Thoughts on Record: Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

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Mindfulness is an area of clinical and intellectual focus which has grown tremendously in popularity and includes many secular practices such as breath work, body scanning & self-compassion.  OICBT psychologist Dr. Kiran Vadaga joins us for an in-depth conversation in which explore observations around the importance, and potential benefits, of being a more mindful observer of our feelings (particularly those which are pleasant.  In this conversation we cover:  

• a quick primer on some of the assumptions of Buddhist Psychology; namely, the impermanent nature of reality and the impersonal nature of reality
• why are so quick to struggle against these assumptions
• the four Noble truths (1. there is suffering, 2. there are causes for suffering, 3. there is a way out of suffering 4. the way out of suffering is by following the eightfold noble path)
• contrasting buddhist psychology with the three waves of Western psychology (behavior therapy, cognitive therapy, and secular mindfulness practices)
• current secular mindfulness practices 
• current evidence for mindfulness-based interventions
• mindfulness of feelings
• Buddha’s discourse on the Four establishments of mindfulness (i.e., mindfulness of mind, mindfulness of body, mindfulness of feelings, and mindfulness of phenomena
• the law of dependent origination
• a self-inquiry approach around the investigation of the four establishments of mindfulness and the law of dependent origination
• findings and implications in treating different mental ailments (i.e., depression, mania, anxiety, inattention, and addictions)

Comments or feedback?  Email us at: [email protected]

Dr. Kiran Vadaga obtained his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Concordia University, Montreal. He completed his pre-doctoral internship at the McGill University Health center and supervised practice at the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (OICBT). He provides Psychodiagnostic assessment and treatment for adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and Borderline personality disorder (BPD). He also provides treatment for adults and the elderly struggling with mood and anxiety-related disorders. Dr. Vadaga uses an integrative approach to treatment drawing from cognitive, behavioral, interpersonal, and mindfulness traditions.

https://www.ottawacbt.ca/mr-kiran-vadaga

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CBT interventions are often favoured for being empirically supported; however, it is not always clear how efficacy of these interventions maps to the actual functioning of the brain.  Esteemed neuropsychologist and psychoanalyst, Dr. Mark Solms, joins us for an in-depth discussion of the clinical implications of his research into the biological underpinnings of consciousness as discussed in in his wonderful book, The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness.   In this discussion we cover : 

• why Dr. Solms gravitated towards a psychoanalytic framework to explore the underlying neuroscience of brain function
• the definition of consciousness that Dr. Solms employs when considering matters related to consciousness
• the brain's "workflow" with respect to constructing conscious experience
• how the brain weighs the importance of various competing needs 
• the unexpected role of the brain stem and cortex in consciousness 
• levering critical implications of this model of information processing to enhance standard CBT interventions 
• consideration of therapeutic potential of the therapeutic alliance through the lens of Dr. Solm's system of consciousness
• what his model can teach us about the origins of psychopathology and challenges with personality
• leveraging the content of our dreams knowing their biological basis (Dr. Solms elucidated the specific neurobiological origins of dreaming, beyond REM sleep)

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Mark Solms, PhD, is Director of Neuropsychology at the University of Cape Town. He is Director of Training of the South African Psychoanalytical Association, Member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and Honorary Member of the New York Psychoanalytic Society. He is Director of the Science Department of the American Psychoanalytic Association and Co-Chair of the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society. He was Research Chair of the International Psychoanalytical Association.  He was awarded the Sigourney Prize in 2012. He has published more than 350 papers in both neuroscientific and psychoanalytic journals, and six books, including The Brain and the Inner World (2002), which was a bestseller translated into 12 languages and his latest book The Hidden Spring. His selected writings were published as The Feeling Brain (2015). He is the editor of the Revised Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (24 volumes) and the Complete Neuroscientific Works of Sigmund Freud (four volumes). 

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There has been increasing discussion of the metabolic basis of mental disorders and the potential benefit a low-carb/ketogenic approach could hold with respect to the treatment of mental disorders.  Psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Edes joins us for a discussion of major themes of her new book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind.  In this conversation we cover: 

• why Dr. Edes wanted to write this book
• the underlying evidence to suggest that there is likely a fundamentally metabolic mechanism underlying mental disorders
• what contributes to the evolution of developing a metabolic disorder within the brain
• signs that one could be in a danger zone from a metabolic perspective
• controversies and emerging views around cholesterol and other markers of metabolic health from an energy balance perspective
• what a brain healthy diet looks like from a metabolic perspective
• the role inflammation plays a potentially in the development and maintenance of mental disorders
• Dr. Edes staged model or algorithm of progression through paleo to keto to carnivore to evaluate what benefits a metabolic approach might offer measures beyond nutritional factors that could impact upon metabolic health
• discriminating between a metabolically-based depression vs. depression precipitated by loss of a job, relationship or similar (i.e., perhaps an expected and reasonable response to a stressor)
• safely and effectively combining pharmacological and nutritional strategies 
• how can psychologists & psychotherapists, how can we leverage knowledge of the underlying metabolic processes to optimize their clinical - mainly psychotherapeutic - interventions

