Therapy Chat

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits a conversation with an incredible healer and coach. Today's guest is Mara Glatzel, MSW.

She is an intuitive guide and energy healer for women who facilitates daily conversations about intention, truth, and celebration. A creative leader, Mara is expert at living in her own skin with grace and ease.

At the core of her work is the desire to live a well-intentioned life, which means more joy, grit, and vibrant imperfection to spare. She is MY kind of person—how about you? Her website makes you feel warm, glittery, and nurturing, and her writings and programs are truly inspiring. Want to learn more? Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Mara works with women who want to live with more intention and responsibility.
• She likes to take nebulous concepts that are hidden in layers and break them down into tangible, relatable pieces.
• Mara’s work isn’t like other therapies or focused on symptoms, but is based on self-love and self-compassion.
• Mara found this niche after finding herself “not fitting into” the standard therapy role.
• She knows what it means to struggle with body image, fears, and trusting yourself.
• When we sacrifice ourselves in order to “belong” to the world around us, then loneliness is the result.
• You can have all the “right” things happening in your life, and be MISERABLE!
• Mara’s writing background flows perfectly into her intimate newsletter offerings, which happens to be her very favorite place to write!
• Mara is gifted in being able to take about difficult topics in ways that people can receive them.
• Her newsletter features the unusual option, “Click here if you want me to read this to you.” People love it!
• “Why aren’t there MORE spaces in which people are lovingly spoken to?”
• Mara offers several programs throughout the year, many of which Laura enjoys participating in. 
• Mara's podcast, "Needy," is for anyone who struggles to acknowledge their own needs. Check it out here!

Resources

Find everything Mara Glatzel offers at her website here.
  Also, my coach and friend (and prior Therapy Chat guest) Keri Nola has opened the doors to her Abundance Activator community for a limited time. Sign up here and enter the code Therapychat to receive a special offer only for Therapy Chat listeners!  

Thank you to The Receptionist for iPad for sponsoring this week’s episode. The Receptionist for iPad is the highest-rated digital check-in software for therapy offices and behavioral health clinics, used by thousands of practitioners across the country.

Sign up for a 14-day free trial of The Receptionist for iPad by going to www.thereceptionist.com/therapychat  and when you do, you’ll also receive a twenty five dollar Amazon gift card.

Thank you also to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes. Now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration is now closed for for Trauma Therapist Network membership but you can join the waiting list! We are a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists who gather for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. 

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://go.traumatherapistnetwork.com/join

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits an episode from 2016 on a very important subject - self care for helping professionals! Ashley Davis Bush, LICSW is a psychotherapist in private practice in southern New Hampshire with over 30 years’ experience. 

Ashley has written several self-help books, including Transcending Loss and Simple Self-Care for Therapists. She is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and has some great tips to share with us today about improving our relationships to self-care. Join us!

What you’ll hear in this episode:

• Ashley loves her work and counts it a privilege to be part of peoples’ lives. Her private practice is in her home, and it’s “a fun job, watching life unfold in front of you.”
• Even the simple choice of working from home can be a self-care choice.
• Ashley’s work focuses on grief, couples, and anxiety, but self-care is a common thread that is woven into her work with all clients.
• Ashley says that much of her practice patterns itself after her books.
• Her most recent book introduces the idea of “micro self-care.”
• “Macro self-care”practices are the big things that we normally think of regarding self-care, but micro practices are short, simple things that can be done in 1-2 minutes.
• Ashley focuses on self-care to avoid burnout, which she categorizes as “little b” and “BIG B” types of burnout.
• • “little b” burnout is when you are exhausted at the end of the day or week. You may need a good night’s rest or a few days off to regenerate and recover.
  • “BIG B” burnout is when you need to leave the field because you can’t take it anymore.
• Ashley addresses “vicarious trauma,” in that ALL therapists do some sort of trauma work.
• Personal and professional experience can cloud the lens with which we see the world, but life’s pains are a constant trauma.
• Ashley explains self-care vs. self-violence: when you don’t take care of yourself, then you’re doing harm (violence) to yourself.
• Mindfulness leads to grounding, bringing us into this moment right now.
• Ashley shares her Tibetan bell practice to help bring clients into mindfulness.
• She recommends using micro self-care practices at the beginning, middle, and end of your day.
• Ashley’s book lists 40-50 suggestions as to how to scale down macro self-care practices into small micro practices.
• Making the transformation from macro to micro self-care practices requires thinking creatively, but shouldn’t be overwhelming.
• Neuroplasticity is the science that show the brain can change in response to repetitive behaviors. You can rewire your brain to be more peaceful!
• When your brain is rewired, then your default setting comes to a place of gratitude and feeling good.
• Ashley’s three takeaways:
• • Have a basic plan for 3 micro self-care practices each day.
  • Sleep 8-9 hours each night so you aren’t tired during the day.
  • Prioritize self-care, and you’ll soon realize that you can’t live without it!
  • Be aware of the seasons of life, but regardless of the season, you can fit in micro self-care every da
  •  
  • Find Ashley at www.ashleydavisbush.com.

