Psych Spiels and Silver Linings

Chris Mackey, a clinical psychologist with over 40 years of experience gives his top tips and discusses other elements of psychology with his son, Podcaster Rowan Mackey. The discussions involve an optimistic, cross-generational approach to mental health.

Dealing with Conflict 08/17/2024

Dealing with Conflict Chris and Rowan begin a three-part series on some of the themes related to domestic violence. In this first episode, we will be looking at how to manage conflict in a healthy way. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618917

The Basics of Anger Management 08/17/2024

The Basics of Anger Management Chris and Rowan continue their series on the themes related to domestic violence. This week we are discussing anger and anger management. Anger is a part of life and we will never be able to fully escape being angry, but there are many things we can do to ensure that our anger doesn’t become harmful to ourselves and those around us. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618922

Making Therapy More Flexible 08/17/2024

Making Therapy More Flexible Chris and Rowan discuss how therapists can individualise therapy with their clients through a process that mirrors the process of evolution. We discuss how people can vary their approaches, sometimes in novel ways, to get the most out of therapy and maintain their wellbeing beyond any mental health challenges they have faced. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618912

From Surviving to Thriving with Dr Ken Harris 08/17/2024

From Surviving to Thriving with Dr Ken Harris Chris and Rowan speak with Dr Ken Harris. Ken is an author, educator, keynote speaker, lecturer and chiropractor, as well as the lead author of the book Second Chances – From Surviving to Thriving, which included a chapter written by Chris. Ken has spent decades dedicated to the exploration, understanding and promotion of the mind, body, spirit connection. We speak with Ken about what he’s learned as the lead author of Second Chances – From Surviving to Thriving, as well as tap into Ken’s extensive knowledge and enthusiasm that he’s gained from many years working in the field. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618897

The Role of Meaning in Mental Health 08/17/2024

The Role of Meaning in Mental Health Chris and Rowan discuss the role of meaning and purpose in mental health and modern psychology. We talk about how positive psychology has reintegrated the importance of meaning and purpose into the field of psychology and how some of the latest research has backed up the importance of meaning for our mental well-being. We look at why meaning and purpose were de-emphasised by some of the earlier psychologists like Sigmund Freud and why they later re-emerged through the work of people like Martin Seligman and Michael Steger. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618907

Logotherapy and the Search for Meaning 08/17/2024

Logotherapy and the Search for Meaning Chris and Rowan discuss the contribution of Victor Frankl to psychology. Frankl is the founder of logotherapy, a therapy approach that focuses on meaning. We discuss Frankl’s life and the experiences that he had that led to his ideas, including spending time in 4 different concentration camps during the Second World War, and why Frankl’s ideas are becoming more relevant today. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618892

Part 2: Socrates to Stoicism – Modern Meaning from Ancient Greece 08/17/2024

Part 2: Socrates to Stoicism – Modern Meaning from Ancient Greece Chris and Rowan finish off the series on ancient Greek philosophy with a look at how stoicism developed out of Socrates’ practices in ancient Athens. We look at the cynics and their influence on the stoics and their ideas ideas including the fundamental principle in modern psychology that we are not disturbed by things, but by our view of them. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618882

Stoicism: The Seeds of Psychological Therapy 08/17/2024

Stoicism: The Seeds of Psychological Therapy Chris and Rowan discuss how stoic philosophy is related to modern psychology principles and how we can benefit from drawing upon stoic philosophy as we face different challenges in our lives. This is the first of several episodes on stoic philosophy and how it relates to modern psychology. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618857

Part 1: Socrates to Stoicism – Modern Meaning from Ancient Greece 08/17/2024

Part 1: Socrates to Stoicism – Modern Meaning from Ancient Greece Chris and Rowan look back at some of the philosophers from Ancient Greece and how their ideas relate to modern psychology. In this episode, the first part of a two-part series, we look at the ideas of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Epicurus and relate their ideas to modern psychology, which has translated many of these ancient ideas into a modern context. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618867

