Education Episodes

Margaret and I take on our own freedom in today’s episode, which is part two of a four-part series on Existential Psychotherapy. The existential postulate that we are all ultimately free to make our own decisions (and therefore must live with those decisions) can be a source of distress, but also a path to the pursuit of a meaningful life. It all comes down to how you go about it. And we will chat about it all, freely.

In this episode, we break down what DBT actually is (and what it’s not), why it was originally developed, and how it’s grown into something that’s useful far beyond one diagnosis. We talk about emotional regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and that mysterious concept of “wise mind”, which sounds cheesy until you actually need it.

In this episode, we explore the current political climate and the possibility of the return of institutionalized long term psych care. Though this is not a political podcast (I think Preston says that 5 times), all of medicine is political, and it’s important to discuss the overlap.  Tune in to the Patreon section to directly support the creators and for more discussion about how institutionalization is handled in other countries!

In this episode, Margaret and Preston cover one of their most-requested clinical topics: diagnosing and treating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD. Along the way, we review popular TikToks about OCD, including one Margaret made, and offer evidence-based approaches to treating OCD, along with a message of hope for anyone struggling with it.

Today, we try to tackle the easy and simple topic of death. Inspired by the writings of Irvin Yalom in Existential Psychotherapy, Preston attempts to describe the four maxims of existentialist theory in therapy and how they may apply to patients.

In this episode, which could be titled “Neurocognitive Assessments for Silly, Cool, Fun People” (that’s us—we are the silly, cool, fun people), Margaret and I describe five neurocognitive domains often used in psychometric testing. We also cover the associated simple yet elegant tests you can do at the bedside. These neuropsychological assessments help provide better insight into the functioning of certain regions of the brain and the underlying processes of cognition.

On this episode of HBP, we interview nutritional psychiatrist Brooke Resche and answer some of your questions of how to feed yourself to help your brain. We get into concrete strategies for each difficulty one might have with getting meals together and eating, and talk with Dr. Brooke (CookwithDrBrooke on TikTok and Instagram) about tips she uses with patients and how to talk about food and food habits, even when struggling with ADHD, Depression, Anxiety, or stress.

Today, we present to you our first Journal Club episode, in which we feature a primary author of an important piece of research. Online, content supercedes context, and when it comes to emerging hypothesis around big topics – like AI – this loss of context can lead to polarizing views. Today, we are excited to share a longer form interview with one of the leads of the MIT Media Lab’s study that was published as a pre-print this summer: Your Brain on ChatGPT.

Welcome back for season 3! For our first episode, we have on a food scientist to discuss from the industry side food myths, which we combine with our own readings from the psychiatry literature. We touch on red dye 40, food fears, the minerals in the soil, and how to slow down information from social media grocery store aisle walkers.

Margaret and I pivot into mentor mode a little in this episode, it’s targeted towards medical students and the vicissitudes of the match. We know these are tough times and we wanted to share some advice about what to look for in a psych program and how to pick a place to train that is right for you. We also debrief the end of season 2 and take a wrap on 40 episodes! As always, thank you for listening!

By popular demand, Margaret and Preston are back with another therapy episode. The topic this week? Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a third wave behavioral therapy that Margaret happens to be trained in and love for her patients and her own life. In this episode we talk about the founder of ACT and its roots in behaviorism, what an ACT therapist “sounds like”, and the 6 core processes of psychological flexibility that encompass what this type of therapy does. Finally, Margaret and Preston go through their own values, and try to apply the ACT principles to two particular problems in their own lives.

In this episode, we bring on Kristin Flanary, who is currently doing her own investigation into dissociations associated with trauma from both her own experience as a survivor and as an academic. We discuss the current media landscape of trauma and dissociation, the neurological mechanisms of dissociation, and therapeutic approaches clinicians can use with a patient who is experiencing dissociation.

This episode is a slight excursion from our regularly scheduled program. Today we are chatting with Will Flanary, who is in many ways our content “dad” if you will. We will talk about the art of including humor into our daily practive, when it goes right, when it goes left, and where we go from here. Dr. Glaucomflecken also has some fun and new projects he’d like to share with you at the end.

In this Preston-led episode, we take a deep dive into the history of lithium and its use in psychiatry. But because Preston is very literal, we are starting at the very beginning, inside of stars where lithium was formed at the beginning of the universe.

This week, Margaret and I sat down with Dr. Jhilam Biswas, psychiatrist and expert on the intersection of law and mental health, for one of the hardest—and most important conversations we’ve had on the show. Together, we take a close look at how our justice system responds to mental illness: what happens when people in crisis are incarcerated instead of cared for, and how the prison system has become a stand-in for mental health treatment in the U.S. Dr. Biswas helps us unpack the reality of solitary confinement, forced treatment, and the impossible choices clinicians face when caring for patients inside a system built for punishment, not healing. Alongside Margaret, I reflect on the human cost—on families, on providers, and on the people trapped in cycles of crisis and incarceration. This isn’t just a policy issue—it’s a deeply personal one. And it’s urgent.

