Therapy vs. the World with Joe Nucci Luminary

Do you have to be an alcoholic for drinking be affecting your mental health? Can you engage in hedomism without it affecting your mental health? How can one be "sober-curious" amongst social pressures? These are just some of the questions that Joe and Amanda White discuss on this latest episode. Joe also shares about his relationship to substances on his mental health journey.

In a profession where most therapists are women, what do two therapists who identify as men talk about when they get together? In this timely and light-hearted conversation, Trey Tucker sits down with Joe Nucci to talk about their personal reasons for becoming therapists, what it's like navigating clinical work in a largely feminine sphere, the importance of choosing to be vulnerable, and how they create safe spaces for clients.

What does free speech have to do with mental health? Joe interviews Greg Lukianoff, CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and author of numerous books including The Coddling of the American Mind and The Cancelling of the American Mind. Please note this episode was recorded prior to campus protests in the United States. 

Nancy McWilliams is a legend in the field of mental health. Joe and Nancy discuss a few mental health buzzwords ("abuse," "psychotic," "schizophrenic") that, through overuse and misuse, have lost their meaning. They also discuss whether "mommy issues" or "daddy issues" are real, if/how Nancy and Joe are able to turn off their therapist brains when hanging out with friends, and exciting developments in attachment and mother-infant research.

Clinical psychologist and researcher Darby Saxbe, of the University of Southern California recently penned a fascinating New York Times op-ed Op Ed called "This is Not How to Help a Depressed Teenager." Like Joe, she has concerns about the pathologizing of normal problems of living that so many people in our culture do these days--particulary teenagers, who are highly tuned into the people around them. ("Everyone's got a mental health problem, so I must have one, too," is a common calculus many teens and adults make.) Understanding the biological underpinnings of social relationships is one of Professor Saxbe's prime focus areas. She and Joe dive into all of it, making for an episode that is rich with illuminating dialogue about mental health and mental health culture--regardless of whether or not you know a teenager.

Can psychoanalysis and psychological development actually be chronicled in a Disney Movie about an adventuring princess? Hear Joe’s take. If you have not seen the movie, you’ll want to see it after listening to this episode. And if you’ve seen it before, you’re probably going to want to see it again.