Welcome to season two of Conversations with Coleman and to the first episode of the New Year.
Today’s guest is Christopher Ferguson. Christopher is an American psychologist who serves as a professor and co-chair of psychology at Stetson University in Florida. He previously served as an associate professor of psychology and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University and in 2014, he was named a fellow of the APA.
Christopher and I talked about the definition of mental illness, prescribing Adderall to children, the link between creativity and mental illness, how mental illness affected historical figures like Alexander the Great, Hitler, and Stalin. I also asked Christopher to assess the mental state of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Recording date: 08 Jan 2021

When Leaders Go Mad Christopher Ferguson [S2 Ep.1]

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Today we discuss Abigail Shrier's new book, "Bad Therapy". She explains the harmful effects of therapy, particularly on children and adolescents, and the risks associated with overdiagnosis and overmedication. Shrier also explores the treatment prevalence paradox, where the rates of mental health issues continue to rise despite increased access to therapy. She emphasizes the importance of authoritative parenting and the negative impact of excessive mental health interventions in schools. Additionally, she discusses the controversy surrounding ADHD diagnosis and the ineffectiveness of drug education programs. We discuss the impact of mental health surveys on children, the influence of social media on mental health, the role of mental health professionals in social contagions, the rarity of happiness, the power of exposure therapy and the therapeutic approach, the contagion of Tourette's on TikTok, the controversy surrounding multiple personality disorder, the overdiagnosis of seasonal affective disorder, the importance of exposure therapy in dealing with anxiety, and the implications for parents in approaching therapy.

Is Therapy Bad for You? with Abigail Shrier

My guest today is Mary Harrington. Mary is a writer and contributing editor at UnHerd. She's the author of a great book called Feminism Against Progress. In this episode, we talk about her general critique of feminism, we talk about what she calls progress theology, we talk about the changing social status of motherhood, we talk about the Barbie movie, gender dysphoria, and much more

Feminism Under The Microscope with Mary Harrington

My guest today is Philip Goff. Philip is a philosophy professor at Durham University. He's the author of Galileo's Error and Why the Purpose of the Universe.

Philip believes that science gives us objective reasons to believe that there's value in the universe and he comes at this from a very different angle than say Sam Harris, who reaches the same conclusion for different reasons in his book, The Moral Landscape. Philip relies heavily on the so-called fine tuning argument. So we talk a lot about that in this podcast. We also talk about Philip's theory of panagentialism and much more.

Why? The Purpose of the Universe with Philip Goff

My guest today is Cindy Yu. Cindy Yu is an assistant editor at the Spectator Magazine, and she's the host of the "Chinese Whispers" podcast, which is actually one of my favorite podcasts.

We talk about whether China will invade Taiwan. We talk about whether the West should adopt a Cold War-like mentality towards China. We discuss the phenomenon of Chinese espionage in the West. We talk about the wave of immigration from Hong Kong into the UK. We discuss the nosedive in China's birthrate over the past 10 years. We talk about the so-called century of humiliation. We talk about the legacy of Xi Jinping. We also talk about the apparent futility of the democracy movement in China and much more.

All Things China with Cindy Yu

My guest today is Nick Gillespie. Nick is a prominent libertarian journalist and commentator best known for his work at Reason Magazine, where he's been for around 30 years.

In this episode, we discuss Nick's experience getting engaged at the recent Burning Man. We talk about psychedelic drugs, the promise they hold, as well as the dangers they contain. We talk about the evolution of the libertarian movement in America. We talk about how we should message about drugs to kids. We talk about the differences between MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD. We talk about why trust in government has declined, and much more. 

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When Leaders Go Mad Christopher Ferguson [S2 Ep.1]

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