Thank you to The Receptionist for iPad for sponsoring this week’s episode. The Receptionist for iPad is the highest-rated digital check-in software for therapy offices and behavioral health clinics, used by thousands of practitioners across the country.

Sign up for a 14-day free trial of The Receptionist for iPad by going to www.thereceptionist.com/therapychat  and when you do, you’ll also receive a twenty five dollar Amazon gift card.

Thank you also to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy.  And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.  

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes.  Now featuring E-prescribe. Click here or use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes! 

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available. Therapists - join the TTN community and receive weekly support in live video calls. www.go.traumatherapistnetwork.com/register

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week's episode is replay of a fascinating conversation with someone who needs no introduction. Dr. Dan Siegel is this week's guest, and he explains the concept of interpersonal neurobiology, the nature of the mind, integration and “Mwe”. Personally, I think a "Mwe" consciousness is more crucial than ever right now.

He shares his story of becoming interested in the brain and the mind beginning in college, and continuing through his medical school training. He explains his disappointment at discovering in medical school in the late 1980’s that there did not seem to be a science of the mind that psychiatry was using to inform mental health work. He wanted to understand both how the body functions and how our mental lives play a part in keeping us alive.

He explains that interpersonal neurobiology is not a branch of neurobiology, but a framework combining many disciplines including the mental health fields of psychology, psychiatry, counseling, social work, as well as sociology, philosophy, quantum physics, math and others to answer the question “what is the mind?” He explains that he has interviewed over 100,000 people and none of them had ever had any training in what the mind is, which is a real gap in knowledge considering that we in the mental health field are working in the mind. That is what our work is.

He tells us that the mind is where the self comes from; then discusses what the mind is, why it exists, where is it, what’s its function. Dan argues we need to understand the mind to understand all of these questions. He discusses this in depth in his new book, Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, which is coming out in Fall of 2016.

He notes that the field called Philosophy of mind discourages asking what is the mind. Psychiatry doesn’t have a definition of the mind. Psychology doesn’t have a definition and says it’s a useful placeholder. What is a healthy mind? What’s a healthy thought? Some topics Dan discusses in this episode:

• Mind is not only emotions in this definition. It includes emotions, feelings, anything you can be subjectively aware of.
• In Dan’s definition, consciousness, subjective experience and information processing are the 3 parts of the mind.
• He talks about how he noticed that what we call mental health disorders fit into a pattern of chaos and rigidity. In probability theory of math there was an area of study which related to this which states that a complex system has three characteristics: It’s open to influences from outside of self; capable of being chaotic and it’s non-linear.
• It’s a self organizing, embodied and relational process. This answer comes from math. He explains that in mental health, integration defines health.
• He states that the best definition of mental health is that the system is Flexible, Adaptive, Coherent, Energized and Stable (FACES).
• Where attention goes, neural firing flows, neural connection grows

Dan talks about how therapists can use these concepts to help clients live happier and more fulfilling lives, not just lives of being free from mental health symptoms. We had a very thought-provoking discussion and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Resources

Wheel of Awareness practice

Mindsight

The Mindful Therapist

Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology

The Developing Mind

Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human

Dan Siegel’s website

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes, now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration is opening for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training and get a beautiful therapist directory listing to help clients find your practice and learn about how you work. 

