//podcastplus.net/feed/the-selfwork-podcast~bd717f88 I'm Dr. Margaret, a psychologist for over 30 years, TEDx speaker, and the author of Perfectly Hidden Depression. I created The SelfWork Podcast in 2016 to explain mental health treatment and to give you the chance to consider therapy without thinking it's weird or that it somehow suggests you can't fix your own problems. My team is very honored that nine years later, SelfWork has earned nearly 5 million downloads! Each episode features the popular listener question as well as interviews with outstanding guests, authors, and experts, adding to the wide diversity of topics listeners so appreciate. Regularly rated as one of the top mental health/depression podcasts out there (ranked as a top .5% internationally) I keep it short, casual, and focused on "what you can do about it." I'd love to hear from you. Please join me. Mon, 27 Apr 2026 20:55:26 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/b26ade52-048b-4429-9f69-b679325832ff/stream.mp3 If you've ever wondered if you had it in you to stop drinking or change any destructive habit you have, Marci Hopkins wants to tell you that you can. She's the author of Chaos to Clarity, Seeing the Signs and Breaking the Cycles,   and an award-winning TV Personality, host, show creator and executive producer of " Wake Up with Marci ." Wake Up is a talk show all about inspiration and empowerment, where Marci shares stories of triumph and transformation to spread hope. Marci got very honest with herself (after getting a DWI) that her alcohol use had moved way beyond a glass of wine or two at night “to relax.” I loved that her story was messy… it took some time for her to be honest with herself about her alcoholism… but the DWI and the realization she could lose her family made her take the healing step she needed. She’s open and clear that for her, her faith was what helped her get through the very difficult commitment to sobriety. She says, "My guests are living proof ... Fri, 22 Aug 2025 05:00:50 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/b26ade52-048b-4429-9f69-b679325832ff/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/c4a13bea-51c7-49ff-9d80-0f04f8520f86/stream.mp3 Meeting Kyle Kittleson was an incredibly refreshing experience. Why? Because he lives and breathes his passion for bettering the world. Whether it's through his work with animals (he's an animal trainer), his dedication to children's learning about animals on his very popular YouTube channel, BaBa Blast.  Or his hosting of the incredibly informative MedCircle.com , where he interviews therapists and doctors and all kinds of people about mental health. About that, he says, "To help other struggle less through proper education has been a privilege." As a child, he formed a club that he called the "Save the World" club. He says now, " Saving  the world might be a stretch. However,  changing  the world –  changing the world for better – is absolutely doable." Along the way, he dealt with his own depression as a nine year-old, his knowledge that he was gay and wishing he could be anything else but that, and his mother's early death. Yet the relationships ... Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:00:13 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/c4a13bea-51c7-49ff-9d80-0f04f8520f86/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/886b61c5-5100-42aa-85ae-9751bb4e61b6/stream.mp3 Today we're focusing on the anxiety of being rejected, scorned, or judged. And how it’s a prison that keeps you from feeling safe to talk about yourself in real terms. It’s not a diagnosable anxiety disorder – unless you have panic attacks along with that fear. But to me, it’s as real as any of the classic diagnoses that are out there, like OCD or generalized anxiety disorder. But when you can allow yourself to step out of that prison – when you feel safe enough with a therapist or a friend or a partner to say who you really are… the freedom you feel can be incredible. Today's listener/reader comment was a response to the blogpost When Mom Is Emotionally Unstable: Seven Ways to Heal. So, I’ll read her comment and question – and maybe it’ll answer some of your own about your mom or dad whose emotions and behaviors were or are all over the place. There's also my thoughts on the life and death of Anne Burrell. Only compassion and wondering what this wonderful wom... Fri, 08 Aug 2025 05:00:14 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/886b61c5-5100-42aa-85ae-9751bb4e61b6/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/98e4024d-3d41-4665-995f-9d7f09f13288/stream.mp3 How To Be Enough , a new book by Ellen Hendriksen is a must-read for anyone struggling with perfectionism and shame. She's a clinical psychologist at Boston University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, and the author of a new book, How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists .  