Shrink2Shrink's podcast

This episode features an analysis of the mental heath portrayal depicted the 2019 film Joker.

What can we learn from this movie?  

Contact the 2 Shrinks:

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Resources cited during this episode:

Consequences of childhood abuse

 adults with major depression who experienced abuse as children had poorer response outcomes to antidepressant treatment, especially if the maltreatment occurred when they were aged 7 or younger

Diminished executive functioning and cognitive skills. Disrupted brain development as a result of maltreatment can cause impairments to the brain's executive functions: working memory, self-control, and cognitive flexibility (i.e., the ability to look at things and situations from different perspectives) (Kavanaugh, Dupont-Frechette, Jerskey, & Holler, 2016). Children who were maltreated also are at risk for other cognitive problems, including difficulties learning and paying attention (Bick & Nelson, 2016).

children who experience abuse or neglect are more likely to develop antisocial traits as they grow up, which can lead to criminal behavior in adulthood 

Post Traumatic stress. Children who experienced abuse or neglect can develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is characterized by symptoms such as persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic events related to the abuse; avoiding people, places, and events that are associated with their maltreatment; feeling fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame; startling easily; and exhibiting hypervigilance, irritability, or other changes in mood (Sege et al., 2017). PTSD in children can lead to depression, suicidal behavior, substance use, and oppositional or defiant behaviors well into adulthood, which can affect their ability to succeed in school, and create and nurture important relationships. 

Physical consequences

Childhood maltreatment has been linked to higher risk for a wide range of long-term and/or future health problems, including—but not limited to—the following (Widom, Czaja, Bentley, & Johnson, 2012; Monnat & Chandler, 2015; Afifi et al., 2016): ƒ Diabetes ƒ Lung disease ƒ Malnutrition ƒ Vision problems ƒ Functional limitations (i.e., being limited in activities) ƒ Heart attack ƒ Arthritis ƒ Back problems ƒ High blood pressure ƒ Brain damageƒ Migraine headaches ƒ Chronic bronchitis/emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ƒ Cancer ƒ Stroke ƒ Bowel disease ƒ Chronic fatigue syndrome

AND certain regions of the brain may fail to form. 

Two Marriage and Family Therapists discuss a multitude of topics brought to light through the 2019 Netflix original movie.

Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together.

On Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80223779?trackId=14170286&tctx=2%2C7%2C3dec9a19-9aaf-43fb-9fcb-eb7c5704282c-52612558%2C2062441e-96b4-4596-88e5-147b9e89ab23_30398961X3XX1577199961925%2C2062441e-96b4-4596-88e5-147b9e89ab23_ROOT

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Resources cited during this episode:

The Four Horsemen: Criticism, Contempt, Defensiveness, and Stonewalling

https://www.gottman.com/blog/the-four-horsemen-recognizing-criticism-contempt-defensiveness-and-stonewalling/

Marriage.com - Building World's Largest Marriage Resource

Divorce10 Most Common Reasons for Divorce

https://www.marriage.com/advice/divorce/10-most-common-reasons-for-divorce/

Research-Based Tips for a Happy and Healthy Relationship Research-Based Tips for a Happy and Healthy Relationship

https://www.gottman.com/blog/3-research-based-tips-for-a-happy-and-healthy-relationship/

Modern dating is enhanced by dating apps.  Dr. Colleen Mullen and Courtney Calkins, use their therapy experience to look at the qualities of successful and doomed relationships.  The Black Mirror episode "Hang the DJ" provides the topics for the relationships discussions on this episode.

On Netflix:

"Hang the DJ" https://www.netflix.com/watch/80131569?trackId=200257859 

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston with Nicole Kidman

Themes from this movie which we discuss in this episode:

Grief/Loss

Depression

Anger

Acceptance

Philip is a disabled billionaire, who feels that life is not worth living. To help him in his day to day routine, he hires Del, a parolee, trying to reconnect with his estranged wife. What begins as a professional relationship develops into a friendship as Del shows his grouchy charge that life is worth living

The 4 Tasks of Mourning

https://whatsyourgrief.com/wordens-four-tasks-of-mourning/ 

10 Tips for managing Anger

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/anger-management/art-20045434

Real vs Reel

http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/upside/ 

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne are the parents we all want in the movie Instant Family. The entire cast with Tom Segura and Tig Notaro and Octavia Spencer and the rest of the cast cast bring humanity to the true story of Sean Anders journey from fostering to adoption.   This couple, wants kids and they decide to adopt siblings from the foster care system, become the foster parents and then become (spoiler alert), their forever family and adopt.  This is a very realistic portrayal of many aspects of the foster system in the United States.

Listen in as Courtney and Colleen talk about family dynamics, stigmas against foster kids, how adoption works, the love and the pain of parenting and the honeymoon period that happens when everyone's on their best behavior.

