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In this show, Dr. Frank McAndrew returns to Psych Up Live to answer the question, "Why Do We Fall For Conspiracy Theories?" In addressing this question he also addresses the issue of why we hang on to conspiracy theories once we believe them. In his interesting response, Dr. Mc Andrew considers whether certain factors make us more susceptible to embracing conspiracy theories. He proposes that in reality most of us can fall for the "right" conspiracy theory due to certain biases in how we all process information. Once we believe a conspiracy theory, Dr. McAndrew discusses why these beliefs are very difficult to undo. He discusses the impact of many forms of media in often providing a "false consensus" and "Exposure Effect" that fuels conspiracy theories. Dr. Mc Andrews describes why conspiracy theories flourish in atmospheres of fear and the consequences of conspiracy theories. You will be intrigued and informed. Listen in.

In this show Carol Novello, founder of Mutual Rescue and author of Mutual Rescue, returns to Psych UP Live with an exciting and expansive focus on the power of people-pet rescue and connection. Discussing the stories captured in a new set of award winning mini films, Carol considers how mutual rescue addresses trauma, pain, othering, bias, and loneliness. She discusses the neurophysiology of the pet-person connection and describes options for people who cannot actually adopt a pet but want to share in the experience of loving homeless furry friends. As she will share, an animal's ability to show us unfiltered affection and loyalty despite the heartbreaks and loss of everyday life, teaches us so much about the courage to embrace each moment of connection. You will love this show.

In her new and important book " Never Say Never- Never Say Always," Susan Warner invites us to take the journey no one wants to take, but too many have faced. Susan takes us from a family love story to the devastating losses of a son and a spouse within 6 months. She puts words to the insider story of traumatic loss in a way that will touch anyone who has suffered loss. As you will hear in daily details, relationships with family and friends, tears in a closet, emptiness in a house, the difficulty of eating alone, the enduring presence of her son and spouse and the question of ever loving again– she lets us in. Susan shares a journey to acceptance, pushing on and not being defined by societal norms. It is a journey of self-discovery, self-actualization and ultimately working to live her best life. This is a show about loss, possibility and love.

There are few people who have been injured or wronged by another who don't think about and want to mollify their psychic pain with revenge. In this episode, Dr. Steven Berglas, professor, psychotherapist, research scientist and executive coach invites us to consider " Taking Revenge – A Better Way." The author of award winning books, 70 articles and journal reports on cures of self-defeating behavior, Dr. Berglas discusses the personal cost of angry retaliation and the power of redirecting the brain's reaction to danger. With a wealth of professional experience and powerful examples, Dr. Berglas discusses the ways in which revenge seeking fuels rumination, increased anger, isolation, physical and emotional pain.

In this show, Molly Mcloy discusses her richly creative, funny and at times heart-wrenching memoir, Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth published by Red Hen Press and Winner of the Quill Queer Prose Prize.  At times funny at times painful, Molly McCloy will share the nine childhood moments that almost broke her and the process she drew upon to share them. She will discuss the letter she wrote at age twenty-two asking her father for apologies, and her father's surprising response. Side by side with heartbreaking moments, she draws upon humor to cope and queerness as a source of joy. Her book is a gift.   Molly McCloy is a four-time Moth Story SLAM winner and Lambda Literary Fellow. She won the 2023 Book Pipeline "Unpublished" contest for nonfiction. Her work has been featured in O magazine, excerpted in the Blue Mesa Review and Foglifter, and broadcast on The Best of Risk! podcast. She earned an MFA from The New School and teaches writing for the awesome students of Pima Community College. Reveling in the bright sunshine of a joy she once thought impossible, Molly lives in Tucson with her wife Rebecca and their dog, Princess Pinwheels of the Purple Mountains.

Parenting a child with an eating disorder is frightening, confusing, and exhausting. It leaves a parent feeling helpless, angry and too often filled with blame. In this show, Dr. Tom Wooldridge returns to Psych Up Live with his invaluable new book, End The Food Fight: Replacing Control with Connection to Help Your Child Heal from an Eating Disorder. This is not the discussion of a treatment manual or a substitute for professional care. It is a book that offers parents new ways of responding to a child with an eating disorder that foster healing in conjunction with professional care received.  By giving parents tools, Dr. Wooldridge, invites them to understand that Eating Disorders are not made of behaviors alone. Eating disorders convey meaning in what is shown, withheld, repeated or denied. As you will hear, by supporting and expanding the parents' understanding and response to the eating disorder, Dr. Wooldridge makes it possible for parents to reduce their fear and enhance the healing process for all. Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C Dr. Tom Wooldridge, PsyD, ABPP, FIPA, CEDS-C, is a tenured Professor and founding Dean, School of Psychology at Golden Gate University. Dr. Wooldridge is a board-certified clinical psychologist, certified psychoanalyst, and certified eating disorders specialist–consultant, licensed in both California and New York. A Brown University graduate, he has authored six books with publishers including Routledge and Guilford Press, published more than 25 peer-reviewed articles and serves on the editorial boards of JAPA and Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention. He sits on the Scientific Advisory Council of the National Eating Disorders Association, held an assistant clinical professorship at UCSF Medical School. At GGU, Tom has received the Outstanding Research Award twice, and the Judith Browning Outstanding Teaching Award.

