Bear Psychology Podcast Dr. Anna Baranowsky

We may believe that asylums are a thing of the past but practices of enforced psychiatric confinement continue today, much to our surprise. Author Wipond, argues that, now more than ever, North Americans are being forced into treatment and involuntarily committed supposedly "for their own benefit."
Rob Wipond’s book “Your Consent Is Not Required” gives us a look into the psychiatric practices of forced interventions still in place today in some private and public mental health facilities.
Wipond describes mental health institutions using psychiatric confinement to manage school children; disoriented elderly; quell family conflicts; police the streets; control people in shelters and prisons; “resolve” workplace disagreements; detain protesters; discredit whistleblowers; and shockingly fraudulently increase hospital profits, plus more.
Wipond’s book details coercive use of mental health interventions used today in some public and private hospitals, group and long-term care facilities, troubled-teen and residential treatment centers, and even individual’s own homes under outpatient commitment orders. He found that these interventions often include surveillance against will, indefinite detention, and powerful tranquilizing drugs, restraints, seclusion, and even electroshock.
Listen to our conversation with investigative journalist & author Rob Wipond as we unpack the common misconception that only “dangerous” individuals get committed and dive into some of the traumatic practices supposedly used to “help” those struggling with mental health complexities.
We explore Rob Wipond findings and research full of alarming true stories and hard data from both the US and Canada’s mental health systems.
Links & Resources: For more information about the book visit: https://robwipond.com/your-consent-is-not-required To purchase the book visit: https://www.amazon.ca/Your-Consent-Not-Required-Guardianships/dp/1637741480 For more about Rob Wipond: https://robwipond.com/about Rob Wipond’s Articles: https://robwipond.com/articles Materials to Reference: Rob Wipond’s Blog: https://robwipond.com/news Contact Rob Wipond: https://robwipond.com/contact

In a house full of turmoil, sometimes the person who you hope has your back may become your enemy. Sisters Ronni Tichenor and Jennie Weaver know this better than most. In their book “Healing Begins with Us” they share their journey in overcoming childhood abuse that pitted the two against one another.  In the book they discuss how they healed and strengthened their sibling bond after a tumultuous upbringing.
Listen to our conversation with Ronni and Jennie as we navigate their traumatic childhoods, learn how they broke the cycle of intergenerational abuse, and learn how to begin a family healing process.
Ronni Tichenor has a Ph.D. in Sociology with a specialization in family dynamics and Jennie Weaver is a board-certified family nurse practitioner with experience in mental health.
Their book details the abuse that occurred in their childhood, how they managed to repair their relationship with each other and move forward in life to create their own healthy families.
Listen our conversation with Ronni and Jennie as we discuss how toxic environments can change sibling connections, helpful insight and advice on how to heal from your own painful upbringing, and how to heal tumultuous sibling relationships.
If you are interested in more information about healing family connections after trauma, this podcast is for you.
Links & Resources: For information about the book or authors visit: www.ronnitichenor.com/ To purchase a book visit: https://tinyurl.com/2ba9mmhp For more about Ronni Tichenor:  www.ronnitichenor.com/about-ronni Breaking the Cycles of Trauma and Abuse, Silence and Shame (Ronni Tichenor & Jennie Weaver’s Podcast): open.spotify.com/show/0CSnLlxETeMYsAd6UXnraH Materials to Reference: Trauma Resources and Support: www.ontarioshores.ca/resources-support/self-help-resources/trauma-resources-and-support More of Ronni Tichenor’s Content: www.ronnitichenor.com/free-content Book a session with Ronni: www.ronnitichenor.com/book-a-session-1 Childhood Trauma and Adult Life Relational Issues: www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/love-and-sex-in-the-digital-age/202107/childhood-trauma-and-adult-life-relational-issues

