Spooky Psychology

Two licensed therapists discuss the spookier side of psychology. If you're into macabre topics, dark humor, and learning about behavior and psychology-- this podcast is for you!

INSANITY PLEA (PART 2) 02/29/2024

INSANITY PLEA (PART 2) Trigger Warning: This episode discusses sensitive topics including murder, mental health disorders, and legal proceedings related to violent crimes. Welcome, fellow curious minds, to another spine-tingling episode of Spooky Psychology. In Part 2 of discussing the insanity plea and the Sydney Powell case, we dive into some diagnoses that were brought up during her trial. What exactly is Schizophrenia? How is it different from Schizoaffective disorder? Tune in and we'll unpack each one, and why diagnoses shared in expert testimony can vary so much. We also debunk what psychosis is and what typical psychotic episodes look like.... and it's probably not what you expect or the way the media portrays it. A giant thank you to Mentalyc for sponsoring this episode! If you'd like to give their AI progress notes a try be sure to add SPOOKY10 at checkout! Visit them at: We love hearing from you! Keep in touch: Our new website: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spookypsychpodcast/?utm_source=qr Patreon: Email us with feedback and ideas!: [email protected] -------------------------------------------------- References from today’s show: /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/30160533

INSANITY PLEA (PART 1) 11/28/2023

INSANITY PLEA (PART 1) Trigger Warning: This episode discusses sensitive topics including murder, mental health disorders, and legal proceedings related to violent crimes. Welcome, fellow curious minds, to another spine-tingling episode of Spooky Psychology. Today, we venture into a very recent case in true crime- the Sydney Powell case. But this isn't just an episode of discussing the horror that took place in Ohio. It's a dive into the complexities of the human mind and the intricacies of the insanity plea in our American justice system. We'll navigate the treacherous terrain of the insanity defense, unraveling why it's notoriously challenging to prove in a court of law. We'll also delve into the perplexing puzzle for legal professionals and mental health experts alike. Most importantly, beyond the sensational headlines lies a deeper exploration—considerations from a compassionate mental health perspective. Tune in for part 1 as we break down the logistics of the case and some fundemental pieces that are important to note when it comes to the "insanity plea" in America. We love to hear from you! Keep in touch: Our new website: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spookypsychpodcast/?utm_source=qr Patreon: Email us with feedback and ideas!: [email protected] -------------------------------------------------- References from today’s show: /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/28833433

SLEEP DISORDERS 10/31/2023

SLEEP DISORDERS TRICK OR TREAT, Spooky Peeps! After a spellbinding hiatus, Spooky Psychology is back, resurrected from the depths of eerie silence and now more bewitching than ever. We've conjured a host of audio enhancements that'll send shivers down your spine this season! Gather around, because tonight, under the shadowy cloak of the moon, we delve deep into the spine-chilling realm of Sleep Disorders. Join us as we discuss the stages of sleep deprivation, sleepwalking, confront the sinister specter of sleep paralysis, and uncover the eerie enigma of exploding head syndrome. Plus, we dare to ask, what exactly is 'normal' when the realm of sleep is so paranormal? Be sure to visit our brand-new, website and Instagram. And if you'd like to support our more professional journey, consider becoming a Patron. If this episode leaves you enchanted, kindly leave us a review. We're just dying to hear from you! Our new website: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spookypsychpodcast/?utm_source=qr Patreon: Email us with feedback and ideas!: [email protected] -------------------------------------------------- References from today’s show: TV static sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf7NbRFyg3Y https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/index.html DSM V The Mayo Clinic . https://www.thensf.org/sleep-facts-and-statistics/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/28479461

Arson 02/06/2023

Arson We are back! Big thanks to you all for your patience. Sources: https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/understanding-adult-fire-setting-pyromania-arson https://crimestory.com/2020/01/24/a-convicted-fireman-arsonist-and-me-the-facts-as-i-knew-them/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/25847142

