselves, the world, and how we approach future conflict. 

 Biafra and I spent a great deal of our conversation talking about his relationship with his father, the late Stanley Boucher. Stanley Boucher was a psychiatric social worker who among other things was truly committed to working towards improving community access to mental health care. And one of the interesting things that emerged from that conversation was that even for someone as bold and strident as Biafra, how we understand our parents can be confusing and complicated. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jello Biafra and find some insights that can be helpful in your life and in your relationships with your parents!

 If you enjoy the podcast, I’d be so grateful if you’d leave a rating and review! 

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This week on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Michael Bishop, otherwise known as The Beserker Blothar from the band GWAR. GWAR is a heavy metal band hailing from Richmond, Virginia known for their outrageous music and live shows. GWAR confronts the audience with their larger than life personas as well as their stinging satire and social commentary. GWAR is a circus, cabaret, amusement park, intergalactic spaceship and wrecking ball all rolled into one. And their enduring success speaks for itself. This week GWAR is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their classic album Scumdogs of the Universe. To celebrate, GWAR has announced the Scumdogs Triple X Live live streaming concert event that will no doubt be welcomed by their adoring fan base. 

 Many people may not know that the lead vocalist of GWAR (which Bishop has been since the death of the late GWAR founder David Brockie) also holds a Ph.D. in music from University of Virginia. When considering GWAR’s persistent examination of our cultural norms and societal patterns through their music, Bishop’s expertise is clearly evident. And one only has to listen to Bishop’s TED Talk on the concept of musical and regional identity to get a sense of the depth of his curiosity and understanding of human nature. In our conversation, Bishop talks about being from Richmond and explains how GWAR’s emergence and development can be understood in part as a reflection of the culture and socio-economics of Richmond. 

 To a certain degree, many of us understand ourselves based on where we live and what music we love, and in some cases, both. But beyond it being a fun topic of discussion, understanding the connection between our regional and musical identity holds a great deal of potential to improve our health and well-being. There is already substantial evidence that music therapy – whether listening to or playing music, can have mental health benefits, including reduced depression and anxiety. And yet these studies do not focus on how, in addition to the basic enjoyment of interacting with music, a connection with one’s musical and regional identity could be harnessed to influence well-being. When considering the more general importance of identity in our physical and emotional health, the potential of advancing our understanding of musical and regional identity and how they may interact to promote a healthy self-concept is worth further study. 

 So, check out our conversation and hear what Bishop has to say about musical and regional identity. If you like what you hear, please consider leaving a rating and review – we would appreciate it so much!

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On this week’s episode of The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we had the pleasure of talking with singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright. Wainwright has been making rich, textured “Baroque Pop” music for over twenty years and recently released his seventh studio album, Unfollow the Rules(2020). Rolling Stone calls the album “a stately pop throwback full of his signature vocal grandeur” And The Guardian says “…sumptuous…a lush, engaging study …”

During the conversation, we talk about a frequent topic of Wainwright’s music – experiencing, contemplating and expressing feelings of “darkness.” Wainwright also discusses his struggle with severe depression and addiction, as well as the suicides of contemporaries such as Kurt Cobain and Elliott Smith.

Learning about how Rufus understands and connects with these darker emotions can help us explore ways to manage and cope with our own struggles with darkness. 

If you like what you hear, please consider leaving a review or rating - we would be so grateful!

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On this week’s episode of The Hardcore Humanism Podcast, we had the pleasure of talking with musician and activist Bob Mould. Many people know Mould from his seminal work with Hüsker Dü, a band that came out of the hardcore punk scene and was incredibly influential on music in general, but particularly what later became “alternative rock.” Rolling Stonehas called Hüsker Dü’s album Zen Arcade one of the greatest punk rock albums of all time. Legend has it that Kim Deal joined alternative rock gods Pixies by responding to an ad in a Boston newspaper that said, “band seeks bassist into Hüsker Dü and Peter Paul and Mary.” And Dave Grohl perhaps put it best when he said, “No Hüsker Dü, no Foo Fighters.” Mould has also gone on to have a long solo career following Hüsker Dü, recently releasing a new album Blue Hearts (2020) as well as a 24 CD box set Distortion: 1989-2019 that documents his 30-year post-Hüsker Dü career, including his solo albums and work with the band Sugar. 