Sign up here: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/register! Hurry, time is running out!

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits an interview with James Lake, MD, an integrative psychiatrist in California who has authored several books, including 2009’s Integrative Mental Health: A Therapist’s Handbook. Dr. Lake is a leader in the field of integrative mental health, as you will hear in this interview.   After our recent episodes with Dr. Aimie Apigian, Dr. Jodie Skillicorn and Dr. Leslie Korn, it seemed fitting to take a step back and replay the interview with Dr. James Lake to lay a foundation for understanding integrative mental health and how Master's-level clinicians can use it in our practices.

Dr. Lake discusses how he uses complementary and alternative medicine (“CAM”) in his clinical practice, and how Master’s-level therapists can use integrative methods in their practices, within their scope of practice. He discusses use of supplements in psychotherapy practice, collaboration with alternative and complementary practitioners as well as allopathic medicine physicians as well. He shares information on his E-book series on integrative mental health and how practitioners can use it. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:

American Psychiatric Association Caucus on Complementary, Alternative and Integrative Medicine website: http://www.intpsychiatry.com/

International Network for Integrative Mental Health website: https://inimh.org/

Find Dr. Lake’s e-book series here: http://theintegrativementalhealthsolution.com 

Dr. Lake’s website: http://progressivepsychiatry.com

Trauma Therapist Network: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes, now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration is now open to those who are on the waiting list, and will re-open for everyone later this month, for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. You'll also receive a beautiful Trauma Therapist Network directory profile listing when you join.

Get on the waiting list now and you'll be sent a registration link! Sign up here: https://go.traumatherapistnetwork.com/join

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

This week host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits a past interview with guest Dr. Leslie Korn, who has been interviewed previously on the show. You might remember that last week we heard a replay of the interview with Dr. Jodie Skillicorn, a holistic and integrative psychiatrist. If you liked that conversation, you'll want to listen to this!

In our interview, you'll hear Leslie speak about using integrative nutrition, including herbs, for optimal emotional and physical wellbeing. She is the author of 9 books, including her most recent book, Natural Woman.  

Leslie E Korn, PhD, MPH, LMHC, is a renowned integrative medicine clinician and educator specializing in the use of nutritional, herbal, and culinary medicine for the treatment of trauma and emotional and chronic physical illness. She completed her graduate education in psychiatry and public health at Harvard Medical School and her life training in the jungles of Mexico, where she lived and worked alongside local healers for more than 25 years. 

Leslie introduced somatic therapies for complex trauma patients in outpatient psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in 1985. She is the author of nine books including, Rhythms of Recovery: Trauma, Nature and the Body,, the seminal book on the body and complex trauma, Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health; The Good Mood Kitchen; and her most recent book, Natural Woman: Herbal Remedies for Radiant Health at Every Age and Stage of Life. She was a Fulbright Scholar and an NIH-funded scientist in mind-body medicine. She is also the director of the Center for Traditional Medicine, a project of cwis.org.

Resources

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes, now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, join the waiting list for Trauma Therapist Network membership! Registration is open NOW only to the waiting list and opens later this month for everyone else.

Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. You'll also receive a beautiful Trauma Therapist Network directory profile listing when you join.

Sign up here: https://go.traumatherapistnetwork.com/joinwaitlist. 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! In today's episode, you will hear a replay from 2020, where host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews Dr. Jodie Skillicorn, a holistic psychiatrist and author of the book, "Healing Depression Without Medication: a psychiatrist's guide to balancing mind, body and soul".

Jodie explains how trauma plays a role in many psychiatric symptoms and how she works with her patients using medications as a last resort. Tune in for an interesting and thought-provoking discussion!

Dr. Jodie Skillicorn is an osteopathic physician board certified in Psychiatry and a diplomate of the American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine. She integrates conventional medical training with evidence-based holistic methods that include breathwork, meditation, yoga, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), Mind-Body Medicine, nutrition, exercise, nature, and auricular acupuncture at her private practice in Stow, Ohio.

Resources

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes, now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration opens in July for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. You'll also receive a beautiful Trauma Therapist Network directory profile listing when you join.