Incels 11/22/2022

Incels Welcome to spooky psychology with Megan and Lauren. Today we are discussing the psychology of Incels. ALL the trigger warnings for this episode (SA, pedophilia, racism, homophobia, violence against women, etc.) ** UPDATE** we are going to take a brief hiatus until the new year so that we can make sure we are consistently coming out with content. See you in 2023 and stay spooky! References Meriam Webster Broyd, J., Boniface, L., Parsons, D., Murphy, D., & Hafferty, J. (2022). Incels, violence and mental disorder: A narrative review with recommendations for best practice in risk assessment and clinical intervention. BJPsych Advances, 1-11. doi:10.1192/bja.2022.15 /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/25096935

Consumer Psychology 08/12/2022

Consumer Psychology Welcome to Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren! Today we're discussing psychological marketing tactics and getting specific about advertising to children and the new trend of "gentle parenting." Become a Patron at: references: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-consumer-psychology-2794899 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/consumer-behavior https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-brain/201911/3-cognitive-shortcuts-exploited-marketers https://www.parents.com/parenting/better-parenting/style/what-is-gentle-parenting/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/202003/7-reasons-panic-buying-behavior https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/target-effect-psychologist-explains-why-you-can-t-just-buy-ncna923456 https://www.crowdspring.com/marketing-psychology/ https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/advertising-children /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/24033255

Mental and Physical Health pt 2 07/07/2022

Mental and Physical Health pt 2 Patreon: Sources: https://www.agingcare.com/Articles/urinary-tract-infection-symptoms-151547.htm https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8758130/ https://scienceline.org/2022/04/the-real-story-behind-the-tiktok-tics/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/23669933

Mental and Physical Health Pt 1 05/12/2022

Mental and Physical Health Pt 1 https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/statistics/mental-health-statistics-physical-health-conditions /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/23094353

Spooky Sea Stuff 04/03/2022

Spooky Sea Stuff Become a Patron at: Giveaway Entry link : https://forms.gle/xM8BPkg5apipjtvUA be sure to give pumpkingizzard a follow on insta! Follow us on tiktok: spookypsychology resources for this episode: https://www.verywellmind.com/thalassophobia-fear-of-the-ocean-4692301 https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-hallucination-22088 http://www.oldsaltblog.com/2014/03/mad-as-a-lighthouse-keeper-not-the-solitude-but-the-mercury/ https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/geography/general-geography/ocean-facts/ https://oceantoday.noaa.gov/deepocean/ https://people.howstuffworks.com/why-were-women-on-ships-considered-bad-luck.htm https://www.maritimeinjuryguide.org/blog/cruise-ship-safety-statistics/ and shoutout to patron Matt for the spooky stories! /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/22660337

Mandela/ Misinformation effect 02/25/2022

Mandela/ Misinformation effect https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-mandela-effect-4589394 https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/g28438966/mandela-effect-examples/?slide=12 How to with john wilson https://imec.world/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/priming Pandemics and infodemics: Research on the effects of misinformation on memory - elizabeth loftus and rachel leigh greenspan MEMES AND THE WAY THEY INFLUENCE MASS CONSCIOUSNESS IN CYBERSPACE /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/22255985

Narcissistic Personality Disorder 01/24/2022

Narcissistic Personality Disorder https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9742-narcissistic-personality-disorder https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9742-narcissistic-personality-disorder Understanding and Treating Narcissism With EMDR Therapy - dolores masquera and jim knipe 2015 /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/21866096

Fugue States 11/29/2021

Fugue States https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology Sources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/dissociative-fugue-psychogenic-fugue https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15373503 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201203/dissociative-fugue-the-mystery-agatha-christie /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/21304943

Vampires, Zombies and Mummies 10/31/2021

Vampires, Zombies and Mummies https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds (Yale University Press, 2016). Rodriguez de la Sierra L. Origin of the myth of vampirism. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 1998; 91:290. Henry C. Pop vampires, Freud and primary masochism. Psychoanalytic Review 2014; 101:25-38. 4. Vanden Bergh RL, Kelly JF. Vampirism: A review with new observations. Archives of General Psychiatry 1964: 11:543-547. https://www.chapman.edu/wilkinson/research-centers/babbie-center/_files/Babbie%20center%20fear2021/blogpost-americas-top-fears-2020_-21-final.pdf /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/20992259