Whether you are newly married, a middle aged couple, the identified In-Laws or the bewildered Out-Laws of an expanded family, you need to hear this show. In it, psychologist and author Dr. Geoffrey Greif draws upon his new and acclaimed book written with Dr. Michael Woolley, " In-law Relationships: Mothers, Daughters, Fathers, and Sons." Dr. Greif shares research using interviews and surveys with a total of 1,500 people to illuminate why some in-laws connect and others clash and even crash. He considers the impact of interfaith, interracial, gay and lesbian couples on in-law relationships. He examines the validity of the negative cultural stereotype of mothers-in-law and reports what mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law say. He considers what happens that is different in the relationships between male in-laws and overall offers important strategies for improving any in-law relationship.

On the upcoming 25th Anniversary of 9/11 we are joined by Mary Fetchet LCSW, the co-founder and Executive Director Of Voices Center for Resilience (VOICES). She will share her story of 9/11 as a victim's mother and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who created VOICES. In the last 25 years VOICES has been as a lifeline for thousands of 9/11 families, responders and survivors. From testifying before Congress to international outreach, Mary Fetchet has been a voice that has helped communities prepare for and recover from tragedy. Her story is one that will inform and inspire. It is one that keeps unfolding with care for so many others. Mary Fetchet is the Executive Director of Voices Center for Resilience (VOICES), which she co-founded in 2001 after losing her 24-year-old son Brad in the September 11th attacks. Drawing on her experience as both a victim's mother and a clinical social worker, she channeled her grief into purpose, building an organization dedicated to providing long-term support services, mental health care, honoring the lives lost and promoting national preparedness. Under her leadership, VOICES became a lifeline for tens of thousands of 9/11 families, responders, and survivors and she created the 9/11 Living Memorial, an online archive of over 87,000 photographs documenting the lives of all 2,977 victims. Ms Fetchet's advocacy for the creation of the 9/11 Commission that led to sweeping intelligence reform. She testified 5 times before the US Congress and partnered with organizations in the U.S. and abroad to help communities prepare for and recover from tragedy. She co-authored research on the long-term impact of terrorism-related bereavement and published three trainings: Preparing for After (2013), VOICES of Experience (2016) and A Victim-Centered Approach (2024).

Sherry Hamby, Ph.D. is an award-winning distinguished research professor of psychology at the University of the South. She is also the director of the Life Paths Research Center and founder and co-chair of Resiliencecom, a conference on strengths-based approaches to overcoming trauma. Dr. Hamby has authored or coauthored more than two hundred scholarly articles and five books, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and HuffPost, and on CBS News. Stronger Than You Think draws on her own resilience journey, as well as her experiences as a researcher, therapist, teacher, and community advocate. She lives in Tennessee with her husband, two children, and two rescue dogs, Flopsy and Slim. The old ideas about resilience being mostly down to individual toughness turn out to be wrong, and you might be surprised to learn what actually helps people overcome adversity and thrive. The resilience portfolio approach helps people wade through the avalanche of advice out there and figure out what each of us needs to put together the pieces of a good life.

On the upcoming 25th Anniversary of 9/11 we are joined by Mary Fetchet LCSW, the co-founder and Executive Director Of Voices Center for Resilience (VOICES). She will share her story of 9/11 as a victim's mother and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who created VOICES. In the last 25 years VOICES has been as a lifeline for thousands of 9/11 families, responders and survivors. From testifying before Congress to international outreach, Mary Fetchet has been a voice that has helped communities prepare for and recover from tragedy. Her story is one that will inform and inspire. It is one that keeps unfolding with care for so many others. Mary Fetchet is the Executive Director of Voices Center for Resilience (VOICES), which she co-founded in 2001 after losing her 24-year-old son Brad in the September 11th attacks. Drawing on her experience as both a victim's mother and a clinical social worker, she channeled her grief into purpose, building an organization dedicated to providing long-term support services, mental health care, honoring the lives lost and promoting national preparedness. Under her leadership, VOICES became a lifeline for tens of thousands of 9/11 families, responders, and survivors and she created the 9/11 Living Memorial, an online archive of over 87,000 photographs documenting the lives of all 2,977 victims. Ms Fetchet's advocacy for the creation of the 9/11 Commission that led to sweeping intelligence reform. She testified 5 times before the US Congress and partnered with organizations in the U.S. and abroad to help communities prepare for and recover from tragedy. She co-authored research on the long-term impact of terrorism-related bereavement and published three trainings: Preparing for After (2013), VOICES of Experience (2016) and A Victim-Centered Approach (2024).

