Self-Improvement Episodes

March 16, 2026

Existential Psychotherapy Part 3: Isolation

Spoiler Alert! The key to not feeling isolated is to (wait for it) be around other people! Humans are naturally driven social creatures, but the ways in which we attempt to run from isolation become the problem. In this episode, we discuss how isolation is an ever-present fear, how existential isol…

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March 9, 2026

DBT Case Studies with Expert Dr. Kiki Fehling

In the second part of our intro to DBT episodes, we welcome expert education and DBT clinician, Dr. Kiki Fehling. We talk about how Dr. Fehling found DBT, how her teaching made it to TikTok, and then get into cases about how to talk about DBT with patients and what an introductory session might sou…

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March 2, 2026

Going Viral as a First Year Med Student with Amine

In this episode, I sit down with Amine (whyamino) a med student and content creator who recently went viral for his skits about engaging with patients from different cultural backgrounds. Due to pressure and complaints of “promoting stereotypes,” the content was eventually taken down. The audience …

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Feb. 23, 2026

Existential Psychotherapy Part 2: Freedom

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…

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Feb. 16, 2026

DBT 101: Learning How to Regulate Your Emotions

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 “wi…

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Feb. 9, 2026

How would bringing back long term psych care look? (and is it a good …

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 …

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Feb. 2, 2026

Recognizing OCD and Comprehensive Treatment

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 …

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Jan. 26, 2026

Existential Psychotherapy Part 1: Death

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.

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Jan. 5, 2026

Eating For Your Brain (Even When You’re Down) with Nutritional Psychi…

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 (CookwithDrBr…

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Dec. 15, 2025

Your Brain on AI: Interview with MIT Media Lab’s Nataliya Kosmyna

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 ar…

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Dec. 8, 2025

Food Fears, Myths, and Mental Health

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 soci…

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Oct. 27, 2025

Trauma and Dissociation with Kristin Flanary (Lady Glaucomflecken)

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 disso…

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Oct. 13, 2025

Prescribing Laughter with Will Flanary (Dr. Glaucomflecken)

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 her…

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Oct. 6, 2025

Nutritional Psychiatry with Dr. Drew Ramsey (Part 2)

Margaret and I are back with part two of our conversation with Dr. Drew Ramsey and this time, things get personal. I volunteered my real-life food log for a full nutritional psychiatry breakdown… and let’s just say my “ultra-processed protein” lifestyle did not escape unscathed.What started as a …

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Sept. 29, 2025

Nutritional Psychiatry with Dr. Drew Ramsey (Part 1)

We sat down with Dr. Drew Ramsey to talk about something we all think we understand and don’t: how food shapes mood. In Part 1, we get practical and personal: what to reach for when you’re anxious, what to cook when you’re depressed, and how to think about nutrition when you’re busy, broke, or just…

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Aug. 18, 2025

Alyson Stoner: What Happens When You Grow Up in the Spotlight?

This episode might feel like a gut punch, in the most important way. Margaret and I sat down with Alyson Stoner to talk about what it means to be raised in the spotlight, what happens when systems prioritize performance over people, and how we reckon with that legacy in healthcare. There’s a vulner…

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Aug. 11, 2025

Suicide Risk Assessments: Using Predictive Models in a Personalized W…

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 a…

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Aug. 4, 2025

Religious Trauma and Broader Visions of Spirituality in Healthcare

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…

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July 28, 2025

Why People Die By Suicide: Theories Through History

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.…

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July 21, 2025

Eating Disorders for Psychiatrists: Part 2

It’s Part 2 of our deep dive into eating disorders—and this time, we’re going even deeper. We kick off by unpacking our mock therapy session with Dr. Helen Liljenwall, which unexpectedly hit close to home for all of us. Then we take a sharp turn into the medical realities of starvation, including r…

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June 30, 2025

The History of Burnout (And Our Maslach Scores)

In this episode, Margaret and I take on burnout—what it actually is, where the term came from, and how to tell when you’re not just tired, but something deeper is cracking. We dig into the history, the Maslach Inventory, moral injury, and why burnout isn’t in the DSM (yet). We also share our own un…

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May 26, 2025

How It Started, How It’s Going: Season 1 Wrap-Up

Season 1: complete! In this wrap-up episode, Margaret and I reflect on what it’s been like building this show from scratch—while also being full-time psychiatry residents. We talk about favorite episodes, unexpected challenges, what we’re still figuring out, and what’s ahead for Season 2. We also a…

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May 19, 2025

Couples and Sex Therapy: Myths and Truths (Part 2)

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 (emotion…

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May 12, 2025

Couples and Sex Therapy: Myths and Truths (Part 1)

In this episode, we sat down with Dr. Nikki Haddad —Margaret's residency best friend, couples and sex therapist, and one of the most thoughtful psychiatrists I know—to break down what makes romantic relationships so damn hard. We get into myths we’ve carried (and tried to shake), how sexual issues …

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