Feedback or comments?  Email the podcast: [email protected]

Dr. Georgia Ede is an internationally recognized expert in nutritional and metabolic psychiatry. Her twenty-five years of clinical experience include twelve years at Smith College and Harvard University Health Services, where she was the first to offer students nutrition-based approaches as an alternative to psychiatric medication. Dr. Ede co-authored the first inpatient study of the ketogenic diet for treatment-resistant mental illness, developed the first medically accredited course in ketogenic diets for mental health practitioners, and was honored to be named a recipient of the Baszucki Brain Research Fund’s first annual Metabolic Mind Award. Her new book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind was released on January 30, 2024.

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Female involvement with the criminal justice system can prompt significant internal dissonance as well as challenge conceptualizations around female violence, motherhood, mental illness etc.  Forensic psychotherapist Anna Motz joins us for a fascinating discussion of her book “If Love Could Kill: The Myths & Truths of Women Who Commit Violence”.   In this discussion we cover:  

• why Anna wanted to write this book and the underlying message of the title (“If Love Could Kill”)
• why Anna has gravitated to the psychodynamic model for working with female offenders
• the role that trauma plays in these clinical cases 
• how myths, assumptions & expectations about motherhood/woman in general  play into the way we see & conceptualize these clients within the justice system as well as media
• media coverage of female sexual offenders
• media portrayal of female custodial environments e.g. Orange is the New Black
• the added complications of having children involved in these cases
• the absolute need to be able to hold opposites/dialectics in considering these cases with humanity/objectivity
• the relegation of these woman to society’s “shadow" and how we might integrate them as individuals
• managing vicarious/secondary trauma when working with this population 
• maintaining positive regard in the context of some very challenging client behaviour 
• a brief meditation on the implications of the cases for conceptualizations of free will
• the rise of the True Crime genre and what it might say about us as a society 

Feedback of comments?  Email us at [email protected]. 

Anna Motz was born in Oxford, England, and raised in New York City. She received a degree in psychology from Oxford University. She lives and works in Oxfordshire as a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist and psychotherapist for Central and North West London NHS Trust, providing specialist consultation, assessment, and treatment for high-risk women, in partnership with His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service. Motz is a member of the Advisory Board for Female Offenders, under the UK Ministry of Justice.

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Host note: folks, I invite you to pay very close attention to what Dr. Hollis has to say...could change your life.

Jungian/Depth psychology provides a wonderful framework for exploring questions related to meaning and the self that can at time fall outside of boundaries of what is typically explored in cognitive behavioural therapy.  Esteemed author and Jungian analyst Dr. James Hollis joins us for an in-depth discussion of core themes explored in his new book, A Life of Meaning: Relocating Your Center of Spiritual Gravity.  In this conversation we cover:  

• defining depth/Jungian psychology 
• knowing the wants, needs & agendas our unconscious might have
• a consideration of whether the desires of the unconscious be used as a compass with respect to where to take one’s life
• comparing and contrasting the wisdom of the unconscious vs. that of the ego and what each mode has to teach the other 
• the importance of a constant bidirectional conversation/negotiation between the unconscious and the ego
• defining the shadow and the value of shadow work
• knowing when we have aligned the will of our unconscious and conscious minds  
• developing flexibility in tolerating an emergent, incongruent sense of self   especially if our unconscious makes conscious a particularly challenging fork in the road that would potentially upset others or ourselves.  
• recognizing key opportunities for change/departures in one's life

Comments or feedback?  Email us at: [email protected]

James Hollis, PhD was born in Springfield, Illinois, and graduated from Manchester University in 1962 and Drew University in 1967. He taught Humanities 26 years in various colleges and universities before retraining as a Jungian analyst at the Jung Institute of Zurich, Switzerland (1977-82). He is presently a licensed Jungian analyst in private practice in Washington, D.C. He served as Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas for many years, was Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington until 2019, and now serves on the JSW Board of Directors. He is a retired Senior Training Analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, was first Director of Training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is Vice-President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. Additionally he is a Professor of Jungian Studies for Saybrook University of San Francisco/Houston. He has written a total of seventeen books, which have been translated into 19 languages

https://jameshollis.net/welcome.htm

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Existential boredom is a challenge for many that can lead to a pathological engagement with shallow amusements (which may only deepen the despair and lead to more boredom).  Dr. Kevin Gary joins us for a discussion of some of the core themes covered in his book Why Boredom Matters: Education, Leisure, and the Quest for a Meaningful Life.  In this discussion we cover: 

