Savvy Psychologist

578. You've built something. You've achieved things. And you still can't seem to sit down and focus on one task without your brain bouncing off the walls. This week Dr. Judy Ho explores what ADHD actually looks like in high achievers — the patterns that hide behind success, the strengths that almost never get named, and three tools for working with this brain rather than fighting it.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

577. You know doomscrolling is bad for you. You do it anyway. And if you're honest — in the moment, it kind of feels like it's helping. Today Dr. Judy Ho explains why that feeling is real, why it's also making everything worse, and three genuinely practical ways to interrupt the cycle that have nothing to do with deleting your apps.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

576. You pick up your phone to check one thing and 45 minutes disappear. You try to read a book and can't get through a page. You sit in a meeting and your mind keeps reaching for something it can't name. Brain rot isn't just a meme — it's Oxford's 2024 Word of the Year and a now well-documented neurological phenomenon. This week Dr. Judy Ho breaks down what scrolling is actually doing to your brain, why the usual advice doesn't work, and three genuinely surprising ways to retrain your attention.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

575. You’re functioning. You’re achieving. Nothing has gone dramatically wrong. And you wake up one morning and realize you genuinely can’t remember the last time something felt worth doing. A lot of people describe this as a feeling of emptiness. This week Dr. Judy Ho unpacks existential depression — the kind with no obvious cause, rooted in the collision with life’s biggest questions — what it is, why it hits the most thoughtful and high-achieving people hardest, and three ACT-based tools for moving toward meaning even when meaning feels absent.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

574. It doesn't start with a bruise. It starts with devotion that slowly becomes suffocation. The Netflix documentary Death of the Pastor's Wife, released August 26, 2026, has put coercive control back into the national conversation — a pattern of behavior that is now more commonly reported than physical abuse in many contexts and that carries some of the most severe mental health consequences in the intimate partner violence literature. This week Dr. Judy Ho unpacks what coercive control actually is, what drives someone to do it, how trauma bonding keeps people in it, and three evidence-based tools for recognizing it, navigating it, and helping someone you love who may be living it.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

573. You have a full life. People who love you. A calendar that barely has room to breathe. And somehow, underneath all of it, you still feel alone. Today Dr. Judy Ho unpacks the loneliness that nobody talks about — the kind that lives inside a full life — why it happens, what it's actually doing to your body, and three simple, evidence-based things you can start doing today to feel genuinely more connected.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

572. If you were ever told you were too sensitive, too intense, or that you feel things too much — this episode is for you. The Highly Sensitive Person trait affects 15–30% of the population, shows up in over 100 animal species, and has measurable differences on brain scans. It is not a flaw. This week Dr. Judy Ho breaks down what HSP actually is, what makes the HSP brain genuinely different, the strengths that almost never get named, and three tools for thriving as an HSP rather than just surviving.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

571. The trial of Lindsay Clancy — the Massachusetts mother who allegedly strangled her three young children and says she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis — has reopened a conversation the public has been getting wrong for years. Baby blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis are three completely different conditions. Only one is a psychiatric emergency. This week Dr. Judy Ho explains the clinical distinctions, the warning signs that loved ones and clinicians miss, the systemic failures that allow this illness to go untreated, and the forensic question at the center of the trial: can a person be both sick and responsible?

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

CORRECTION: In this episode I originally misspoke about the burden of proof in lack-of-criminal-responsibility cases. In Massachusetts, once the defense raises the issue, the burden actually falls on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was criminally responsible. I know this — it just didn't come out right on the recording. We remove that line in the audio podcast. Thank you all for listening and for contributing to this important discussion about mental health.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

570. People constantly tell Billy Eichner he's fearless, and they always want to know how he does it. In Savvy Psychologist's first-ever interview episode, Dr. Judy Ho sits down with the comedian behind "Billy on the Street" and "Parks and Recreation" to trace that boldness back to its source, and it isn't the one you'd expect. There's a stubborn myth that artists have to suffer to be great, but Billy's story is the opposite: two middle-class parents in a small Queens apartment who never instilled an ounce of shame in him and leaned all the way into who he was. His new audio memoir, "Billy on Billy," reveals how feeling completely safe and accepted as a kid is what gave him permission to take risks and become fully himself. The reframe at the heart of it: real confidence is built by love, not forged through pain. 

Listen to "Billy on Billy: An Audio Memoir" 

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

569. It's midnight. You're exhausted. You have to be up in six hours. And you are absolutely not going to bed yet. Sound familiar? There's a name for it — and it's not laziness. Revenge bedtime procrastination is what happens when your brain decides that staying up is the only way to get something back after a day that felt completely out of your control. This week Dr. Judy Ho breaks down the psychology and neuroscience behind why we do this, including the surprising cortisol effect that means ignoring your first wave of tiredness can keep you awake an extra 60 to 90 minutes, and how to actually break the cycle.

Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at [email protected]

Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips.

Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist

More from Dr. Ho on her other channels:

Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn.

Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.