Mould’s enduring and influential career is not only impressive artistically, but it also puts him in a unique position to share a historical perspective. During our conversation, Mould talks about the lessons we can learn from his experience of the United States during the 1980’s as it applies to the current sociopolitical climate. Specifically, during the 1980’s the country faced HIV/AIDS, political tension centered around the Reagan administration and suppression of underground art - including those in the hardcore punk community - from being heard in mainstream culture. These parallel experiences put him in a unique position to comment on current events as we struggle with Covid-19, tensions regarding the Trump administration and difficulties of performance artists being able to ply their trade due to lockdown restrictions. Overall, what Mould discusses in our conversation is both the emotional experience of and coping with marginalization – or the treatment of a person, concept or group as though they were inconsequential. Mould shares his insights into how he coped with marginalization in the 80’s and how his experience can inform how we cope with present day stressors and marginalization.

If you like what you hear, we would be so grateful if you'd give the podcast a rating and leave a review. 

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We have an unfortunate societal tendency of talking about mental health in all-or-none terms. People are either “sane” or “crazy,” “normal or “abnormal,” “grounded” or “unhinged,” “accurate” or distorted.” Our predilection for this type of strict categorization is perhaps understandable on one level. Struggling with mental health issues still feels like a relatively unknown world as compared to other physical health conditions. We can’t see mental health conditions on a clear medical test like a CT Scan or MRI. Further, mental health issues are common and can have a sudden and unpredictable onset, often with devastating consequences to our functioning and well-being.

And so, it would be understandable if we were terrified of developing mental health issues and did anything we could to reassure ourselves that we fall into the “sane” and “normal” category. The obvious problem with this approach is that this type of all-or-none thinking creates a stigma around mental illness. Rather than people having characteristics that are organically connected to who we are and how we live and can have pros and cons, we have qualities that are simply either “healthy” or “unhealthy.” This rigid conceptualization and associated stigma make struggling with mental health much worse, as it increases stress and interferes with people being willing to seek care for fear of being labeled.

There are many ways that we can open our minds to novel approaches to our experience and challenge the stigma of mental health issues. The first is by having people who struggle with mental health share their stories. The other is by offering an alternative to the “all-or-none” thinking to our experience inherent in mental health stigma. This week on The Hardcore Humanism Podcast we spoke with Dez Fafara, founding member and vocalist of the heavy metal band DevilDriver, who is doing both.

During our conversation, Fafara shares his struggles with both agoraphobia and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As Fafara himself points out, most people do not assume that a rock star would suffer from agoraphobia because the very nature of his work requires being in front of thousands of people at a time playing live shows and spending significant time with fans and press. And yet, Fafara has overcome his agoraphobia to build an impressive career as a musician. As Blabbermouth puts it, “Dez Fafara’s crew have weathered two decades with credibility intact and a sturdy catalogue backing up their ferocious reputation as a live band.”

Fafara also challenges stigma by talking more generally about not only the struggles he’s facing but also the positive outcomes of his “volatility.” On the one hand, Fafara struggles with volatility as a destabilizing force when it manifests as anxiety or ADHD. And yet his volatility can also be an animating and dynamic force driving his business ventures, including managing several bands in addition to his work with DevilDriver. As an example, DevilDriver’s new album Dealing with Demons I takes on Fafara’s struggle with mental health issues. The album is resonating in part because of its raw look at mental health with Kerrang! reporting, “…this is an exorcism that’s truly compelling.” By discussing volatility as something that can be embraced as useful if harnessed properly, Fafara is also challenging our all-or-none thinking about mental health.

So, check out my conversation with Dez Fafara!

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This week on The Hardcore Humanism with Dr. Mike Podcast, we had the pleasure of talking with comedian and actor Bob the Drag Queen. Bob was the Season 8 winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and star of the Emmy nominated HBO series We’re Here. Bob has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights as well as a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter.