Snippets About Stoicism and Psychology 08/17/2024

Snippets About Stoicism and Psychology Chris is away for the first podcast of the year and so Rowan will be taking you back through some of our previous episodes on stoic philosophy as an introduction for the next few episodes, which will also cover the topic of stoic philosophy. These snippets will look at how Tim Beck and Albert Ellis used stoic principles to inform their therapy approaches, which went on to become modern cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). The first two clips are from episode 52 of Psych Spiels, The ABC of CBT and the final clip, discussing one of Ellis’s principles that is a distillation of stoic philosophy, is from episode 54, The Intolerance of Irrational Ideas. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618842

Christmas – A Season of Suffering for Some 08/17/2024

Christmas – A Season of Suffering for Some For many of us, Christmas is a joyful time of the year when we catch up with family and friends, but for some people who’ve experienced childhood abuse or neglect, Christmas doesn’t represent the merry, joyful time of the year that it does for many others. In this special Christmas podcast, Chris and Rowan discuss how people can navigate some of the difficulties associated with Christmas if they’ve experienced childhood trauma or abuse and may be seeing their family members or avoiding their families altogether. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618837

Learning How to Sting 08/17/2024

Learning How to Sting Chris and Rowan discuss the idea of learning how to sting. Stinging is when we go through a negative experience, and we let ourselves experience some of the negative emotions to motivate ourselves to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. We discuss how we can leverage a negative experience and turn it into a more positive outcome in the future. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618822

Bolstering Well-Being - Three Tips from Top Psychologists 08/17/2024

Bolstering Well-Being - Three Tips from Top Psychologists This week, after Chris spoke to a number of his friends who are also psychologists, we discuss three things that can bolster well-being if they’re included in a recipe for mental health. Those three things are: play, belonging and volunteering. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618827

Temporary to Transformative – Types of Change 08/17/2024

Temporary to Transformative – Types of Change Chris and Rowan discuss the three different types of change and how we can bring about meaningful, long-lasting change in our lives. The three types of change are incremental change, where we might eliminate or introduce a behaviour bit by bit, pendulum change, where we may act differently for a period of time and later revert back to our original way of doing things, such as undertaking a fad diet, or paradigm change, which represents a more meaningful change in our underlying beliefs and cognition. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618817

Strengthening Our Resilience to Stress and Strain 08/17/2024

Strengthening Our Resilience to Stress and Strain Chris and Rowan discuss some insights that can be gained from exploring the different meanings of engineering terms such as “stress” and “strain” and applying them to psychology and our mental health. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618802

Creative Approaches to Mental Health Support 08/17/2024

Creative Approaches to Mental Health Support In a slightly different podcast this week, Chris and Rowan share a recording from a webinar that we did for the Art of the Minds festival in Geelong. The theme of the presentation was creative approaches to mental health support. As so much of psychology has traditionally been one-to-one therapy we look at some different ways of accessing mental health information, as well as how to discern between some of the less reliable info that’s out there. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618862

Your Active Approach to Mental Health 08/17/2024

Your Active Approach to Mental Health Chris and Rowan discuss the idea that we will each have our own unique recipe for mental health and we will each need to find an authentic and effective way of maintaining our mental well-being that works best for us. In this episode, we discuss how you can go about finding your own unique recipe for mental health, even when you’re not feeling the best. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618727

Becoming Unstuck – Change it, Accept it, or Leave 08/17/2024

Becoming Unstuck – Change it, Accept it, or Leave Chris and Rowan discuss the three coping alternatives for problem situations. If we come across a prolonged difficult situation, we are faced with three choices, to change it, to accept it or to leave. This seems like a simple notion on the surface, but it comes up in around 10% of therapy sessions. We discuss how we can apply these ideas as well as some of the complications that can come up when we face a difficult situation. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618722

Demystifying Adult ADHD with Dr Ozgur Yalcin 08/17/2024

Demystifying Adult ADHD with Dr Ozgur Yalcin Chris and Rowan are joined by Dr Ozgur Yalcin to discuss some of the benefits and challenges of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618712

Treating PTSD with EMDR 08/17/2024

Treating PTSD with EMDR Following on from the previous episode on treating trauma exposure therapy, Chris and Rowan discuss another therapy tool for treating trauma, EMDR. EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) can help create profound, transformative change for those who’ve experienced trauma and are still dealing with its impact. In this episode, we discuss how EMDR has helped many of Chris’s clients better integrate their traumatic experiences to the point that around 50% of people would not change the trauma event itself because of the profound post-traumatic growth that EMDR can help them attain. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618697