Cryptozoology 10/18/2021

Cryptozoology Fivrr Affiliate link :https://go.fiverr.com/visit/?bta=285217&brand=fiverrcpa Sources: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cryptids https://blogs.chapman.edu/wilkinson/2018/10/16/paranormal-america-2018/ Factors Aff ors Affecting the Accur ecting the Accuracy of E acy of Eyewitness Identification ewitness Identification Sheena M. Lorenza St. John Fisher College, [email protected] https://www.singularfortean.com/news/2021/5/15/chicago-aviation-department-employee-reports-mothman-sighting-at-ohare-international-airport /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/20844089

Lauren had a baby! 09/13/2021

Lauren had a baby! /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/20457647

Feral Children? 07/19/2021

Feral Children? Welcome Back to Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren. In this episode we discuss feral children, and Lauren announces some very good shit. Sources: https://www.britannica.com/topic/feral-children The jungle book of neuropsychology: Disentangling the influence of feral childhood from adult brain injury in order to provide effective rehabilitation.- cj macintosh and AIW James https://stmuhistorymedia.org/genie-wiley-the-feral-child/ https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jul/14/genie-feral-child-los-angeles-researchers https://www.livescience.com/41590-feral-children.html /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/19848425

Historical Treatment of Mental Illness 06/14/2021

Historical Treatment of Mental Illness https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen An underground education-by richard zacks https://historycooperative.org/a-beautiful-mind-the-history-of-the-treatment-of-mental-illness/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480686/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/19476962

Adult Abductions & Human Trafficking 05/17/2021

Adult Abductions & Human Trafficking App discussed: TraffickCam https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/cjis-link/fbi-releases-2019-missing-person-statistics https://fighttoendexploitation.org/2018/12/28/6-types-of-human-trafficking/ https://www.osce.org/participating-states https://themobmuseum.org/blog/fifty-one-years-later-frank-sinatra-jr-s-kidnapping-still-raises-questions/ https://people.com/celebrity/frank-sinatra-jr-s-kidnapping-barry-keenans-motive-details/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/19124747

Child Abduction 04/19/2021

Child Abduction Welcome back to Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren. This is the second episode on our series discussing kidnapping. We will be discussing the psychology related to child abduction as well as the cases of Jaycee Dugard and Kara Robinson Chamberlain. http://scholarly-journals.com/sjsre/publications/2016/March/pdf/Akwash.pdf https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/why-do-some-people-kidnap-kids kidsmartz.org https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/27/science/who-would-abduct-a-child-previous-cases-offer-clues.html https://psychologyofkidnapping.weebly.com/psychological-effects.html https://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/evonitz.htm#:~:text=Richard%20Marc%20Evonitz%20(July%2029,in%20Richland%20County%2C%20South%20Carolina. "A stolen life"- by Jaycee Dugard /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/18779375

Baby Snatching 04/05/2021

Baby Snatching Welcome back to Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren. In the first episode on our series about Kidnapping we will be discussing the psychology of baby Snatchers, The murder of Debra Evans and the Dynel Lane Case. https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology https://www.missingkids.org/content/dam/missingkids/pdfs/ForHealthCareProfessionals_10thEdition.pdf http://murderpedia.org/female.W/w/williams-jacqueline.htm https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-dynel-lane-now/ https://thecinemaholic.com/where-is-michelle-wilkins-now/ /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/18584615

Dissociative Identity Disorder 03/22/2021

Dissociative Identity Disorder Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology Sources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/dissociative-identity-disorder-multiple-personality-disorder https://www.medicinenet.com/dissociative_identity_disorder/article.htm https://www.aninfinitemind.com/healing-together.html Dissociative Identity Disorder A Controversial Diagnosis Paulette Marie Gillig, MD, PhDcorresponding author Paulette M. Gillig, MD, PhD, Series editorcorresponding author Paulette M. Gillig, Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio; /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/18409676