Most of us are stressed these days and don’t know how to manage it. While stress is an inevitable part of life, it doesn’t have to take over our lives. Dr. Doni Wilson’s book “Master Your Stress, Reset Your Health” walks us through identifying our unique type of stress and the best ways to manage it to make stress actually work for us.
Listen to our conversation with naturopath & author Dr. Doni Wilson as we learn how to support our body’s needs and chart a path to become resistant to the negative effects of stress.
Dr. Doni Wilson is a naturopathic doctor, certified professional midwife, and certified nutrition specialist. After suffering from migraines herself for over 20 years, she has developed a stress recovery protocol that has helped thousands of patients to overcome their health challenges and achieve wellness.
Dr. Wilson’s book details five unique types of stress.  She shares with us: how to identify them and create a personalized stress management plan; what happens in our bodies when we're stressed; her trademark three-part stress recovery protocol; how to truly disconnect and take care of yourself; and how to give your body the support it needs to heal from a number of different stress induced ailments (i.e., anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, brain fog, headaches, chronic pain, weight gain, and digestive issues).
Dr. Doni Wilson explores her customizable C.A.R.E. program including Clean eating, Adequate sleep, Recovery, and Exercise and how they can help you resolve underlying causes of stress and free the body from its harmful effects.
Dr. Wilson shares with us lessons and strategies from her own personal journey of recovering from the effects of stress and effective ways she has found to get more energy, feel refreshed, recover from over-indulging during the holidays and generally feel better and more balanced.
If you are interested in Dr. Wilson’s tips and tricks on overcoming stress, beating burnout, and getting back to a healthier you, this is for you.
Links & Resources: Dr. Doni Wilson’s – 7 Day STRESS RESET (For free with this link!) doctordoni.com/ddpp/stress-reset/ Dr. Don’s - Stress Type Quiz doctordoni.com/quiz/stress-quiz/ For more information about the book visit: doctordoni.com/master-your-stress/ To purchase the book visit:  benbellabooks.com/shop/master-your-stress-reset-your-health/ For more about Dr. Wilson: doctordoni.com/ How Humans Heal (Dr. Wilson’s Podcast): doctordoni.com/blog/podcasts/ Materials to Reference: More of Dr. Wilson’s books: drdonistore.com/Books_c_69.html Dr. Wilson’s Blog: doctordoni.com/blog/ Stress Management Tools: hr.umich.edu/benefits-wellness/health-well-being/mental-emotional-health/learn-more-about-mental-emotional-health/thrive-stress-management-program/stress-management-tools-resources

Are you interested in adding mindfulness, meditation or contemplative exercises into your life to help you manage the demands of daily living or better manage stress and anxiety?  If your answer is yes, then this show will prove to be a perfect fit.  I am excited myself.  I have been a bit lazy with my meditation practice lately and looking forward to getting some guidance myself!
Carla is a lawyer by training but she made a big pivot to wellness and mindfulness teaching.  In her mindfulness work, she brings her focused and precise mind to a creative and healing modality using a trauma-informed lens. In her teaching she integrates an awareness of science and neurobiology to help explain why what she is doing works so well.
Listen to our conversation with the remarkable Carla Weinstein (meditation and contemplative practice guide) as we explore with her meaningful work in delivering Trauma Informed Mindfulness practices.
Building on Carla’s extensive training in yoga, meditation and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, she has been offering programs through the TraumaPractice.org charity for community-based groups since 2020.  Her group programs are the most highly ranked and attended among the charity’s participants.  We follow up with her today to ask, what has made her approach to trauma informed meditation so useful for those attending her programs?
Carla will broadly cover some of the topics addressed in her course, to help us better understand her approach:
The Power of Mindfulness: Awareness The Impact of Trauma and the Brain and Body + Meditation Through the Trauma Lens The Neuroscience of Meditation + The Power of Attention Emotional Awareness + Turning Toward Aversion, Avoidance, Resistance + The Suffering Equation Developing a Healing Attention Cognitive Hindrances, Mental Chatter, and Values Self Compassion, Resilience and Equanimity Weinstein shares lessons on how we can each enrich our lives by building a meditation/contemplative practice and what she has learned herself from the work she provides through TraumaPractice.org
Links & Resources: For information about Carla Weinstein and her mindfulness work visit: www.thedropinproject.com/about-2 What is mindfulness:  www.thedropinproject.com/mindfulness Offerings from Carla:  www.thedropinproject.com/offerings Materials to Reference: Trauma Informed Meditation practices explained. Brother Phap Linh shares how to recognize trauma in ourselves and those around us (plum village): youtu.be/TOutCopkf3E Dr. Jeff Terrant, psychologist discusses trauma informed meditation practices and what it means to be trauma informed: youtu.be/qTYTciz3bM4 Yoga with Adrienne provides a yoga practice for PTSD: youtu.be/TqVSwY8y3UY Dr. Bessel van der Kolk discusses 6 approaches to heal from trauma without medication:  youtu.be/ZoZT8-HqI64  