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://go.traumatherapistnetwork.com/joinwaitlist. 

Waitlist members will receive early access next week! 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! This week, our conversation about trauma and health continues as host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C interviews Dr. Aimie Apigian, a functional medicine doctor, about the biology of trauma and how this piece is often omitted from trauma treatment.

She explains why healing is incomplete without the physiology of trauma being addressed, describes what is happening in the body when someone is in a chronic state of freeze, and shares information about her upcoming Annual Biology of Trauma Summit featuring Dr. Gabor Maté (featured in last week's episode) and many other experts in the field of functional medicine and the physiology of trauma.

Dr. Aimie is a Double Board-Certified Medical Physician in both Preventive and Addiction Medicine and holds Double Masters Degrees in Biochemistry and in Public Health. She is the leading medical expert on addressing stored trauma in the body through her signature model and methodology, The Biology of Trauma™: a new lens that courageously uplevels the old methods of trauma work and medicine by reverse-engineering trauma's effects on the nervous system and body on a cellular level.

Dr. Aimie specializes in trauma, attachment and addictions after having personal experience in foster parenting, adopting and then having her own health issues that were a result of childhood and life experiences. In addition to her medical studies that have included Functional Medicine Certification, she has sought out trauma therapy training since 2015.

Dr. Aimie founded a Nonprofit called Family Challenge Camps, and developed and ran weekend intensives for families with children who have experienced attachment trauma. She is currently the founder and CEO of Trauma Healing Accelerated, where she bridges the two worlds of Functional Medicine and Trauma Therapy with a mission to help adults accelerate the healing journey by addressing The Biology of Trauma™ that keeps stored trauma stuck in the body, mind and spirit. Her Providers’ Certification Course teaches providers to do the same for their clients.

Resources: 

Dr. Aimie's website: www.traumahealingaccelerated.com

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes. Now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration opens in July for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. 

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/wait-list/ 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Welcome back to Therapy Chat! As we continue our exploration of the mind-body connection in trauma recovery, we have another episode on this topic.

In today's podcast host Laura Reagan revisits an earlier episode speaking to Dr. Gabor Maté. Dr. Maté is the co-founder of Compassion for Addiction, a non-profit that focuses on addiction. He is also an advisor of Drugs over Dinner.

As an author, Dr. Maté has written several bestselling books including the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction; When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress; and Scattered Minds: A New Look at the Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder, and co-authored Hold on to Your Kids. His works have been published internationally in twenty languages.

For twelve years Dr. Maté worked in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside with patients challenged by hard-core drug addiction, mental illness and HIV, including at Vancouver’s Supervised Injection Site. With over 20 years of family practice and palliative care experience and extensive knowledge of the latest findings of leading-edge research, Dr. Maté is a sought-after speaker and teacher, regularly addressing health professionals, educators, and lay audiences throughout North America.

Dr. Maté explains the connection between childhood traumatic stress at any point in development - even in utero - and mental and physical health and well-being. Beyond a discussion of ACES, he describes the causes of illness and how trauma fits in. Did you know that ADD/ADHD, MS, Prostate cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and many other diseases, as well as addictions of all kinds are linked to trauma? Gabor's books, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Scattered, and When the Body Says No go into depth with the research to support his assertions.

Resources

https://drgabormate.com

https://www.compassion4addiction.org

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66cYcSak6nE (Ted Talk)

Article Dr. Maté referenced: "An Integrated Scientific Framework for Child Survival and Early Childhood Development" from Pediatrics, February 2012, Vol 129, Issue 2.

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes. Now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration opens in July for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. 

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/wait-list/ 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

On today's episode host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C speaks to Donna Jackson Nakazawa about her forthcoming book, The Angel and The Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine. 

Donna Jackson Nakazawa is an award-winning journalist and internationally-recognized speaker whose work explores the intersection of neuroscience, immunology, and human emotion. Her mission is to translate emerging science in ways that help those with chronic conditions find healing.