What is aphasia, really and what happens when your brain no longer cooperates with your ability to speak or understand language? In this episode, Preston and Margaret tackle the messy, frustrating, and often isolating world of language disorders, focusing on the real-life implications of aphasias. They walk through the clinical causes, what it looks like day-to-day, and how aphasia differs from other speech and cognitive issues. Along the way, they share stories of miscommunication, explore the frustrations of being misunderstood, and dig into how patients and clinicians can better work together when words are hard to find.

Is it all in your head or is pain more complex than we’ve been led to believe? In this episode, Margaret and I dig into the psychological and biological factors that shape our experience of pain, including how the brain processes physical discomfort, the emotional toll it takes, and what role medications actually play. We also share stories from our own lives and clinical work that highlight how pain shows up in complicated, often misunderstood ways. If you've ever wondered why your body hurts when your heart is breaking, or why painkillers don’t always work, this one’s for you.

Margaret took the captain’s chair for this one, and I was just along for the ride—straight into the deep waters of psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy. We start with the basics: what do these words actually mean, and why do they still make some clinicians roll their eyes while others swear by them? From Freud’s infamous couch to modern relational therapy, we unpack the myths, the methods, and the mysteries that still define this approach. Along the way, we wrestle with big questions: What’s really happening in the therapeutic relationship? Why does transference matter? And is there value in a therapy that sometimes feels more like philosophy than science? And because talking about it wasn’t enough, we try it on for size—running a live role-play where I attempt a psychodynamic formulation in real time. (Spoiler: it’s as messy and awkward as you’d imagine, but also revealing in ways I didn’t expect.) This isn’t a lecture or a history lesson. It’s us exploring why psychodyn…

Margaret and I sat down to speak on a topic we rarely hear spoken plainly: suicide, and more specifically, suicide risk assessments. We didn’t plan to tidy anything up or wrap it in easy language. Instead, we tried to sit with it—the fear, the responsibility, the human ache behind it all. We talk about how suicide shows up in our clinical work, how it’s shaped us personally, and why we both believe silence helps no one. This isn’t a “how-to” or a lecture. It’s a real conversation between two people trying to hold space for pain, and maybe offer a little hope in the process.

This episode felt like a deep exhale. Margaret runs solo today, as she sat down with Dr. Hillary McBride—psychologist, author, and researcher—to talk about embodiment, trauma, and the radical act of tuning back into ourselves. We talked about what it means to feel your feelings in your body, why disconnection often begins as protection, and how pleasure, presence, and play can be part of the healing process. It’s about more than coping. It’s about coming home. This one surprised me, and stayed with me. I think it might do the same for you.

This is the episode I wish we never had to make—and also the one I wish I’d had from the beginning. Margaret and I talk about suicide from inside the profession: what it’s like to lose a patient, how we carry that grief (or numbness), and why the aftermath is rarely as clear-cut as people think. We talk about the fear of getting it “wrong,” the complicated relief that can come when a patient is finally at peace, and the moments when you realize you’re not the only one who saw it coming. And maybe the most important part? We talk about how hard it is to talk at all. This one’s raw. And necessary. And still full of tenderness.

This is Part 1 of our two-part deep dive into eating disorders—and we’re starting at the beginning. Margaret and I sit down with psychiatrist and eating disorder specialist Helen Sanon, MD to walk through the basics: What are the major types of eating disorders? What do they actually look like in real life? And how do we treat something that’s rooted in both biology and culture? We cover everything med school skipped—then try to practice what we’ve learned in a fake (but emotionally real) therapy session with Dr. Helen as the patient. Spoiler: it got uncomfortable in all the right ways.

This episode hit harder than I expected. Margaret and I talk about what it feels like to care for patients who remind us a little too much of ourselves, especially when we’re also the ones filling out the paperwork for a psychiatric hold. We dig into what a 5150 (or 5585) really means, how to sit with that kind of authority, and the emotional mess of seeing a patient’s fear reflect your own. This one’s about boundaries, over-identification, supervision, and the heartbreak of sometimes needing to say, “I care about you and I can’t be your doctor anymore.”

In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Nikki Haddad, we went from couples therapy theory to Simpsons cosplay, and yes—it was as chaotic and illuminating as it sounds. Margaret and I roleplay Homer and Marge in a fictional session while Nikki breaks down what’s actually happening between us (emotionally, not just cartoonishly). Along the way, we talk about heteronormativity, escapism, parenting exhaustion, and the red flags that get mistaken for romance. It’s part improv, part therapy, part meltdown. But somehow, it makes sense.