A Spooky Break 02/24/2021

A Spooky Break Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren will be taking a bit of a break and will return mid march. Thank you for your patience! /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/18082637

Twins 02/15/2021

Twins TRIGGER WARNINGS: Brief mention of stillbirth, infant death and concentration camps Complete the survey: Patreon: Sources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/twofold/201701/twins-individual-identities-and-common-bonds https://www.npr.org/2015/05/08/405191622/the-silent-twins https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/conjoined-twins Dana getz /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17948333

Bystander Effect 02/01/2021

Bystander Effect Episode Content Begins at: This episode is brought to you by Podcorn. Podcorn helps podcasters connect with sponsors. Visit to learn more. Support the podcast: From Empathy to Apathy: The Bystander Effect Revisited , Direct Bullying and Cyberbullying: Experimental Study of Bystanders’ Motivation to Defend Victims and the Role of Anxiety and Identification With the Bully Tomas Jungert1 *, Pinar Karataş2 , Nathalie Ophelia Iotti1 and Sean Perrin1 The unresponsive bystander: are bystanders more responsive in dangerous emergencies? Would I be helped? Cross-national CCTV footage shows that intervention is the norm in public conflicts , , , , https://www.cnn.com/2014/07/30/showbiz/keith-urban-concert-rape/index.html?fbclid=IwAR23kQYqRbdb1RKE-T9Ma08xJR6EW5kWVxw0v2ExDq-fKmZJLeml-CwNd0A /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17761559

Bonnie & Clyde Syndrome 01/18/2021

Bonnie & Clyde Syndrome Complete the survey: Support the podcast: Sources: Prisontalk.com, Wikipedia Thought catalog https://listverse.com/2018/06/04/10-creepy-fan-letters-written-to-mass-murderers-and-monsters/ Thought catalog- prison brides https://abcnews.go.com/US/florida-woman-convicted-serial-killer-death-row-met/story?id=33212335 https://littlethings.com/lifestyle/abandoned-life-marry-convicted-murderer Ranker-the craziest death row romances Netflix show \ https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/doreen-lioy-richard-ramirez-wife-facts-family-where-is-she-today/ar-BB1a2PfR /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17595536

Cotard and Capgras Delusions 01/01/2021

Cotard and Capgras Delusions https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271387/ Healthline - what is capgras syndrome , agingcare.com That’s Not My Child: A Case of Capgras Syndrome April 29, 2011 , /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17392856

Catfishing 12/19/2020

Catfishing Welcome back to Spooky Psychology with Megan & Lauren. In this episode we will be discussing the Psychology of Catfishing. Support the Podcast- Sources: Phys.org Verywellfamily- what is catfishing? safety .com insider.com/signs you’re being catfished Buzzfeed news - Police Say A Teen Killed Her Friend After A Catfish Promised Her $9 Million For The Murder Footage (tanya chen) Alaska news sourc /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17258171

Bizarre Psychological Studies Pt 2 12/04/2020

Bizarre Psychological Studies Pt 2 Welcome to Spooky Psychology with Megan and Lauren. In this episode we discuss even more unethical and bizarre psychological studies. Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/spookypsychology * Correction- I messed up and said the cold war was between the US and Russia, It should have said the Soviet Union. - Megan Sources: https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88-01070R000301530003-5.pdf https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-cias-operation-midnight-climax-was-exactly-what-it-sounded-like-fa63f84ad015 The guardian Wikipedia /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/17069246

Halloween 10/31/2020

Halloween Sources: History.com,Good mourning nancy podcast, In Killing Monsters: Why Children Need , Superheroes, and Make-Believe Violence, The vocal , Carl Jung, The conversation, Jay Appleton, Josh Randall, Psychology Today /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/16630226

Q & A 10/31/2020

Q & A happy Halloween. In this episode We answer listener questions and discuss our first year of podcasting /episode/index/show/spookypsychology/id/16619912

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