Loneliness is a human condition, and something we all have felt. In many cities and places across the globe, loneliness is on the rise and in 2023 was named an epidemic by the Attorney General.

In this episode we’ll discuss a charming and unique feature film named “Rental Family” in which a washed up American actor living in Tokyo, played by the ever earnest Brendan Fraser, finds his own new family by working for an agency that rents people like him to act as stand-ins for strangers who seek companionship.

Therapy comes in many forms, and writer/director Hikari’s “Rental Family” does a great job demonstrating just how true that can be.

Additional Links:

Loneliness epidemic advisory 2023

The Courage to be Disliked on Goodreads

Rental Family

CDC resources for Loneliness

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Beauty can be a dangerous thing.

That’s the message coming through loud and clear in Ryan Murphy’s recent series “The Beauty,” streaming on FX. Never one to be subtle, Mr. Murphy’s story takes a twisted look at how people’s pursuit of physical perfection can be taken to the extreme. Even as a rollicking work of fiction, “The Beauty” tackles many relevant cultural issues and certainly encourages some introspection. Join Dr. Karen and Josh as they unpack a wild, grizzly trip into the psychology and sociology of looking good.

Additional Links:

GLP-1

https://diatribe.org/diabetes-medications/how-ozempic-became-celebrity-weight-loss-sensation

https://medicine.washu.edu/news/study-identifies-benefits-risks-linked-to-popular-weight-loss-drugs/

Nip/tuck

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361217/

The Substance

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/22/the-substance-review-demi-moore-is-fearless-in-visceral-female-body-horror-coralie-fargeat

“Eye of the Beholder” - Twilight Zone episode

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0734568/

Black Mirror

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/?ref_=fn_t_1

Body Image, NY Times article

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/style/the-year-of-manufacturing-the-body-and-booty-and-boobs.html

The Beauty

https://medium.com/@kbrosenb/beauty-as-danger-in-the-beauty-and-other-ryan-murphy-works-7f1bed76219d

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33517752/

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Good science fiction has always been a reflection of the cultural moment we live in, depicting the fantasies and possibilities of our collective future. Recently, we’ve witnessed the birth of a new sci-fi microgenre, in which the future is directed inward, hewing much closer to our current world, but with much more psychological and philosophical questions at it’s core.

In this episode, we’ll discuss the common theme of two new shows, Pluribus and Severance, both on Apple TV, which depict a science fiction that is much more psychology than technology. Dr. Karen has labeled the condition at the center of both shows “neurological conformity,” and we’ll unpack what it is and why it might be the current trend in science fiction storytelling.

Additional Links:

“Is Neurological Conformity the Next Era of Streaming?” - Medium article by Karen B. Rosenbaum, MD

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Blame is tricky. It can be a tool of justice. It can be a weapon. All too often, blame transforms victims into perpetrators, further exacerbating tragedies and increasing the blast radius of damage.

In this episode, Dr. Karen and Josh analyze Peacock’s 2025 episodic series All Her Fault, a child abduction thriller that effectively uses blame as a vehicle to develop the story and it’s characters, while shedding light on what can lie behind it. The psychological vectors of blame coursing through the characters of the story act as doors into their traumas, biases, and intentions, all of which makes for a pretty good watch, and plenty of juicy themes to talk about!

Additional Links:

The gendered division of housework in NorthAmerica: A systematic review from 2014 to 2024

The Blaming Narcissist

Nanny Faces Tough Insanity Test: Did She Know Killing Was Wrong?

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Therapy gets intimate. It has to be, in order to work. Therefore, the doctor-patient relationship is uniquely dependent on trust, honesty, and discretion.

There are rules and guidelines therapists must follow to ensure a professional relationship, and to protect both parties from harm. But, as we all know, those rules are sometime broken, and sometimes harmful consequences come as a result.

In this episode, Dr. Karen and Josh will discuss the second season of an entertaining series on Netflix called Nobody Wants This, in which a new subplot illustrates the complexities of the boundaries between therapist and patient. It’s treated with humor, but it demonstrates the contours and pretty effectively calls out some things to be aware of when witnessing someone, as the saying goes, “dating their therapist!”

