Good decision making in mental health care
Bear Psychology Podcast
If you or someone you know receives mental health care do you feel confident in the services being provided? Or are you left with question or concerns? Mental health awareness and treatment has grown into a global priority. One in five experience mental illness in their lifetime, and those who suffer are coming forward in unprecedented numbers. As more people seek care, we must also reflect on whether providers are meeting demands through existing systems and mental health care approaches. In their book, Managing Uncertainty in Mental Health Care, Drs. Patricia Rockman and José...
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Internal Family Systems for Healing from Trauma
Bear Psychology Podcast
If you have experienced trauma or neglect as a child, you may struggle with depression, anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem in adulthood. You are not alone. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)—including early emotional neglect—affect millions of people and have led to many of the greatest unaddressed public health problems facing our world today. If you struggle with shame or lack of confidence, or if you have difficulty creating or sustaining healthy relationships with others, take heart. There are techniques you can learn to heal the pain of your past and take charge of...
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Using MDMA therapy to improve relationships and manage conflict
Bear Psychology Podcast
MDMA or 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine is a synthetic psychoactive medicine that alters mood and perception. It has been shown to be highly effective for treating trauma. Some studies have shown 71% to 86% of participants achieved clinically meaningful improvements, and about half no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. It is now being used to address relational conflict and improving relationships. The book Ecstasy for Couples was written to better understand this exploratory intervention and how couples are using MDMA to better understand each other and work on...
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Caring for patients with kindness and connection
Bear Psychology Podcast
This guide for mental health professionals offers an insightful, conversational approach to mastering empathic communication with clients. Dr. Douglas Flemons invites readers to join him in a dialogue that incorporates voices from clinical research and practice, philosophy (both Eastern and Western), neuroscience, and the arts. In his book, “Empathic Engagement in Clinical Practice,” Douglas explains the nuts and bolts of empathy and offers guidelines for how therapists can make sense of clients’ thoughts, feelings, and choices from inside their worldview. He also shows how the...
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The Strength to Serve: Mental Health for First Responders & Care Providers
Bear Psychology Podcast
First responders and healthcare professionals are trained to manage crisis — but repeated exposure to trauma, loss, and high-stakes decision-making can take a cumulative toll. Over time, this can lead to emotional exhaustion, sleep disruption, irritability, and disconnection — not because of weakness, but because the nervous system has been under sustained demand without adequate recovery. In this podcast, psychologist and author Tania Bielak, Ph.D. shares insights from her book The Strength to Serve, offering practical, evidence-based strategies to support mental health in...
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Addiction and the Journey to Enlightenment
Bear Psychology Podcast
Addiction isn’t just about pain—it can also be a call to something greater. The darkest paths can sometimes lead to the brightest truths by walking the path from suffering to self-discovery. In his book, “The Shadow of a Figure of Light: The Archetype of the Alcoholic and the Journey to Enlightenment” (2024) Cody Peterson explores the essence of Psycho-Spiritual transformation. Peterson looks at addiction as a pathway to wholeness. His book serves as both a guide and a mirror for those seeking to understand the hidden patterns behind self-destruction and the redemptive power...
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Using Polyvagal Theory for Healing
Bear Psychology Podcast
Listen to us as we discuss how you can rewire your nervous system for lasting calm, connection, and resilience with cutting-edge, polyvagal theory-based activities. Whether you have suffered a single traumatic experience or faced repeated difficult life events, you can be left feeling hypervigilant, irritable, and disconnected. Daily tasks like attending a work meeting or social gathering can feel overwhelming or even frightening. Most therapies for treating trauma require you to “revisit” your traumatic experience in potentially triggering ways. Best-selling author Dr. Arielle Schwartz...
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The Relationships Workbook for BPD
Bear Psychology Podcast
The Relationships Workbook for BPD - Bear Psychology Radio hosted by Dr. Anna Baranowsky with guest Dr. Daniel J. Fox. When intense emotions, fear of abandonment, or distorted expectations consume you, relationships can slowly erode, replaced by feelings of resentment and hostility. Unstable and high-conflict relationships are a hallmark of borderline personality disorder (BPD). In his book, “The Relationships Workbook for BPD”, Daniel J. Fox guides you step-by-step to help explore beliefs, behaviours and patterns that sabotage connection. Instead you learn how to repair relationships...