Undoing Resentment with Gratitude 08/17/2024

Undoing Resentment with Gratitude Chris and Rowan discuss an idea put forward by Dr Kerry Howells, which is that you can’t feel the emotions of resentment and gratitude at the same time. We talk about some of the issues that come up if we let our resentment grow and how we can cultivate more gratitude in order to taper our levels of resentment towards a situation over time. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618707

Addressing Trauma Memories with Exposure Therapy 08/17/2024

Addressing Trauma Memories with Exposure Therapy Chris and Rowan discuss trauma memories and how they can be treated with exposure therapy. This is a two-part series on trauma, with the next episode being on EMDR, another treatment for trauma. In today’s episode, we talk about the nature of trauma memories and how they’re formed, their impact, and how we can treat trauma memories with a therapy technique called exposure. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618692

Navigating Neurodivergence with Bianca Tassone 08/17/2024

Navigating Neurodivergence with Bianca Tassone Rowan is joined by Bianca Tassone to discuss the topic of neurodivergence and neurodiversity. Neurodivergence can include ADHD and autism, as well as a range of other conditions, and much has been learned about neurodivergence in recent years. We discuss what neurodivergence is and how our understanding of it is developing with the latest research. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618687

Cultivating Positive Networks with Dr Juliet Trail 08/17/2024

Cultivating Positive Networks with Dr Juliet Trail Chris and Rowan are joined by Dr Juliet Trail, who has done extensive research on networks and how networks can optimally function. We discuss the different types of networks we may be involved in, plus what we can do to ensure that we’re getting the most out of our networks and the relationships associated with them. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618672

Curbing Unrelenting Standards 08/17/2024

Curbing Unrelenting Standards In the final episode of our series on schemas and schema therapy, Chris and Rowan discuss unrelenting standards. Unrelenting standards or hypercriticalness is the final of the 18 schemas we will discuss and relates to rigid internal expectations for our behaviour and performance. Unrelenting standards are a significant contributor to depression and anxiety. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618657

Contrasting Character Strengths with Schema 08/17/2024

Contrasting Character Strengths with Schema Chris and Rowan discuss how we can look at the schemas through a more positive lens, our character strengths. In recent episodes, we’ve looked at some of the more negative patterns that we can develop within our personality, but this week, we will look at a more optimistic way of thinking about our personality patterns. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618667

Expressing Ourselves Freely: The Essentials of Schema Therapy 08/17/2024

Expressing Ourselves Freely: The Essentials of Schema Therapy Chris and Rowan continue our series on schema therapy with the schemas relating to over-vigilance and other-directedness, which means being overly focused on the thoughts of others. These schemas include negativity/pessimism, emotional inhibition, punitiveness, approval seeking/recognition seeking, subjugation and self-sacrifice. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618652

Feeling Disconnected & Rejected: The Essentials of Schema Therapy 08/17/2024

Feeling Disconnected & Rejected: The Essentials of Schema Therapy Chris and Rowan discuss 5 of the 18 schemas Jeff Young outlined when creating schema therapy. We discuss the schemas related to a lack of positive attachment during childhood that can make people feel disconnected and rejected in later life. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618637

Developing Your Self & Your Self-Control: The Essentials of Schema Therapy 08/17/2024

Developing Your Self & Your Self-Control: The Essentials of Schema Therapy Chris and Rowan continue their series on schema therapy with the second episode, related to developing your sense of self and self-control. These schemes are from the family of schemas relating to impaired autonomy and performance, or your sense of self, and impaired limits, or your self-control. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618647

Supporting Change with Chair Work 08/17/2024

Supporting Change with Chair Work Chris and Rowan discuss a therapy technique called chair work that comes from Gestalt therapy and involves acting out different parts of ourselves. We discuss some of the principles behind chair work and the benefits of acknowledging and expressing different parts of ourselves. /episode/index/show/f4133f09-f946-4202-9a12-912e103ae399/id/32618632

Psych Spiels and Silver Linings

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