It's Not Just In Your Head

To hear the full episode early become a patron at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead

Max has been wanting to explore this for a while and Harriet gave him permission to do this as a solo episode - but it's not really an episode. It's an actual mindfulness meditation. Max would like listeners to try using this meditation as they would any guided recording (relaxed sitting or laying position, eyes closed) and to give him feedback on the experience.  This is a sample of what could be developed into a guided meditation series that blends traditional mindfulness (increasing focus, relaxation, compassion) and political education.  

In this episode, Harriet and Max offer different interpretations of the Capitol Hill riots and what caused them from both a personal psychological perspective as well as from a more "zoomed out" view that takes history and broader factors into account. Harriet gives an overview of the last several decades and how the decline of value of the "white male wage" due to both neoliberal austerity policies (deindustrialization, outsourcing, automation) and capitalist divide and conquer strategies have played a role in creating the conditions of the right-wing movement we see today. Max shares his views on how the rise of extremely sophisticated psychological influence operations "on the battlefield of social media" explain some of the technical mechanisms that has amplified, spread, and strengthened the far right.   

Commanding The Trend: Social media as information warfare by Lt. Col. Jarred Prier, U.S. Air Force https://perconcordiam.com/commanding-the-trend/  

Get early access to our full episode on what caused the Capitol Hill riots at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead. Email us at [email protected]

We spoke to one of our supporters and comrades, fellow mental health and social worker Eric Piece about the intersections of LGBT issues and capitalism. Eric identifies as a gay man and just as strongly as a union member and socialist. He highlighted the ways labor unions have always offered stronger protections for the LGBT community, and some of the pitfalls of thinking of LGBT people first as people with sexual orientations and gender identities as opposed to people with material, class interests first. How did Pride get co-opted and commodified? Why are white gay men painted as gentrifiers in diverse urban environments? Did Reagan use the AIDS crisis of the 1980s to divide and conquer the working class? All of this and more in this episode.

Sneak peak of our episode with Eric Piece, social worker, union member, DSA member, about the links between LGBT and class struggle. Full episode at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead

Millions of tenants are at risk of being thrown out onto the street this year due to the covid-19 eviction moratoria being lifted federally and throughout different states and regions. The mental health field is ill-equipped to conceptualize any way to treat such widespread and looming trauma, and the world of tenant organizing might have something to teach us. Could it be possible that building solidarity through tenant organizing within buildings, across buildings, throughout neighborhoods, can prevent trauma and increase social bonds? In speaking with Talia Smith, tenant organizer with Omaha Tenants United and Autonomous Tenants Union Network, we came to think that tenant organizing could very well be a modality of healing just as much as psychotherapy can be.

Omaha Tenants United: 

Autonomous Tenants Union Network: 

This is a snippet of the full episode where we talk with Talia Smith, tenant organizer with Omaha Tenants United and Autonomous Tenants Union Network. Is "rent abolition" actually possible? Email us with your thoughts on the topic at [email protected]. Support our podcast at patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead to get access to early releases of full episodes and patron-only perks.

Omaha Tenants United: https://omahatenantsunited.org/

Autonomous Tenants Union Network: https://atun-rsia.org/

Here is a crossover episode we did with the hosts of Social Medicine On Air, a podcast very similar to our own but run by two physicians. Listen to the original episode here and be sure to check out their other episodes, all of which are extremely important fascinating! https://anchor.fm/social-medicine-on-air/episodes/14--Mental-Health--Individualism--and-the-Economy--Its-Not-Just-In-Your-Head-eo8ieq

"Welcome  to Social Medicine On Air, a podcast where we explore the field of  social medicine with healthcare practitioners, activists, and  researchers. Social medicine hopes to work for a world of justice and  health - especially for the most marginalized - and connects clinical  care to the deeper causes of health and illness. Through our  conversational interviews, we hope to create a warm and welcoming space  to learn about social medicine and meet the amazing people you'll find  there.

"It's Not Just In Your Head" is a podcast  with Harriet Fraad (@harrietfraad) and Max Golding, two mental health  professionals who explore how our capitalist economic system impacts our  emotional lives, from precarious housing and employment, to  unaffordable healthcare, to endless debt -- it's not just  in your head!  Dr. Harriet Fraad is a mental health counselor and activist in New York  City with over 45 years of experience, who writes and speaks on the  intersection of politics, economics, and personal life; her work can be  found at harrietfraad.com. Max Golding is a licenced marriage and family  therapist from California who is interested in tenant and labor  organizing, and connecting the struggle for mental health with other  struggles for justice and liberation.

Their recommended resources:

Mark Fisher. (2009). Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Winchester, UK: Zero Books.

Capitalism Hits Home (podcast) with Dr. Harriet Fraad & Julianna Forlano, link

Kate Pickett & Wilkinson, Richard. (2010). The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. London: Penguin Books."

Ecological Engineering Phd student Sam Francis joins us for this episode to talk about climate anxiety: the very real and "not just in your head" problem of millions of people fearing the onslaught of terror caused by climate change. Should we all just try our best to recycle, eat less meat and, if we can afford it, buy electric cars? Harriet and Sam explore whether a "central planning" government approach is the only way out while Max spirals into a depressive stupor and wonders if his therapist would understand. We would love listener feedback on this and any other episode. Contact us at: [email protected]. Support us at: Patreon.com/itsnotjustinyourhead. To hear more from Harriet and Juliana Forlono on "Capitalism Hits Home" produced by Democracy At Work go to www.harrietfraad.com.  Contact Sam on Twitter at @samthejamminman

Sam's references: