Author: This Is Your Brain producer
Bio: https://www.katharinephillipsmd.com/staff/katharine-phillips-md.html Most of us have a bad hair day or we’re not happy if we have a little pimple on our face. But that’s quite different from the experience of people with body dysmorphic disorder. (BDD) More than simple insecurity about one’s appearance, BDD is a disorder in which a person’s perception of their appearance becomes all-consuming and deeply distressing. Perfectly normal looking people can see themselves as horribly ugly. Or one minor detail becomes an enormous fixation, like the patient who said they felt they were just one giant pimple with hands and feet. In this episode, Dr.…
Bio: https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/brad-duchaine Prosopagnosia Research Center https://lab.faceblind.org/index.html Imagine a world where everyone looks the same and you can’t recognize one person from another – even you own child! It sounds like a frightening episode from the “Twilight Zone” – but it’s just every day life for people with Prosopagnosia – better known as “Face Blindness”. We humans use parts of our brains to see, process and recognize faces that’s different from recognizing anything else in our lives, which is not surprising when you consider how important faces are to understanding the situations we are in and the emotions of the…
Guest bio : https://us.macmillan.com/author/drcharlesknowles Why do we sometimes drink too much, even when we know the risks? In this episode, surgeon, author, and recovering alcoholic Dr. Charles Knowles joins us to explore the neuroscience of alcohol use and addiction. Drawing from his book Why We Drink Too Much and his own lived experience, Dr. Knowles describes how alcohol alters the brain’s reward pathways, and how drinking problems exist on a spectrum. Through neuroscience and deeply personal insight, he speaks to alcohol’s impact on mental and physical health and gives inspiration to others through sharing his own journey to recovery. Phil Stieg Alcohol is one…
Bio / Website – https://dilipjestemd.com/ Although memories fade, hearing declines and our bodies suffer aches and pains, there is one benefit to aging that we can actually gain with each passing year. It’s called wisdom. But just because someone is older, it doesn’t mean they are wiser. It takes a certain type of person to learn important lessons from their life experiences. Dr. Dillip Jeste reveals what he has discovered after studying wisdom for decades, including the neuroscience of the wise brain, emphasizing how cultivating wisdom enhances brain health as well as offering some insights on how to develop and…
Episode 019 – Tell-Tale Signs That You Are in a Cult – Janja Lalich Release Date 6 March 2026 Website: www.lalichcenter.org Cults and high-control groups influence beliefs and fundamentally reshape identity, decision-making, and autonomy. In this episode, Dr. Phil Stieg sits down with sociologist and cult expert Dr. Janja Lalich, Professor and author of Take Back Your Life, to explore the psychology behind cults. Drawing from decades of research as well as her own personal experience of spending a decade in a political cult, she discusses how indoctrination alters a person’s sense of self, why anyone can become vulnerable under the right…
Narcissism is a term that gets used constantly – but what does it actually mean in psychological terms, and how is it shaping our society? In this episode, Dr. Phil Stieg speaks with leading expert Dr. Keith Campbell to separate myth from science. Drawing from his book The New Science of Narcissism, Dr. Campbell explains the difference between everyday self-focused traits and the far rarer personality disorder, unpacks the two distinct expressions of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and explores how these patterns influence our relationships, leadership, parenting, and culture. Plus, let’s spend some time with the “O.G.” narcissist Phil Stieg Narcissism is a…