She is the author of six books, including her most recent book, The Angel and The Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine (Random House/Ballantine, January 2020), which illuminates the newly-understood role of microglia – an elusive type of brain cell capable of Jekyll and Hyde behavior. When triggered, microglia can morph into destroyers and take down synapses, causing depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s. But under the right circumstances, they can be angelic healers, repairing the brain in ways that can help alleviate symptoms and prevent disease. Hailed as “riveting,” “stunning,” and “visionary,” The Angel and the Assassin elucidates the biological basis behind the mind-body connection and offers us a radically reconceived picture of human health.

Donna’s other books include Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal (Atria / Simon & Schuster, 2015), The Last Best Cure (Hudson Street Press / Penguin, 2013), The Autoimmune Epidemic (Touchstone / Simon & Schuster, 2009), and Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent’s Guide to Raising Multicultural Children (Perseus, 2003). Her writing has been published in The Washington Post, Health Affairs, Aeon, More, Parenting, AARP Magazine, Glamour, and elsewhere. She blogs for Psychology Today and HuffPost.

In addition to her work as a science journalist, Donna has been a keynote speaker at numerous universities, conferences and hospitals. Her keynote lectures include the 2019 Care Plus Annual Conference, 2018 Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care Conference, 2018 Golisano Children’s Hospital Annual Pediatric Conference, 2017 Royal Society of Medicine SIRPA Conference on Chronic Pain and Emotion, 2017 Learning and the Brain Conference, 2016 Johns Hopkins Conference on Trauma-Informed Healing, and the 2012 International Congress on Autoimmunity. She has appeared on The Today Show, National Public Radio, NBC News, and ABC News.

Resources

Learn more about Donna Jackson Nakazawa here: https://donnajacksonnakazawa.com 

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes. Now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration opens in July for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. 

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/wait-list/ 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

In the US, violence is a major problem. We hear news stories about mass shootings, war, and sexual and domestic violence daily. Last week in episode 333, therapist and author Terry Real talked about how patriarchal conditioning limits those who are socialized as male in their emotional expression. 

In today's episode, host Laura Reagan, LCSW-C revisits a prior interview with the co-authors of "The Tough Standard: The hard truths about masculinity and violence," Dr. Ronald Levant and Shana Pryor. In this conversation you'll learn about the construct of masculinity and how it impinges upon men and others, contributing to violent behavior. 

Ronald F. Levant, EdD, ABPP, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at The University of Akron; Past President of the American Psychological Association (APA) and APA Division 51; and two-term Editor of APA Division 51’s quarterly journal, Psychology of Men & Masculinities. He has developed and evaluated a number of measures designed to assess a variety of gender constructs. Dr. Levant’s signature contribution has been in establishing the empirical foundation for the “Normative Male Alexithymia” hypothesis. In addition, he developed Alexithymia Reduction Treatment (ART), a brief psychoeducational intervention designed to remediate normative male alexithymia in order to prepare men to engage more fully in psychotherapy. This is his 19th book.

Shana Pryor, MA, is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Akron. She has spent the majority of her career focusing on men, masculinity and sexual trauma.

Resources

Learn more about their work and find a book excerpt at: www.thetoughstandard.com. 

Find The Tough Standard here.   Listen to last week's episode or read a transcript here. 

Thank you to TherapyNotes for sponsoring this week's episode! TherapyNotes makes billing, scheduling, notetaking, and telehealth incredibly easy. And now, for all you prescribers out there, TherapyNotes is proudly introducing E-prescribe!

Find out what more than 100,000 mental health professionals already know, and try TherapyNotes for 2 months, absolutely free.

Try it today with no strings attached, and see why everyone is switching to TherapyNotes, now featuring E-prescribe. Use promo code "chat" at www.therapynotes.com to receive 2 FREE months of TherapyNotes!

This episode is also sponsored by Trauma Therapist Network. Learn about trauma, connect with resources and find a trauma therapist near you at www.traumatherapistnetwork.com. We believe that trauma is real, healing is possible and help is available.

Therapists, registration opens in July for Trauma Therapist Network membership. Join a compassionate and skilled group of trauma therapists for weekly calls focused on Self Care, Case Consultation, Q&A and Training. 

Get on the waiting list now to be the first to know when registration opens! Sign up here: https://traumatherapistnetwork.com/wait-list/ 

Podcast produced by Pete Bailey - https://petebailey.net/audio 

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