Safe Space Radio

Social psychologist and author Susan Newman talks about the stereotypes of and misinformation about only children. Studies show that only children do not suffer from the lack of siblings and even show improved academic achievement. She reports that the stereotypes of being spoiled, bossy, or lonely do not hold up to research. Only children families are the fastest growing type of family in the U.S. and in many parts of the western world, approaching a quarter of all families. Susan’s books are Parenting Your Only Child and The Case for the Only Child: Your Essential Guide. The post Single Child Families with Susan Newman appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Family therapist and author Evan Imber-Black talks about how to tell a family secret thoughtfully and well. She tells stories from her work about the impact of secrets on family members, creating ever widening circles of silence and distance in relationships.  Children may not know a secret, but their behavior is nonetheless deeply affected by the silence.  She advises an individual analysis of each family member who may be effected by revealing a secret and how to respect those who may not want it revealed. The post Telling Secrets with Evan Imber-Black appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode of Safe Space Radio features Professor Lawrence L. Langer discussing his book Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory. Professor Langer developed courses on the literature of atrocity to try and help people find a way to imagine the Holocaust, using stories from survivors. He remembers hearing stories of such horror that the teller literally became speechless in trying to communicate. He tells of the challenges survivors face in trying to communicate their experiences in ways the listener can bear, will not be damaged by, and can begin to understand. The post Holocaust Survivor Testimonies with Lawrence L. Langer appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Author Art Frank describes his own experience with an early heart attack and later cancer. He describes the way the medical world can be oblivious to the patient’s needs and subjective experience, and the importance of finding your own voice after your body has been colonized by treatment. He offered examples of the ways that medical professionals can connect more personally with the stories of their patients. Art’s book is The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics. The post Illness Stories with Art Frank appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode features an interview with author and social psychologist Jamie Pennebaker about his research into the benefits of confiding painful experiences. Jamie suggests that one of the reasons that childhood sexual abuse may be so destructive is because it is so often kept secret. He describes experiments where people are invited to write for 20 minutes each day for four days about their most emotionally troubling experience—in study after study, the writers who are able to explore the depth of their emotions and express different perspectives on the event tend to show health benefits years after the experiment. The post Secrets, Confiding, and Health with Jamie Pennebaker appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Storyteller Laura Simms worked as a narrative therapist in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. She talks about the power of stories to remind us of what is good inside us. The post Telling Difficult Stories with Laura Simms appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Dr. Diane Morrow describes the ways that writing helped her cope with her mother’s severe depression, and how writing can be healing as a process or ritual in itself. For Diane, writing fiction can be create enough distance from pain to allow the listener to resonate with it. The post Healing on the Blank Page with Diane Morrow appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

Susan Conley is author of The Foremost Good Fortune and co-founder of The Telling Room in Portland, Maine. In this interview she talks about coping with breast cancer in China while parenting two young boys, and how writing helped her survive. Susan describes her decision to write as honestly as possible, exposing less-than-ideal parenting or spousal moments as part of her story. She describes the ways that supporting children to write and tell their story can give them a powerful new sense of identity and of being heard and valued. The post Parenting and Cancer with Susan Conley appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

This episode of Safe Space Radio features law professor and Macarthur Fellow Elyn Saks talking about her experience of living with Schizophrenia. When diagnosed, Elyn was given a grave prognosis and told that she might never live independently. With the help of psychoanalysis and medication, however, she returned to law school and is now an expert on mental health law and the author of four books. Elyn speaks about stigma and mental illness, the use of restraints in psychiatric hospitals, and her research into the lives of high-functioning people with schizophrenia. The post Living with Schizophrenia with Elyn Saks appeared first on Safe Space Radio.

David Moltz is a psychiatrist in Portland, ME. In this episode, David talked about his reasons for going into psychiatry and the things he finds most difficult about the profession and the things he loves. He speaks about the use of power, the difficulty of deciding whether to commit someone to a hospital, how he listens to a suicidal patient and the importance of being present in the midst of someone’s pain. David also talks about the differences between the culture of mental health, and the culture of  substance abuse treatment or recovery models of care. The post On Being a Psychiatrist with David Moltz appeared first on Safe Space Radio.