LOVELINK

Dr. Jacob Ham is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with couples and trauma. He is the director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience and assistant clinical professor and supervisor at Mount Sinai in New York City. This episode is a sequel to our first interview with Dr. Ham (Ep 8 - Haunted By History: Love After Trauma), where we are introduced to a couple struggling with connection in the face of jealousy. This time, we listen to segments of a subsequent therapy session and hear how their relationship unfolds, while shedding light on the ways attachment styles evolve from childhood to adult romance as well as the destructive and constructive power of anger in relationships.

This episode is part one of a series on women, sex, and tech. We interviewed founders, Gina Gutierrez and Faye Keegan, founders of their company Dipsea, a tech company that offers audio stories for a new platform to foster sexual wellbeing. The stories range in genre, perspective, and mood, and are designed to turn their listeners on and help them to feel sexy. We picked their brains on female sexuality and how the mind is such a crucial and often neglected form of foreplay, the excitement and challenges of starting a company, and their vision of the future of sexual wellness. This episode is not a paid sponsorship.

Dr. Sue Johnson is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and the developer of  Emotionally Focused Couples and Family Therapy (EFT), a powerful model that helps couples tune into their emotions to reconnect. She is the author of the bestselling book Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love, an evidenced based program to help couples build safety. Among her many accomplishments, Sue has been appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada and was named Psychologist of the Year by APA 2016. In this engaging interview on Sue's 30th wedding anniversary, she takes us on an educational journey through the science of attachment and emotion, the foundation for our romantic relationship needs.

Psychiatrist Mark Epstein, blending Buddhism and therapy, discusses ego's role in relationships, distractions fueling anxieties, and ways to change our relationship with our egos. He explores love's impact on ego, attachment issues, and mindfulness in fostering healthy connections.

World renowned love guru and couples psychotherapist, Esther Perel, poignantly describes the realities of romance, including infidelity and complacency in relationships. Why do we cheat even when we're in happy relationships? Can relationships be repaired after an affair? How do we maintain romantic excitement in the face of familiarity? Esther shares with us thoughtful and seductive solutions to tackle these eternal dilemmas.

Simone's cousin Rachel and her girlfriend Ada visit LOVELINK to talk about how their relationship evolved following Ada’s gender transition. With great humor and wisdom, Rachel and Ada open up about what they’ve learned about themselves and each other through Ada’s transition, including changes in the way they connect emotionally and sexually. Regardless of how you identify, there’s a lot to be learned about love and the healing power of personal liberation from this inspiring couple.

Dr. Bill Doherty, professor and director of the Minnesota Couples on the Brink Project at the University of Minnesota, gives us some solid Midwestern relationship advice. He’s worked with thousands of couples and been married 40 + years, so he knows a thing or two about what it takes to sustain long-term commitment. In this interview, he shares how he helps couples working through the often wrenching decision about whether to end a relationship. Dr. Doherty also walks us through his list of red flags to look for when dating and what people should probably stop stressing about. If you’re single or thinking about taking your relationship to the next level of commitment, this is a must listen episode!

Terry Real, psychotherapist and founder of Relational Life Therapy, specializes in working with men, particularly narcissistic, or what he calls “grandiose” men. In this deeply informative and timely interview, Terry talks to us about the different forms of narcissism, how narcissism develops, and the ways it emerges in relationships. In an era with Donald Trump as our leader, male narcissism rears its toxic head societally as well as within relationships, resulting in painful psychic and emotional consequences. We find out how narcissism expresses itself emotionally and sexually and ways that we can begin to deconstruct patriarchy by helping men to be more relational.

We went into the mind and psychotherapy session of Dr. Jacob Ham, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of trauma. He is the director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience and assistant clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. In our interview, he described how pain from the past affects our current relationships and ways that he helps hurt people heal interpersonal wounds and build trust and love again. To help us understand, he shared with us a recording from a real couples session that is a moving demonstration of his work and the power of couples therapy to build back healthy connection. Follow the couple's therapeutic journey and learn more about loving through hurt on Dr. Ham's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdpMZfwdxyqpvoC74eaF-2A

Nell is a 34-year-old designer who has extensive experience exploring online dating. Through her dating adventures, experience of numerous dating apps, and understanding texting rapport, she has guided many friends through navigating the often daunting cyber world of love. In this interview, Nell candidly opens up about the realities of online dating. Nell shares what she has learned about tolerating anxieties that get stirred up and offers practical advice for women seeking love online.