Not everyone has a picture-perfect childhood. In fact, some of us grow up in homes where our parents need parenting or we have to parent ourselves.  Dr. Lindsay Gibson’s book “Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents” helps you overcome the crushing role of catering to parents who were (for whatever reasons) not up to the job of parenting.
Dr. Lindsay Gibson is clinical psychologist, author, and assistant professor with a passion for human conflict and helping others develop long-lasting, meaningful relationships.
Dr. Gibson’s book helps you to understand how "immature parents" function; learn to resolve guilt or shame when you stop over-helping them; and start to listen to your own needs so you avoid being emotionally drained in the future.
Listen our conversation with Dr. Lindsay Gibson as we explore the effects of emotionally immature parents and how you can recover from the devastating impact of growing up in a  neglectful and/or toxic home environment.
Dr. Gibson explains the effect these relationships can have on your emotional autonomy in future relationships including: your ability to identify and express your thoughts and feelings; struggles with setting limits and boundaries with others; as well as the ability to establish rewarding relationships as an adult.
She also explains ways to combat these effects so you can develop enhanced connections and relationships with others.
If you are interested in more information about emotionally immature parents, combating the effects of their toxicity, and how to grow meaningful relationships, this show is for you.
For information about the book visit:  http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/books.html
Links & Resources: To purchase a book visit:  https://www.amazon.ca/Adult-Children-Emotionally-Immature-Parents/dp/1626251703 For more about Dr. Gibson:  http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/about.html Freeing Yourself (Dr. Lindsay Gibson’s Online Blog): http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/blog


Materials to Reference: 4 signs that a parent is emotionally immature:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/mental-wealth/202111/4-signs-parent-is-emotionally-immature More of Dr. Gibson’s books: http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/books.html Gibson answers your questions: http://www.drlindsaygibson.com/readersquestions Accessing Emotional Immaturity (questionnaires and resources): http://curioushealing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ACEIP_exercises.pdf

If you have ever fallen into negative patterns of action or thoughts that fail you often AND you identify as male (or know a man you want to better understand) then this self-help guide provides humorous and relevant instruction. 
David and Corey write this book together as a patient & therapist duo with insight into the pitfalls and possible strategies to deal with 4 primary destructive patterns that might be getting you or someone you know into trouble. 
Listen to our conversation with therapist & co-authors David Coates & Corey Kilpack as we travel with them on their adventure to "Be less Dickish". 
Coates is a therapist on a mission to help men figure things out so they are more successful in their relational and life endeavours.
Kilpack is a client who sought therapy to better understand his pitfalls and figure out a roadmap for a way out.
Together this duo have identified the following "douchebag" quadrants (their descriptor not mine!) that undermine one's best act in life.  I have used their subtitles which provide more information to help the listener recognize the struggle:
Aggression / Assertiveness (A-Hole) Imitation / Service (Douchebag) Victimization / Self-Care (Dick) Submission / Surrender ("Pussy) And in special cases "Piece of S..t"
Adding a touch of humor to each story, the authors describe crass, destructive and non-productive strategies that change overtime to reveal that growth can happen with insight, understanding and new behaviour approaches. 
We all have something to learn from their reflection on how these 4 (or is it really 5) characters who become triggered and learn to use the TRACE approach (Trigger, Reaction, Awareness, Curiosity and Experimentation) to increase self-awareness and behave more effectively, as a result.
Links & Resources: To purchase your copy visit:  https://www.amazon.com/Be-Less-Dickish-These-Archetypes/dp/B08L47S3YG Be less Dickish - audiobook: https://www.audible.ca/pd/Be-Less-Dickish-Audiobook/B09CF74X47 The meaning behind the insulting language in Be Less Dickish: https://youtu.be/GZTi1cHP_KY


Materials to Reference: Tips for men who want to improve:  https://medium.com/hello-love/5-tips-for-men-on-improving-their-relationships-51f6043ec1b9 What men really want: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/articles/201203/what-do-men-really-want & https://hbr.org/1993/11/what-do-men-want Man's search for Meaning (1946) Viktor Frankl: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man%27s_Search_for_Meaning