Wise Counsel Podcasts

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Patt Denning, Ph.D. on Harm Reduction Psychotherapy for Substance Abuse and Addictions". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Patt Denning, Ph.D. on the topic of Harm Reduction, a relatively new approach to substance abuse treatment which, proponents claim, is both more effective and humane than current mainstream substance abuse treatment approaches. In the interview, Dr. Denning compares harm reduction, her synthesis of public health safety promotion philosophy and cognitive behavioral therapy techniques such as motivational interviewing, relapse prevention and the stages of change model with the traditional Minnesota Model substance abuse treatment which, she believes, contains within itself a counter-productive and judgmental values system which works against successful treatment outcomes. She discusses how her early work as a psychotherapist and clinic director influenced her to explore substance abuse treatment how she found this treatment wanting, and how she went about assembling what she considers to be a superior way to conduct psychotherapy for substance abuse, namely Harm Reduction Psychotherapy.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Otto Kernberg, MD on Transference Focused Therapy". In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Otto Kernberg, MD on the topic of Transference Focused Therapy. Dr. Kernberg is one of the best known living psychodynamic (e.g., Freudian) theorists, famous for his work in object relations theory, and on the nature of personality disorders and their remediation. In the course of this interview, Dr. Kernberg defines the underlying problems common to severe personality disorders, highlighting the role of identity diffusion and the borderline personality organization, providing both an explaination of what these things are, and how they form developmentally. He discusses how the various severe personality disorders, including Borderline personality disorder and Narcissistic personality disorder, are attempts to compensate for these core problems. He then describes his Transference Focused Therapy, which represents an effort to create a research-supported variant of psychodynamic psychotherapy which can directly repair identity diffusion and borderline personality organziation, not just help people learn to cope better with their personality disorder symptoms.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Frank Ochberg, MD on treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)" In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Frank Ochberg, MD on the topic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Topics touched up on in this interview include the nature of PTSD, best practices for treating PTSD at present (which include antidepressant medications and exposure psychotherapy), the Counting Method (Dr. Ochberg's own exposure therapy method), and Dr. Ochberg's history of involvement with multiple populations affected by violence and cruelty throughout a long and productive career in Psychiatry.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "James Gordon, MD on Mind-Body Medicine and his book Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression" In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews James Gordon, MD, a psychiatrist, advocate for mind-body medicine and the responsible use of complementary and alternative medicine, and author of the book, Unstuck:Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression. The approach to care fostered by Dr Gordon's Center for Mind Body Medicine stresses the importance of non-medical interventions including techniques that foster self-awareness (such as meditation, guided imagery, and promotion of self-expression through art, words, drawings and movement), self-care (such as exercise and diet) and social supportive care (including educational and meditative groups) in healing. The interview covers Dr. Gordon's work as an educator of mind-body medicine approaches around the world in response to global traumas, and its application and utility as a remedy for depression in place of today's expensive and relatively ineffective medication-focused treatment approach.