The amount of stress worldwide is at an all-time high as the Corona Virus spreads. Self-Care and understanding alternative ways of easing pain are important. This show takes a close look at the varied forms of Alternative Medicine from Energy Medicine, Acupuncture, Chiropractic to religious belief, embraced by millions seeking relief for chronic pain, digestive disorders, fibromyalgia etc. Our guest author, Melanie Warner draws upon her important new book, The Magic Feather Effect: The Science of Alternative Medicine and the Surprising Power of Belief, to invite us into a personal research journey which involves her meeting with clinicians, scientists, and healers world-wide, to answer questions like- Why have these Alternative Medicines become so popular? Why do some people report dramatic relief while others don't? Can the results be subject to scientific proof? Is it the placebo effect? Do we need to recognize and use the surprising system of self-healing that belongs to us.

The Rape, Abuse & Incest Network  (RAINN) indicates that even with a vast majority of sexual assaults not reported to law enforcement, an estimated 423,020 people (age 12+) experience sexual violence annually. Sexual violence affects people everywhere. Its impact goes beyond survivors—hurting families, relationships, and entire communities. In this Show Jessi Bixler, draws upon her new and powerful book, The Story We Share to describe how the sexual assault she has suffered impacted her family and became a touchstone of both pain and ultimate healing. In many ways, there are no words for a victim to describe what has happened or how to respond. Jessi Bixler's painful and powerful book is a gift to anyone and any family that has suffered from sexual violence even to one member. Jessi Bixler is an author, speaker, marketing business owner and advocate for trauma awareness and survivor support. She brings honesty strength and faith to both her professional work and the story that she shares. Jessi lives in Missouri with her husband Chad and their two children.

In a post #MeToo era, many men want to take a step away from toxic masculinity, which perpetuates domination and aggression and consciously and unconsciously pressures men to behave in a certain way. A central theme of moving away from Toxic Masculinity is Sexual Consent- whether at a fraternity party or on the fifth date. The question of consent is one of concern for many men because they are uncertain about how to ask for it. They fear doing something wrong or wonder if it means giving up on impromptu much less gratifying sexual connection. This show provides the answers. In it, Dr. Eric FitzMedrud draws upon his new and important book, The Better Man: A Guide to Stronger Relationships and Hotter Sex to address the issues around sexual connection without drawing upon toxic masculinity. Eric's goal is to help men navigate sexual relationships with respect by giving them the skills to be better lovers, partners and humans. Everyone who wants a relationship with mutually satisfying sexual connection will benefit from his expertise. Listen In.

According to Pew Research Center's landmark 2017 report, one in six U.S. newlyweds (17%) were married to someone of a different race or ethnicity in 2015. Such couples, families  and  their children are the future of America. How do they fare? What do they manage in a country that embodies the promise of acceptance but does not always offer a welcoming embrace. Today you are going to hear from Geoffrey Grief, and Victoria Stubbs who together with their third author Michael Wooley bring us a powerful insider look at interracial marriage based on personal interviews and surveys with people married to someone of a different race or ethnicity than their own. From family acceptance to rejection, from unexpected inclusion to the joys and challenges of raising multiracial or bi-ethnic children, they offer a realistic understanding of the challenges, sources of support and a reason to trust in the resilience of love and connection. Geoffrey L. Greif, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and a clinical social worker. The author/editor of 17 books and over 175 articles and book chapters, Dr. Greif's focus has been on family relationships and friendships. His latest book we will be discussing today Interracial Marriage: How diverse Couples Navigate Relationships in a Divided Time. Victoria D. Stubbs has over 25 years of experience as a social worker, educator, holistic practitioner and author. She is the founder of Inner Truth Psychotherapy and Wellness and F.I.T. Coaching & Consulting. Victoria is the author of Untangled: A Black Woman's Journey to Personal, Spiritual and Sexual Freedom and co-author of Interracial Marriage: How Diverse Couples Navigate Relationships in a Divided Time.

Whether you are loving your single life or can't imagine choosing to live alone, you need to hear this powerful and revealing podcast. In it, Dr. Bella DePaulo, America's foremost thinker and writer on "the single experience," shares the experience of single people around the world who have chosen and embrace their single lives. Drawing upon social science studies of thousands of people and the responses of people who have written to her, she delineates the experiences, lifestyle and choices of those who identify as " Single at Heart." Dr. Bella DePaulo speaks to the stereotype that assumes that being single is not by choice but by default or defeat. She considers solitude, friendships, having kids, Intimacy and more from the perspective of those Single at Heart, those considering living as a single and those allies and friends who support them. This is a show that dares to ask people to consider how they want to live their best selves – Don't Miss it.