Additional Links:

Podcast: The Shrink Next Door

Apple TV Show: The Shrink Next Door

American Psychiatric Association Ethics Guidelines

Literature on Boundary Crossings and Violations:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3361837/#:~:text=A%20boundary%20crossing%20is%20a,the%20patient%20and%20the%20therapy.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32047383/

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Pop culture is full of psychopaths. Countless stories have featured (sometimes) real, (often) fictional, (mostly) men or (the occasional) women who do the unthinkable to their victims… and we eat it up.

The third installment of Ryan Murphy’s Monster series, now out on Netflix, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, is a biopic (with some creative license) of the O.G. American psychotic murderer Ed Gein, who shocked the nation with his murders and mutilations in the 1950’s and early 1960’s and inspired many a gruesome character in cinema for decades to come.

Eventually, he was adjudicated not guilty by reason of insanity and lived out most of his adult life in a forensic psychiatric hospital, unlike the fictional serial killers inspired by his gruesome story.

Listen in as we discuss the more clinical and psychological aspects of psychopathy, and shed a little light on what’s some pretty dark stuff.

Additional Links:

Beyond Monster: 6 Grisly Films Inspired by Serial Killer Ed Gein

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The Amanda Knox story is one for the ages. Charged with murder while studying abroad in Italy, she fought for years in Italian courts to prove her innocence while locked up in prison after being found guilty on circumstantial and contrived evidence. Her story illustrates an extreme example of bias, both in the media and in the courts, which played an outsized role in her court proceedings and subsequent guilty verdicts.

After finally being acquitted on appeal years later, Amanda has told her story in a riveting memoir, “Amanda Knox: Waiting to be Heard”, and the recent Hulu series “The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox” is a well crafted series depicting the tragic events that lead to her long journey seeking justice.

Additional Links:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=amanda+knox+free

https://prisonsandjustice.georgetown.edu/false_confessions/

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According to the burgeoning field of relationship science, every individual behaves in one of three ways when in a relationship. Which category you fall into is a reflection of your attachment style.

In this episode, we’ll talk about adult attachment styles as illustrated in “Too Much,” Lena Dunham’s latest Netflix series. It’s a quality show, with rich characterizations of each type served in a show typically, well… Lena Dunham!

Additional Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Attached-Science-Adult-Attachment-YouFind/dp/1585429139

https://www.netflix.com/title/81671844

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ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, has become a very treatable condition thanks to medications like Adderall. Adderall has been widely prescribed and available for several years, until the pandemic triggered a series of conditions that led to a shortage of the drug’s availability, which remains the case even today.

In the HBO Max series “And Just Like That,” our favorite Sex and the City crew are back for another season of New York flavored drama. And this time, ADHD and the Adderall shortage finds its way into the storyline, which means it’s officially part of the pop cultural zeitgeist! That means it’s time to talk more about it on The Latest Craze!

Additional Links:

What is ADHD?What is Adderallhttps://www.drugs.com/adderall.html

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In the early 2000’s, innovations in DNA sequencing technology enabled “shotgun metagenomics,” which involves sequencing random DNA fragments from environmental samples. The result was a new, powerful set of tools for exploring the granular and highly complex world of the gut microbiome.

This relatively new science is providing deep insights into how the foods we eat can have major effects on our mental and physical well being. If health and nutrition are meaningful to you, there has never been a better time to learn about the connections between your diet, body, and mind.

One new study recently completed by some Stanford University professionals has been documented and turned into a Netflix series called “You Are What You Eat: A Twin Experiment.” In this short and entertaining series, several sets of identical twins were put on two different strict diets - one omnivorous and the other plant based - and observed over eight weeks to track various physiological and mental changes. The results reveal that even within a short amount of time, our bodies will adjust to what we put in them in significant ways.

Additional Links:

Dr. Karen has provided a list of some of her favorite plant-based cookbooks, in case anyone decides (like Josh) they want to give a plant based diet a try after watching the show…

https://www.amazon.com/Isa-Does-Amazingly-Delicious-Recipes/dp/0316221902

https://www.amazon.com/Chloes-Kitchen-Delicious-Recipes-Making/dp/1451636741

https://www.forksoverknives.com/recipes/

https://emeranmayer.com/blog/

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