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...
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Divorce and New Beginnings
Bear Psychology Podcast
Using Self-Compassion practices after divorce can help both parents and children. Divorce and/or separation is a stressful but quite common experience for both parents and children. Children often carry guilt, shame, and anger along with many other big feelings that parents often feel ill-equipped to address. In her book, “Two Times as Much Love” Eileen Beltzner tells the story of Alexander, a third-grader struggling with the emotional aftermath of his parents’ divorce, and his journey toward self-understanding and personal growth. Beltzner uses engaging storytelling and...
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Schizoid Personality Disorder and a life of challenge
Bear Psychology Podcast
Blair Sorrel shares her journey of living with Schizoid Personality Disorder and learning to accept and love herself. She undercovers further elements of her life growing up in a family of origin where she experienced ridicule leading to low self-worth, social anxiety and a debilitating fear of authority figures. She explores a home life with “poor parenting” which undermined her academic and career disappointments. She reflects on the importance of nurturing caregivers to allow the flourishing of Intelligence and genetics toward success. In her book, “A Schizoid at Smith: How...
info_outlineIf you have ever struggled with a person in your life that displays behaviors such as: lack of empathy; entitlement; a need to be the center of attention; negative reactions to any critical feedback; a grandiose sense of self; arrogance; manipulation and gaslighting; a need to be in control; demeaning and blaming of others and much more than this conversation will be of interest to you!
“Narcissism: A Contemporary Introduction” by Dr. Richard Wood is a well-researched book that provides you with a deep understanding of the psychological terrain of the Narcissist. He distinguishes and explains three main types of narcissism:
- Healthy forms of narcissism that are necessary for effective personal, cultural, and creative development;
- Severe, pathological narcissism that can cause extreme human suffering; and
- Malignant Narcissism that is part of the spectrum of narcissistic personality disorder.
Listen to our conversation with psychologist & author Dr. Richard Wood as we talk about all the different ways narcissism can show up in today’s society.
Dr. Richard Wood is a registered psychologist based in Ontario, Canada. He is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Psychologists in Disability Assessment (CAPDA) and the author of A Study of Malignant Narcissism: Personal and Professional Insights (2022) and Psychoanalytic Reflections on Vladimir Putin: The Cost of Malignant Leadership (2024). In addition to being a founding member of CAPDA, Dr. Wood served the Ontario Psychological Association in a variety of functions before becoming its president in 1989 and was an associate professor in the Department of Behavioural Sciences, a department of the University of Toronto Medical School, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dr. Wood has been working with clients for over 50 years and provides long and short term psychotherapy for individuals, couples, and families. He is also a member of the Ontario Psychological Association (OPA) and the American Psychological Association (APA).
Dr. Wood’s book helps psychologists and psychoanalysts learn how to identify, assess, and treat patients with narcissistic personality traits by providing clinical examples throughout. Students looking for a thorough and jargon-free introduction to narcissism will gain insight into this condition through his methodical approach laid out in this book.
Listen to our conversation with Dr. Wood as we discuss his insights of the complicated condition known as Narcissism.
If you are interested in learning more about narcissism through the psychoanalytic lens, this show is for you.
Links & Resources:
- Learn more about Dr. Wood: https://www.drrichardwood.com/about-dr-wood
- Purchase his book: https://amzn.to/4qiriAU
- Contact Dr. Wood: https://www.drrichardwood.com/contact-us
Materials to Reference:
- Learn more about narcissism: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/narcissism