New Episodes!

A Podcast with Charlie Swenson 

To Hell and Back

This podcast series, “To Hell and Back,” is focused on the nature of hellish experiences in life, how people get into them, and to present and discuss tools for coping with hell and getting out. The various podcasts will move back and forth between different varieties of hell in life, and different tools for coping. The tools will be drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), from other treatments, and from other life experiences.

Principles in Practice – The Narcissist in DBT Therapy- Episode 95

In this episode, Charlie and Nicole role play and then discuss a therapy session in which Charlie patiently sifts through the layers of defensive grandiosity and wounded pride that provoked his Narcissistic patient Taylor (played by Nicole) into a violent outburst at a recent wedding.

Narcissistic Behavior Patterns Through a DBT Lens – Episode 94

In this podcast, Charlie and Nicole contrast DBT versus psychodynamic models for narcissistic patients. Charlie demonstrates how to talk with these patients about the diagnosis with compassion and clarity. Charlie demonstrates how to talk with these patients about the diagnosis with clarity and compassion, using a DBT model.

Skillful Coping with Cancer-Interview 2 with Andrea Gold – Episode 93

This is the second installment of Charlie’s interview with Andrea Gold, PhD, DBT expert, faculty member of Brown University Department of Psychiatry. See podcast #87 for the first hour. Andrea was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in January of this year and is here reporting on how she has coped for the past six months with Cancer and its treatments, including managing her friendships and her family life with her husband and two young children. She is an inspiring human being and a master of using DBT skills to cope with her emotions and the challenges she faces.

No Narcissist is an Island – Episode 92

In episode 3 of the series on Narcissism Charlie and Nicole illustrate the relational nature of Narcissism. Through role play and discussion, listeners hear an intimate portrait of complex interpersonal dynamics playing out between the Narcissist and his counterpart, fueling and reinforcing Narcissistic behavior and belief.

Stay tuned for the final episode in the series where Charlie and Nicole share practical tools for preserving dignity and self esteem when interacting with a Narcissist.

Narcissism: It’s More Nuanced Then You Think – Episode 91

In this episode, the second in our series on narcissism, Charlie and Nicole dissect clinical models and cultural assumptions to illuminate the nature of narcissistic behavior, distinguishing between adaptive traits and the destructive conduct that may meet the criteria for a Narcissistic Personality Disorder diagnosis.

Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality – Episode 90

In this podcast, Charlie and Nicole talk about narcissism, how it plays a part in all of our lives, how there is a range from healthy to pathological, and how it can present in two different types, the grandiose and/or the vulnerable types. This will be the first of three or four podcasts on this topic.

I Dont Want to Keep the Baby, Can My Partner Understand – Episode 89

In this episode, Charlie and Nicole role play a therapy session in which the client plans to terminate her pregnancy. DBT skills help her decide if, and how, she’ll share her plans with her partner who is very excited about having the child.

Guns, Abortion and Dialectics (from DBT) – Episode 88

In this podcast, Charlie and Nicole look at recent divisive decisions by the Supreme Court through a dialectical lens as developed in DBT. In the spirit of conflict, Charlie sings a Dialectical Love Song, “Unhappy Together,” a bastardization of the Turtle’s 1967 love song, “Happy Together.”

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