Pulling The Thread with Elise Loehnen

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman discusses the healing power of storytelling in therapy. He reflects on how personal experiences of childhood sexual abuse influenced his work. The podcast explores themes of fantasy, reversal, and love in healing trauma, as well as the importance of self-compassion and forgiveness. It also delves into gender, sexuality, sleep deprivation, and the complexity of personal identities. Finally, the hosts discuss the impact of storytelling on healing and the moral clarity of Star Trek.

In this thought-provoking discussion, Maia Szalavitz, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and author, argues that addiction should be viewed as a learning disability rather than a moral failing. She emphasizes the importance of harm reduction strategies like needle exchanges and prescribed heroin, while also shedding light on the complexities of trauma and individual susceptibility. With her personal journey intertwined, Maia advocates for compassion and understanding in addressing addiction, pushing back against harmful stereotypes and misconceptions.

Renowned neuroscientist David Eagleman discusses the malleability of the brain and its ability to adapt to various inputs. He covers topics like synesthesia, perception in the blind and deaf, and the creation of imaginary worlds. They also touch on consciousness, brain damage, technology for vision, parenting in the digital age, accessibility of knowledge for children, and dreams. The conversation is highly engaging and thought-provoking.

Addiction psychiatrist, Carl Erik Fisher, challenges the addiction binary and discusses the history of addiction and the language used by addiction supply industries to individualize suffering. The podcast also explores the complexity of addiction, the importance of therapy and addressing personal pain, the limitations of traditional addiction treatment, the impact of sleep deprivation on women, the role of psychedelics in addiction treatment, and Carl's book 'The Urge' which offers creative solutions to addiction.

“I think what one of the things that's interesting to me is like when we think about what causes distress and a life that goes awry, there's so much attention to different causes, but the way that the story, or the diagnosis, or the treatment interacts with our identity, I think, is not thought about as much. Like, the way that the very intervention itself changes our sense of who we are feels like it gets neglected. There's this sense that, you know, the diagnosis is describing something that is always solid and real and less thought given to like, well, how does that diagnosis interact with a mind? And how does the mind change knowing that the mind has been characterized this way?”You might recognize Rachel Aviv’s name from The New Yorker, where she’s been a staff writer for a decade, covering subjects like medical ethics, psychiatry, criminal justice, and education. She’s been a finalist for the National Magazine Awards twice, and in 2022 she won one for profile writing. In 2022, she also published Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make Us, a recipient of the Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant and named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year. In It, Aviv tells the story of four people and the treatment they underwent—or not—for their mental illness. It’s a gorgeously told, layered exploration of all that we don’t know about the brain and the mind, and how various treatment modalities restructure our lives—including the stories we tell about who we are. Okay, let’s get to our conversation.MORE FROM RACHEL AVIV:Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories That Make UsRead Rachel in The New YorkerFollow Rachel on X Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like a Woman, discusses the societal acceptance of alcohol and the lack of meaningful conversations surrounding alcohol use. The podcast explores addiction, challenges recovery culture, and emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to recovery. The dangers of alcohol addiction and the need for alternative approaches are also discussed.

Psychiatrist Phil Stutz discusses Part X, a part of the human soul that inhibits progress and causes self-hate. He shares tools to counteract it and emphasizes the importance of taking action in personal development. They explore manifestations, the limitations of the third eye, and the instinct cycle. The power of tools and gratitude for personal growth is also discussed.

Starting next Monday, I’m doing another special series—this set is about addiction. You’ll hear from four distinct voices in the space, covering harm reduction, new paths to recovery, codependency, and the shape of addiction in our culture. This is just scratching the surface, but hopefully the beginning of conversations in our own lives, as addiction touches us all, in its myriad forms. While this set is focused on substance, we'll be back with more in this space—and if you want to get started, you’ll find links to two previous episodes on this theme. Dr. Gabor Maté, who spent much of his career working in the most addicted corner of North America, explains why trauma is central to understanding addiction, and Dr. Anna Lembke, explores the role of dopamine and the delicate balance between pleasure and pain. You can find those links in the show notes—and I’ll see you on Thursday for a regular episode of Pulling the Thread, and Monday for the beginning of this special episode.SHOW NOTES:ADDICTION: Anna Lembke, M.D., “Navigating an Addictive Culture”TRAUMA: Gabor Maté, M.D., “When Stress Becomes Illness” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“I’m grateful for seasons. I'm so happy that there can be a winter and there can be a spring and there can be a summer, that it can't always be summer, can't always be bright and happy. And, you know, my book is a bit about that. In winter, the stone fruit loses its leaves and it falls down and it saves its energy for spring. It's okay to sleep. I feel like when life served me a winter and I dropped my leaves for a bit, I came back stronger in spring. I'm just grateful for that idea of that constant change, not just in the world, but in ourselves, and how exciting that has been. And that's given me a whole new fresh perspective. I keep saying a lot, I want to ripen like a peach. I'm okay for my skin to get wrinkled and my flesh to get soft. I really just want to get really sweet and juicy on the inside and and enjoy that process.”I met Richard Christiansen more than a decade ago, though we didn’t become very close friends until very recently, when strange fates brought us together. We have spent the past three-and-half years birthing new versions of ourselves: We kept each other as close company as I wrote my book and launched this podcast, while Richard left the world of advertising to launch a beautiful brand called Flamingo Estate. You’ve likely seen Flamingo Estate in magazines or on Instagram—it’s Richard’s home, and garden, and also the inspiration point for a range of products like, oh I don’t know, honey made from the bees in Lebron James’ backyard, to Terrazzo bars of soap, to the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted. I’ve never met anyone like Richard, to be honest, who has both a fantastical imagination and incredible design aesthetic with his feet firmly planted in the soil. Richard grew up on a farm in Australia—from a whole family of farmers—and being in the garden is his first home. He has a deep and unabiding reverence for the natural world—Jane Goodall is one of his close friends, after all—which is part of the reason why its the foundation of his brand. He calls nature the last great luxury house, and he sees no reason why a gorgeous tomato shouldn’t get the same photographic consideration as a handbag. We had a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, abundance, pleasure, and fantasy for this special friendsgiving episode.MORE FROM RICHARD CHRISTIANSEN:Flamingo EstateFollow Flamingo Estate on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Well, the interesting thing is, I guess some of this came from writing the book too, but all of those versions of me live inside of me, right? Even the kid that was, you know, forced to kind of navigate the world as a boy and all of these different things, like that kid is still inside of me, right? The teenager slash young adult who was gay, just like regular gay, boring gay, boring gay now, it wasn't boring gay then, lives inside of me. That trans woman, at the start of my adulthood who felt like she had to live up to so many of these ideals of womanhood, you know, she lives inside of me too.”So says Raquel Willis, a Black trans activist who just released a debut memoir, The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. Her book traces her evolution—from her childhood in Georgia, through her multiple coming out experiences, or unfoldings, as the title of her book suggests. Willis has served as the director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out Magazine, and a national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She also co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action and currently serves as an executive producer for iHeartMedia's Outspoken and the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board, and is a WNBA Social Justice Council member. Our conversation today isn’t really about her accolades, it is, to quote her, more existential: We explore whether our souls are gendered, what it means to perform or play with femininity, and why sexual violence against women and girls affects us all. Let’s turn to our conversation now.MORE FROM RAQUEL WILLIS:The Risk it Takes to Bloom: On Life and LiberationRaquel’s WebsiteFollow Raquel on Instagram Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.