• why Dr. Gary wanted to write this book 
• situational vs. existential boredom 
• comparing and contrasting existential boredom and depression 
• the benefits of making our boredom explicit rather than pushing it away 
• the relationship between boredom and despair 
• the despair of possibility vs. despair of necessity and the impact on mood 
• the unique challenges that aging might pose with respect to boredom 
• identifying constructive & nonconstructive ways of coping crafting an effective leisure practice 
• how to "fall back in love" with an activity or passion that used to drive us but we have become disenchanted with  
• healthy boredom vs. unhealthy boredom (like something that might arise with ADHD) 

Comments or feedback?  Email the podcast: [email protected]

Bio: Kevin Gary is a professor at Valparaiso University, where he teaches theology, education, and in the Christ College Honors Program. Kevin's work addresses questions about meaning and purpose, focusing especially on human flourishing. His book Why Boredom Matters: Education, Leisure, and the Quest for a Meaningful Life was published by Cambridge University Press in 2022. Kevin examines the problem of boredom and related problems associated with boredom avoidance. Rather than avoid or resign ourselves to boredom, he charts a middle way that guides us to how to productively and wisely contend with this troubling mood state.

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Understanding the evolutionary significance of depression can quite helpful in its conceptualization and treatment.  Founder in the field of evolutionary medicine, Dr. Randy Nesse, joins us for an encore discussion in which we consider how striving, motivation and desire for control can play into the evolution of depressive symptoms. In this conversation we cover:  

• why failure to give up an unachievable goal may be a central cause of some forms of depression and why low mood might be advantageous in these situations
• how understanding dynamics around food-foraging can give us insight into how our nervous system cues us to disengage from various activities at the best cost-benefit ratio  
• the types of stressors that might be particularly likely to evoke a response of “ceaseless striving” that can potentially cause depression
• some of the other causes of depression that exist outside of this model
• how this model can inform our assessment and treatment of depression
• mania through the lens of an evolutionary model
• the compassionate consideration of grief (and complicated grief) from an evolutionary lens
• differentiating between the “necessary” pain of to alert oneself to a life circumstance that needs remediation vs. the opposite – where perhaps the mood problem is causing the life circumstance (i.e., the normal emotion regulation mechanisms have broken down)   
• the role of medication in treating depression given some of the caveats around the evolutionary origins of depression

Randolph M. Nesse, MD, is a founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and co-author with George C. Williams of Why We Get Sick. He served for many years as Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychology and Research Professor at the University of Michigan. He was the Founding Director of the Center for Evolution & Medicine at Arizona State University and Foundation Professor in the School of Life Sciences from 2014 to 2019, where he is now a Research Professor.  He is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and an elected Fellow of the AAAS.

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For many mental health clinicians, crafting resilience is an afterthought to managing the day-to-day demands of their professional life.  Psychologist, consultant & author, Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier, joins us to discuss some of the themes explored in her new book: The Resilience Plan: A Strategic Approach to Optimizing Your Work Performance and Mental Health.

• the ethos behind the Resilience Plan 
• what is burnout and what makes someone vulnerable
• some of the unique traps around burnout that are laid for clinicians in private practice /mental health, including the temperament of clinicians
• strategies for developing a sustainable model of practice based on a realistic audit of one's current demands 
• resilience as a process of validating our experience, being realistic and remaining forward looking. 
• why we need to be strategic about our resilience 
• creative problem-solving with respect to allocation of our time, money and other resources
• why pushing yourself to be more resilient may cause more burnout
• some of the common rationalizations that clinicians employ to avoid self-care and how to flip some of these same rationalizations around to actually enhance self-care
• crafting resilience in the face of some of the more challenging realities of the health care system
• how clinicians in solo practice can create a source of community 
• how to create a resilience plan 
• strategies for those running practices to build an environment where teams (or the individual) can thrive and are less prone to burnout
• considering when it might be appropriate to take a leave of absence (with a specific focus on clinicians who may be self-employed) 

Throughout her career in business management and psychology, Dr. Marie-Hélène Pelletier has spearheaded a dialogue on the crucial issues of leadership resilience and workplace health. Drawing on her extensive background in corporate, insurance, governance and public sectors, she brings national and international perspectives and expertise on mental health and resilience as a key pillar of overall health. She is a bilingual practicing psychologist with over 20 years of experience in clinical psychology and advisory workplace psychology and holds a Ph.D. and an MBA from the University of British Columbia. Marie-Hélène  is a Member of the Global Clinical Practice Network of the World Health Organization, and past Director on the boards of the Canadian Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology. She has presented, authored and co-authored a number of industry and academic publications and has won numerous academic and industry awards. In 2024, Dr. Pelletier will release her new book, The Resilience Plan: A Strategic Approach to Optimizing Your Work Performance and Mental Health.