In this Wise Counsel Podcast interview, Dr. Van Nuys interviews author and physician Ronald Dworkin, MD, Ph.D. about the ideas he expressed in his 2006 book Artificial Happiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class. Dr. Dworkin's argument, at least as articulated in this interview, can be easily boiled down to a single premise: Non specialist physicians (primary care doctors mostly) have implicitly entered into an unspoken agreement with patients to medicate ordinary unhappiness, an inevitable and existential aspect of life which is not a medical condition. In Dr. Dworkin's view, ordinary unhappiness is an important and helpful feedback mechanism serving to cause people to pay attention to problems they are experiencing in their environment or relationships which are not working. The use of medication to provide relief from the discomfort of unhappiness (or any other intervention which serves to reduce pain or distract people from non-illness forms of emotional pain) is not in the best long term interests of the patient, as it inhibits the patient from taking corrective actions to actually fix the problems they are experiencing.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Fern Cohen, Ph.D. on whether Psychoanalysis is Dead" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist and Psychoanalyst Fern Cohen, Ph.D. on the provocative theme, "Is Psychoanalysis Dead?". In this context, Psychoanalysis refers to the version of psychoanalysis developed by Dr. Freud (e.g., the one with the couch) and not to modern psychodynamic versions related to that original therapy. Not surprisingly, Dr. Cohen doesn't think that psychoanalysis is dead at all. While acknowledging that this form of therapy is on the decline in terms of practitioners, she points out various ways that it continues to be vital and important.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Edna Foa, Ph.D. on the Nature and Treatment of PTSD" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Edna Foa, Ph.D. a world-famous Anxiety researcher on the topic of treating Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, better known as PTSD. Dr. Foa describes the nature of PTSD, including the three major classes of symptoms that are associated with the diagnosis: re-experiencing, avoidance and emotional numbing, and arousal. She also describes the best scientifically validated treatment for PTSD currently known, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, which involves a systematic detailed and repetitious retelling of the trauma story by the trauma victim so as to help them integrate their trauma memories, place them firmly in the past, and habituate them to the story so that they feel less arousal and anxiety when they think about it.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Judith Beck, Ph.D. on Cognitive Therapy applied to Weight Loss" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Judith Beck, Ph.D. on the topics of Cognitive Therapy and the application of Cognitive Therapy to the problem of weight loss. Cognitive Therapy is a time-limited psychotherapy based on the cognitive model - a set of assumptions based around the notion that emotional problems are largely caused by faulty thinking habits. If you can learn to identify and correct problems in your thinking, you can substantially reduce the amount of emotional pain you experience. Cognitive therapy has grown from a singular treatment for depression to a therapy for anxiety disorders, and more recently, a therapy for many different sorts of problems, including aspects of schizophrenia, addictions, personality disorders and eating disorders. Dr. Beck's recent book, "The Beck Diet Solution", applies the principles of Cognitive Therapy to the difficult problem of sustained weight loss. In the interview, Dr. Beck describes some of the ways that thiner and heavier people tend to think differently, and how heavier people can learn to think more like thinner people, and thereby lose weight and keep that weight off.

In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys speaks with Psychologist Marc Kern, Ph.D. on the topic of addiction treatment with an emphasis on alternatives to Alcoholics Anonymous and twelve step programs. Dr. Kern became interested in treating addictions as a result of his own experience dealing with addictions that he had developed while in college living in a fraternity environment that encouraged substantial substance experimentation. Part of the treatment he was prescribed for his addiction involved referral to Alcoholics Anonymous. He did attend AA multiple times, but ultimately found that it was not a good fit for him. He objected to the religious nature of AA's philosophy of treatment, their promotion of a general view of the alcoholic self as essentially powerless, and their salvation oriented view promoting the idea that the only path available to the alcoholic through which he can become powerful again is through submission to a higher power. He also objected to the lack of logical rigor he found, which irritated and alienated him. His realization that AA was not for him caused him to look for alternative ways that addiction could be treated. He was surprised to find that there were many alternatives. Having found his mission in life (to help himself and others recover from addictions), he went on to return to school, became a clinical psychologist, and has worked as a therapist, coach and consultant ever since.

Mental Help Net (www.mentalhelp.net) presents the Wise Counsel Podcast (wisecounsel.mentalhelp.net), hosted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. "Michelle Craske, Ph.D. on Anxiety Disorders Research and Treatment" In this episode of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews Michelle Craske, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, UCLA professor and anxiety disorders researcher. Many different anxiety related subjects are touched upon during the interview, including: the relationship between anxiety and fear, different types of panic attacks including nocturnal panic, her treatment workbook Mastery of Anxiety and Panic co-authored with anxiety research luminary Dr. David Barlow, relaxation-induced panic, the nature of agorophobia and what predicts its occurrence, the relationship between anxiety and depression, and computer assisted psychotherapy for anxiety disorders.