In the conversation with Bob, one of the most important issues to emerge was the notion of self-concept. How do we see and understand ourselves? There is vast literature that examines and measures the term “self-concept.” One of the noteworthy and fascinating aspects of this literature is the numerous ways that we can understand what self-concept means. For instance, self-concept can be conceptualized as a more general measure of self-worth or self-esteem. As an example, one longitudinal study of 201 adolescents aged 13-18 examined the relation between baseline self-esteem and depression and anxiety symptoms at a three-year follow-up evaluation. Results showed that higher baseline self-esteem predicted fewer depression and anxiety symptoms at follow-up, even controlling for factors such as gender and treatment for mental health issues.

Now in talking with Bob, we examine and consider a different aspect of self-concept whereby self-concept doesn’t refer to a global sense of self-worth, but to a more nuanced description of the different facets of an individual’s identity. We may understand ourselves in terms of physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual terms. These aspects of self-concept can also be conceptualized as part of one’s “identity” and may include constructs such as race, gender and sexuality. In talking with Bob, we come to understand the range of constructs that he uses to understand his identity including being from the South, being black, gender non-binary and queer.

The notion of our having many sources of identity and how they blend together is called intersectionality. This notion is critical to understanding self-concept and identity because how we see ourselves plays a large role in how we see the world in which we live. In particular, we can understand issues of discrimination from the perspective of intersectionality – or “intersectional stigma.” How an individual understands identity may influence how they experience discrimination or stigma in the world. For example, some people may experience discrimination for being transgender but feel less discrimination for being White. The complexity of how we understand intersectional identity and how it interacts to predict health and well-being is an emerging field that will hopefully shed light on this complex process. Bob talks about identifying as a “black queer” person, and how he has experienced discrimination in the context of both identities.

In listening to the conversation with Bob, our hope is that it provides another opportunity for representation so that people feel more comfortable to understand and embrace their identity and build a healthy self-concept. Every time a strong role model and advocate like Bob steps forward it is another step towards challenging discrimination and reducing stigma.

So, listen to Bob and see what you can learn about self-concept and identity! If you like what you hear, we'd be so grateful for a rating and review!

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Al Jourgensen is the founder of the industrial band Ministry. Industrial music is a raw and provocative music style that blends electronic music with more traditional rock music. What is most notable about this particular genre is that it employs a range of sounds including not only more traditional electric guitars and synthesizers, but also more unconventional sounds such as car gear shifting or steam engines. Any sound that exists in the industrial or electronic world is fair game. Ministry is considered one of the greatest industrial music bands of all time and a pioneer in a sub-genre of industrial music called industrial metal, which also includes bands such as Nine Inch Nails and White Zombie. They have been making music for almost four decades and show no signs of slowing down, working on their 15th full length studio album, including a newly released song “Alert Level.”

In my conversation with Jourgensen for The Hardcore Humanism with Dr. Mike Podcast, what emerged was that the underlying foundation of Jourgensen’s approach to both his creativity and his life is an openness to experience. Openness to experience is a personality trait that generally refers to a more curious, imaginative and open-minded style of relating to oneself and the world. Perhaps not surprisingly, openness to experience is hypothesized to be associated with increased creativity. The theory is that imagination and curiosity naturally lead people to see the world in novel ways and express that in their artistic expression.

Research has supported this hypothesis, as studies show that openness to experience is consistently associated with creativity. For example, one study of 831 primary school participants were assessed on measures of creativity, openness to experience and intelligence, with the results indicating a strong positive correlation between openness to experience and creativity. 

Jourgensen’s career has involved both artistic and professional success, and one can see the connection between his openness to experience and the creativity in his music. Many people assumed that industrial music’s reliance on machines and more electronic sounds would disconnect the art form from the human experience as compared to genres that rely more heavily on non-electronic instrument such as folk rock or Americana. And yet Jourgensen was open to a very different approach to the creative process. He made it very clear that he views electronics and machine-generated sounds as a facilitator of human experience – particularly human emotion. He sees these sounds as a connection rather than a barrier to understanding our experience and the world around us.

Further, Jourgensen describes his novel creative method in which he builds upon ideas, thoughts and images he had when he was asleep. This method is based in scientific evidence – theory and research suggest that our brains are active and can push our thinking forward when we sleep. Jourgensen feels that during sleep his mind is most attuned to and connected with the world around him, and therefore the best vehicle for his creative process.

So, check out what Jourgensen has to say about his life and creative process, and see if you can apply any of his experience to being more open and creative in your own life!

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