Why the Three Principles Matter

Michael Imas speaks with Natasha Swerdloff, President of the 3PGC, psychotherapist and author, about a controversial idea: that psychological suffering has a single cause, and that understanding it changes everything.Together, we examine whether this claim holds up under scrutiny, where mainstream psychology may fall short, and how the Three Principles relate to — or clash with — philosophy of mind, ethics, and contemporary models of psychotherapy. Can mental health really be understood without techniques, diagnoses, or long-term intervention? And how do you distinguish genuine insight from a comforting belief?SPONSORI'm so grateful to The Listening World Summit 2026 for sponsoring this video. You can join the summit online for free or come to the venue in Prague, May 23rd to 25th 2026. I'd be happy to meet you there. Please check them out at https://thelisteningworld.comSUBSTACKFor early access to videos with minimal or no ads and to support the channel, subscribe to my Substack: https://michaelimas.substack.com/DONATIONSIf you want to support the channel by donation, here's my PayPal: paypal.me/MichaelImasDELINKSIf you'd like to check out Natashas work, please visit her website at https://theprinciplesinstitute.com/INTERACTIONIf you have questions, suggestions or anything else you want to share: comment below! You liked the episode and want more? Please like, subscribe and share this episode so I can continue investing into more high quality episodes!TIMESTAMPS00:00 Trailer01:10 Start01:17 Why should anybody care about the 3 Principles?03:49 How to Approach this Understanding?06:49 3 Things Natasha realized over time10:26 The Listening World Sponsored Section12:02 What about Violent Crime and War?23:02 What field are the 3 Principles?33:20 Why not engage in Spiritual Traditions or Philosophy of Mind instead?40:31 The man who was afraid of dying46:10 Ethics revisited54:35 Natasha shares her story about thought and jealousy57:53 What can the principles uniquely provide?1:02:02 If experiences come purely from insight, what about love and relationships?1:04:38 What’s the biggest challenge for the 3 principles?1:08:18 What are the biggest misunderstandings people have about this?1:10:00 What is practically different to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy?1:17:01 3P take on Diagnosis1:21:38 How to measure Grounding?1:28:06 The one source of experience1:30:11 What does “Thought” really mean?1:34:09 Criticising the Principles can be frustrating1:37:32 Why is there no engagement with academic philosophy?1:42:10 The Veil of Perception1:46:04 Ethics revisited again1:52:28 Questioning Idealism1:56:43 Is Math just Thought?1:59:28 The Trolley Problem2:00:48 The Principle of Consciousness2:02:19 Free Will vs. The Principle of Mind2:04:09 Short Questions, Fast Answers2:06:00 Last Words#psychology #spirituality #philosophy