On the Web - Find out how to get involved

http://www.instantfamily.org/

Rent/Buy Instant Family on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Family-Mark-Wahlberg/dp/B07KFQCLGP/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=instant+Family&qid=1554043496&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Instant Family Soundtrack

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K92J1WJ/ref=dm_ws_sp_ps_dp

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Is Bradley Cooper grandiose, self-centered & childlike? He's not, but his character, Jack, in A Star Is Born certainly is. As are most alcoholics/addicts. Then we have his father-figure caretaking and resentful brother, played by the great Sam Elliott and his painfully codependent love interest, played by Lady Gaga.  We are covering the Oscar-nominated A Star is Born movie in this episode. Join us as we break down codependency, family dynamics, alcoholism, addition and relationships, impulsivity and suicide. Hear the take on this movie by 2 therapists.

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

A Star is Born (2018)

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Born-Ravi-D-Mehta/dp/B07JYQN7J6/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2N7B0JI551HJB&keywords=a+star+is+born+dvd&qid=1551189816&s=gateway&sprefix=a+star+is+born%2Caps%2C208&sr=8-2 

Motion Picture Soundtrack

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Born-Soundtrack-Explicit/dp/B07GWJMW22/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YIZAM7HQGFXG&keywords=a+star+is+born+soundtrack&qid=1551189867&s=gateway&sprefix=a+star+is+born+soundt%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1 

Were we then and are we now, a culture of fame; intoxicated by popularity to the point that we abandon our safety, intelligence, and reason?

Will Smith leads the narrative through bright, insightful and provocative storytelling. He and this all star cast work together to make us think about our relationships, to our family and to ourselves.  

Dr. Colleen Mullen and Courtney Calkins, break down the wisdom from this film, about who we are in relation to each other and what people really want out of their lives.  

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108149/ 

Available on for free with Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=6+degrees+of+separation&i=instant-video&crid=OO3P443KB32Q&sprefix=6+degrees+%2Caps%2C209&ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_10 

Comedian Whitney Cummings put her research into a movie, sprinkled her comic wit into the movie and created The Female Brain.  Courtney & Dr. Mullen dissect the views of this film, and give our perspective from a personal and professional perspective.

Get it on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Female-Brain-Whitney-Cummings/dp/B079MCWGD4/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+female+brain&qid=1547999177&sr=8-1 

The Female Brain is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Whitney Cummings and written by Neal Brennan and Cummings. It is based on the 2006 book The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine. The film stars Cummings, Sofía Vergara, Toby Kebbell, James Marsden, Lucy Punch, Beanie Feldstein and Cecily Strong.

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Bigger Brains?

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/04/study-finds-some-significant-differences-brains-men-and-women

When the researchers adjusted the numbers to look at the subcortical regions relative to overall brain size, the comparisons became much closer: There were only 14 regions where men had higher brain volume and 10 regions where women did.

Different brains?

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-relationships/201402/brain-differences-between-genders

How are male and female brains different?

https://stanmed.stanford.edu/2017spring/how-mens-and-womens-brains-are-different.html

Women's reading comprehension and writing ability consistently exceed that of men, on average. They out­perform men in tests of fine-motor coordination and perceptual speed. They're more adept at retrieving information from long-term memory.

Men, on average, can more easily juggle items in working memory. They have superior visuospatial skills: They're better at visualizing what happens when a complicated two- or three-dimensional shape is rotated in space, at correctly determining angles from the horizontal, at tracking moving objects and at aiming projectiles.

THERE ARE DEBATES AMONG SCIENTISTS THAT THERE IS NO BRAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MALE AND FEMALE

_________

https://www.thecut.com/2017/04/heres-the-biggest-study-yet-on-sex-based-brain-differences.html

Shrink 2 Shrink - Lady bird Part 1 (here) http://shrink2shrink.libsyn.com/2-shrinks-and-lady-bird-2017-pt-1-of-2 

________

A mean mom who doesn't know how to be encouraging; when the person you lost your virginity to turns out be be a liar.  To love someone means you have to pay attention to them?!? Can a mom make her daughter get an eating disorder?

Should you keep a list of the people you have slept with?

Some people cannot say "Goodbye" they just reject you. Moms are people too and they have their own insecurities.  Sometimes it feels right to keep secrets, even in our own families.

Lady Bird on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Bird-Saoirse-Ronan/dp/B07734STRN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530375191&sr=8-1&keywords=lady+bird+movie 

Lady Bird Soundtrack on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lady+bird+soundtrack+from+the+motion+picture&sprefix=lady+bird+sound%2Caps%2C205&crid=ALC7O7GLJKAQ 

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink 

Christine "Lady Bird" MacPherson is a high school senior from the "wrong side of the tracks." She longs for adventure, sophistication, and opportunity, but finds none of that in her Sacramento Catholic high school. LADY BIRD follows the title character's senior year in high school, including her first romance, her participation in the school play, and most importantly, her applying for college.

Lady Bird on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Bird-Saoirse-Ronan/dp/B07734STRN/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1530375191&sr=8-1&keywords=lady+bird+movie 

Lady Bird Soundtrack on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lady+bird+soundtrack+from+the+motion+picture&sprefix=lady+bird+sound%2Caps%2C205&crid=ALC7O7GLJKAQ 

Dr. Colleen Mullen

https://twitter.com/DrColleenMullen

Courtney Calkins - QuadFather

https://twitter.com/QuadFatherMft

Website

http://shrink2shrink.com/

Twitter link:

https://twitter.com/Shrink2Shrink