The Abnormal Psychologist

It's back to school time, and many people are feeling anxious, stressed, and a bit depressed.  I decided to dedicate this episode to the "back to school blues" and their close cousin, the "Sunday scaries."   

This episode is comprised of stories documenting my encounters with animals as a psychologist.  Critters encountered clinically include dogs, geckos, spiders, and all sorts of fauna that graduate student definitely didn't prepare me for. 

In this episode, I discuss the somewhat ill-defined topic of executive functioning and how it can be assessed.  We then talk about executive dysfunction and how it can be tied to ADHD.  My own executive dysfunction is on display throughout the episode. 

This episode covers the concept of grit.  It is loosely a book review of Angela Duckworth's Grit: The Power of Perseverance.  Resilience, perseverance, and learned helplessness are also discussed.  

This episode comes as a mailbag request following the Nashville Covenant School shootings which caused confusion and even persecution against sexual minorities.  This episode explores common mental health concerns among individuals in LGBTQ+ communities and also highlights the availability of resources and the importance of future research. 

This episode will introduce ABA, its applications, and its history.  We'll walk through why ABA isn't rocket science and why it's sometimes controversial.  We'll also try to wade through the alphabet soup associated with ABA. 

This episode discusses parenting styles. We'll see if I can weave in psychologist Diana Baumrind with Frank Gallagher from Shameless.  We'll also discuss grandparenting styles. 

This episode is bound to cause some controversy as it discusses what does and does not cause autism (spoiler: the MMR vaccine is not a cause).  We'll explore whether Tylenol usage in pregnancy, high-fructose corn syrup, living near a highway, and advanced parental age are linked to ASD.  We'll also talk about possible neuroanatomical causes of autism.  

I can't believe I haven't published an episode on sleep so far.  This episode will cover sleep related disorders-- and over the course of 30 minutes, I'll discuss a wide variety of topics including sexsomnia and sleep walking.  I'll also work in references to the movies Water Boy and Stepbrothers. 

Happy 2023!  This episode discusses the psychology of New Year's Resolutions and how to make them SMART