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Inner Growth for emotional healing
Bear Psychology Podcast
Many people associate the term "enlightenment" with images of a solitary figure sitting atop a distant mountain peak or a monk focused intently on meditation, but what does this concept look like when navigating our lives in today’s complex society? Enlightment, at its core, is about gaining awareness and awakening ourselves to the interconnected nature of existence. Dr. Steve Taylor, a renowned spiritual psychologist, has devoted his life to investigating spiritual awakening. His previous bestselling books provided case histories of dozens of people who experienced profound shifts in...
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The Power of Psychoanalysis
Bear Psychology Podcast
From alleviating recurring nightmares to finding oneself by discovering your family’s secret past, psychoanalysis is a turbulent but rewarding form of psychotherapy. Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis establishing it in the 1890’s. The approach includes a focus on the unconscious mind, dream interpretation and talk therapy for addressing mental disturbances. Psychoanalysis continues to be a valuable path for gaining inner freedom from a host of mental struggles. In her book, “Untangling: A Memoir of Psychoanalysis” Joan Peters takes us through her journey of...
info_outlineWe all want to feel free to be our true selves and live in a way that feel authentic. I want to live my life to the fullest and I imagine you do as well. Despite this, we can get sidetracked by demands and expectations that throw us off our true gifts and passions. Instead we might follow the preferences and aspirations that society, family, and friends have for us, rather than what we truly want for ourselves. Breaking free from self-doubt and discovering what it is that you truly want from life, demands that you grow beyond the obstacles that undermine personal goals, hopes and dreams.
Dr. Lyndsay Gibson, Psychologist and author of “Who You Were Meant to Be: A Guide to Finding or Recovering Your Life's Purpose”. Dr. Gibson utilizes her years of clinical knowledge to show us what gets in the way of our true unfolding. We will reflect on how to free ourselves from misguided guilt and misplaced loyalty that confuses loving others with sacrificing ourselves and betraying our true life path.
Listen to the conversation with Dr. Lindsay Gibson as we explore ways to reclaim your true path, especially if you have suffered from the effects of emotionally immature parents. We discuss how to uncover your life’s purpose and who you were truly meant to be.
Dr. Lindsay Gibson is a clinical psychologist, author, and assistant professor with a passion for human conflict and helping others develop long-lasting, meaningful relationships. Dr. Gibson has written several books including her best-selling novel “Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting or Self-Involved Parents”. It has sold over 100,000 copies, been translated into 14 languages, and has helped thousands of people reverse their toxic psychological legacy and reclaim their lives.
In her book, Dr. Gibson provides real life examples from her therapy practice and a variety of methods to get you thinking about what constitutes individual happiness and how to chart a course to get there. Dr. Gibson helps her readers to free themselves from doubt and defeat and find out what you really want to do with your life, utilizing inner guidance to find personal and energizing life purpose. Her book helps address feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and the common fears that often bring self-actualization to a hault while offering practical advice for those who are reluctant to put themselves first in their own lives.
If you are interested in more information about how you can recover from emotionally immature parents, break out of old habits, forge a new path to discover or recover our true purpose in life and become the people we want to be, this talk is for you.
Links & Resources:
- To purchase Dr. Gibson’s book “Recovering from Emotionally Immature Parents: https://amzn.to/3Zz0Nwe
- To purchase Dr. Gibson’s book “Who You Were Meant to Be: A Guide to Finding or Recovering Your Life's Purpose”: https://amzn.to/3ZyWUr2
- For more information about Dr. Gibson: https://catalogue.pesi.com.au/speaker/lindsay-gibson-346187/18
Materials to Reference:
- 4 signs that a parent is emotionally immature: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/mental-wealth/202111/4-signs-parent-is-emotionally-immature
- Accessing Emotional Immaturity (questionnaires and resources): http://curioushealing.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ACEIP_exercises.pdf
- Tips for finding your life’s purpose: Accessing Emotional Immaturity (questionnaires and resources): https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/articles/202301/5-ways-to-find-your-purpose