Between Us: A Psychotherapy Podcast

Dr. Galit Atlas joins us for the finale of Season Two. Her new book, The Enigma of Desire: Sex, Longing, and Belonging in Psychoanalysis, is a comprehensive study of sexuality and desire through her unique dual lenses of pragmatism and enigma. A renowned psychoanalyst, professor, and contributor to the New York Times, Dr. Atlas spoke with our host, John Totten, about the process of writing the book, some of her cases, and what happens when arousal enters a treatment. Season Two of Between Us has been sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. This conversation with Dr. Galit Atlas was sponsored by the Center for Object Relations at http://www.nwfdc.org/ Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

One of two episodes about sex, our episode today is a reactionary one. Reactionary against the dogma that John and his guest, Leanna Ramsey, respectively grew up struggling against. What does it mean to be sex-positive? Our premise today is that a stance of curiosity is the only way to therapeutically address differing sexualities, and yet the field continually fails to approach the topic with such a stance. John speaks to sexuality and gender expert Sinclair Sexsmith about such a case. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

Writer Ijeoma Oluo is angry and that’s okay. She wants white men to be okay with their anger too, as long as they understand where their anger actually comes from. She is a powerful essayist and cultural critic who is not afraid to be vulnerable in public about things that anger her, things that terrify her, and even her own mental health. In this discussion, Ijeoma talks with our host John Totten about the limited access to mental health for people of color, the authenticity of genuine anger, and how the cultural experience of racism must be considered by mental health professionals as systemic and repeated abuse. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

This week we continue our discussions with Steve, Jeff, and Nick- three men in three stages of life, all managing three different manifestations of bipolar disorder. They sit down with John to talk about the path to living happy, fulfilling lives full of gratitude and how they keep themselves healthy. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

Three men at three stages in life. Three different manifestations of bipolar disorder. Often consisting of manic episodes, delusions of grandeur, and days without sleeping, bipolar disorder is a widely misunderstood illness that sci-fi legend Carrie Fisher spent much of her days demythologizing. In the first episode of our two-part interview, three men who volunteer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness sit down with John Totten to describe the onset of their mental illness and how they began to cope with bipolar disorder in a world that didn’t often understand. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

Poet Molly Peacock had a relationship with her psychoanalyst for forty years, even after her analyst had a career-ending stroke in 2012. Molly’s new collection, titled The Analyst, is inspired by the relationship she describes as “Oliver Sacksian” in reference to the renowned neurologist who, himself, was a patient for five decades. Is psychotherapy a treatment that should be ended like a course of antibiotics? Molly sits down with John to share her unique experience of long-term psychotherapy, and in the epilogue, professor Paul Jaussen discusses the intersection of poetry and psychoanalysis. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

It is one of our premises for this show that the work of healing in a relational context is countercultural. On this episode, Roy Barsness, a professor and psychologist, sits down with John Totten to discuss his new book, Core Competencies of Relational Psychoanalysis. In the qualitative study that formed the foundation for his work, Roy found a particular way of being in relationship that included radical healing through genuine encounter and ultimately, love. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

Does music have a real effect on our emotional health? Do the songs that speak to us actually speak to us? Jason Dodson is the singer and songwriter for the band The Maldives. Their new album, Mad Lives, was written as a therapeutic process in response to a fracture in Jason’s life. In this discussion, he tells us about that process and his own mental health journey, including his struggles with anxiety and dissociative tendencies. And John reveals the classic rock song he listens to for affect regulation. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

Psychoanalysis has not been a field that is particularly progressive in its deconstruction of prescriptive gender roles. The feminist presence that exists today had to be forged. Our guest, Sally Bjorklund, is an alumni of that feminist movement. She has a keen sense of her own outsiderness, from her childhood as an adopted tomboy in the evangelical midwest of the 1960s, to finding her path as a psychoanalyst thirty years ago. Sally and our host, John Totten, discuss her experience of being outside- within a family, within a culture, within a profession- and how it influences her to work with patients who have schizoid tendencies. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/

For our premiere of Season Two, we attempt to get topical. What happens next in healthcare? Is our mental health coverage in jeopardy? Professor Aaron Katz teaches health policy at the University of Washington. He has a knack for explaining complex policy in layman terms. Aaron sat down with our host, John Totten, to discuss the Affordable Care Act, what it does, why some people like it, and why some people don’t. Season Two of Between Us is sponsored by MetaFi, a free download on iOS and Android. Contact: betweenuspodcast@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/betweenuspodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BetweenUsPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betweenuspod/