Pre-Order the Book: https://theresilienceplan.com/

Website: https://drmarie-helene.com/

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Music is an under-explored tool with respect to the provision of psychotherapy as well as the crafting of peak experiences.  Clinical counsellor, performance coach and opera singer, Dr. Fiona McAndrew, joins us for an eclectic, wide-ranging discussion in which explore:

• Fiona's alternating journey between psychology and music 
• a window into the psychological life of a top tier opera singer
• music as tool to evoke and access emotions and spiritual experiences 
• the emotional transaction between performer and artist 
• Fiona's research on peak experience and peak states including a fascinating recounting of her own seminal peak experience while performing 
• translating learnings from peak experience in the performing arts to the therapeutic domain  
• consideration of the evolutionary significance of peak experience and the utility for exploring one's sense of self
• reflections on providing therapy to highly creative individuals 
• a brief meditation on the beauty inherent to the human voice 
• the appeal and utility of depth psychology, especially for managing dialectics and tolerating internal dissonance 
• the unique challenges and opportunity of the mid-life passage

Feedback or comments?  Email us: [email protected]

Dr. Fiona McAndrew is a clinical counsellor and performance coach working internationally online and in person in central Helsinki. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne in Music Performance Psychology and a Master of Counselling (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) from Monash University, Melbourne which she integrates with a Jungian, depth psychology perspective to help a range of clients in the corporate world, elite athletics, professional performing arts, music, film and advertising. This experience is underpinned by training and publication as a research psychologist (B.A.Hons) (University of Western Australia) and professional performing arts training at the elite Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London (PG.Ad.Dip.,Opera). She is also a trained Creativity Coach and holds a Certificate to administer the personality test, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

Fiona’s special interest in positive psychology and performance grew out of her 25 year career as an international opera singer performing solo roles to critical acclaim for major festivals, opera houses and film. Until 2020, she was Deputy Head of Opera and Classical Voice as well as a lecturer in Musical Theatre at the well- known multi-arts conservatoire Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and is a frequent performance consultant at conservatoire and universities in New Zealand, Australia, and the UK.

In 2020 she re-trained in counselling and her Masters research focussed on anxiety in mid-life women and chronic pain conditions. Her previous doctoral research into peak states of consciousness, looked at the ways in which music, language and movement in the communal experience of theatre can provide the conditions for the experience of awe that lies "beyond words".

Fiona’s diverse range of experience and skills and a network of international referrals and contacts, allows her to offer a creative, confidential space for clients to address issues and develop clarity in their working and personal lives. The term idir from the Irish language meaning between, refers to the creative space between client and therapist and between clients and their creative challengess.

https://idircreativecounselling.com/
Email: [email protected]

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Mental health professionals have increasingly been seeing clients seeking services related to anxiety and depression stemming from serious, negative changes that have been occurring in our climate.  Psychologist and professor, Dr. Susan Clayton, who is one of the world's authorities on how the environment impacts upon psychological factors joins us for a discussion in which we cover: 

• how the environment & climate impacts upon psychological well-being and functioning generally
• a working definition of climate anxiety (and associated terms which are frequently used in this context)
• the prevalence and nature of clinically significant climate anxiety and whether our current level of anxiety about the environment should even be considered disordered given the challenges we are facing
• a historical & evolutionary perspective on our attunement to the environment as humans and why it is hard for us to make realistic threat appraisals 
• the pull for current climate challenges to evoke nihilism and the role grief work could potentially play in contending with emergent distress related to the climate
• other forms of psychological symptoms that we know can originate from climate change aside from anxiety
• helping individuals to identify resources that will augment their sense of effective coping
• linking a sustainable stance towards the environment with core human values and meaning  
• Dr. Clayton's suggestions around effective coping for those experiencing climate anxiety

Comments or feedback?  Email the show at: [email protected]?  Finding value in the podcast?  A review or rating on your platform of choice is always appreciated!

Susan Clayton , Ph.D., is the Whitmore-Williams Professor and Chair of Psychology at the College of Wooster in Ohio. Dr. Clayton’s research examines people’s relationship with the natural environment, how it is socially constructed, and how a healthy relationship with nature can be promoted. She has written about the effects of climate change on mental health, and has developed a scale to assess climate anxiety. She is author or editor of six books, including Identity and the Natural Environment, Conservation Psychology, and Psychology and Climate Change, and is currently the editor of the Cambridge Elements series in Applied Social Psychology and on the editorial board for journals such as the Journal of Environmental Psychology and Sustainability. A fellow of the American Psychological Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology, she was a lead author on the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.