She's already a very successful author having published the book How To Be Yourself in 2018 on conquering social anxiety. And I was incredibly interested in talking with her because we are obviously both very concerned about rising perfectionism. She states: "Perfectionism isn't about striving to be perfect. It's about never feeling good enough." I really enjoyed this conversation. She's funny. Her book is full of pragmatic advice as well as personal stories. She's down to earth, and we had a real human to human connection - woman to woman - "perfectionist to perfectionist." Advertisers Links: Click  HERE for the NEW GEN ... Fri, 01 Aug 2025 05:00:54 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/98e4024d-3d41-4665-995f-9d7f09f13288/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/a672abc8-1edf-4b0c-bd10-6724f0eafd00/stream.mp3 What is body dysmorphia? If you've irrationally felt, "I hate the way ....... looks or is," and you're talking about your own body, then you may be struggling with body dysmorphia. You can have a huge preoccupation with whatever defect your mind is telling you that you have – and can spend lots of time and money and energy to try and “fix” the problem. But tragically, the medicine or the surgery or the exercise doesn’t “fix” the irrationality – and so these kinds of problems can exist for years. So today, we’re going to focus on what body dysmorphia is – and as always, what you can do about it. Instead of a listener email this week, I’ve learned of the death of a wonderful man who was my guest last year on SelfWork. James Doty. He was a neurosurgeon, a professor at Stanford, who knew the Dalai Lama well as he founded the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, and they became quite good friends. I’ll tell you a little more about him... Fri, 25 Jul 2025 05:00:47 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/a672abc8-1edf-4b0c-bd10-6724f0eafd00/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/f09e01a1-6c15-4459-8ccb-1ac4a48a9687/stream.mp3 Given the wave of mental health awareness that has occurred over the last decade or more, is depression getting easier to talk about? In some ways, yes. But in other important ways… it doesn’t seem to be. There are plenty of reasons that are the essentially the same as they've been for a while. But there’s one that’s emerged only recently… the idea that a mental illness diagnosis becomes an identity you have. “I’m bipolar, so this is really hard for me.” It can even become your identity or brand on social media. What about the apparent backlash that’s occurring as a response to mental illness branding? Influencers are labeling themselves as traumatized or using a diagnostic label as their way of selling you something or attracting followers. How do you know who to trust? Who’s an expert and who isn’t? The listener voicemail tells a story that I’ve heard fairly often. When one family member takes advantage of their relationship with an older person, a mom, a dad, an a... Fri, 18 Jul 2025 05:00:21 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/f09e01a1-6c15-4459-8ccb-1ac4a48a9687/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/560e9439-615f-4dc2-9eae-f0d9bba21c67/stream.mp3 What's success for men? Lucas Krump would say that what's missing for many men is connection, with their emotions but also with each other. Who's Lucas Krump? He's the Chief Growth Officer at EVRYMAN, a global community that fosters men's personal growth and emotional wellness. Lucas has been instrumental in expanding EVRYMAN's mission, offering retreats, online programs, and a membership-based platform that helps men develop deeper emotional intelligence. His work has been featured in outlets such as CBS Evening News, The New York Times, and GQ. He’s basically a guy who thought he had all the boxes checked – that he was as successful as any man could be. But he was also miserable in his corner office with his name on the door and lots of money in his pocket. This is his story. And how he changed his misery into gratitude and connection. Vital Links:  Lewis Howes on his book The Masks of Masculinity Advertisers Links: Click  ... Fri, 11 Jul 2025 05:00:34 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/560e9439-615f-4dc2-9eae-f0d9bba21c67/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/f4fff82e-0e62-47d2-a7c7-b260042369a4/stream.mp3 I'm a shrink. And today, I want to talk about the hit show Shrinking. Most of the time, I hear the term "shrink" used in a funny, almost endearing way. It’s like when people call me “Doc” instead of my name. It’s a term that binds us but also keeps boundaries clear. I’d like to give you my thoughts on the Apple TV show Shrinking . And even more so, its message – that the people who are shrinks aren’t living lives that are somehow set apart from the rest of humanity. We’re dealing with our own lives as we try our best to help you with yours. As I think the Harrison Ford character says, “Messed up people can help other messed up people” or something like that. There’s hopefully some humility involved. The listener email is from a daughter asking if the insecurity she feels – fear of “messing up” – has anything to do with the fact that she and her mom were enmeshed… AG1 New Generation Vital Links:  Blogpost on building self-confidence Advertis... Fri, 04 Jul 2025 05:00:34 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/f4fff82e-0e62-47d2-a7c7-b260042369a4/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/4f5893cd-0a5e-4e71-bd50-bdbcf9cda292/stream.mp3 Parenting is hard. It may be the most ambiguous job you’ll ever have. Not only do you have to wait literally years to see what the “finished product” truly is – you have to get through adolescence and social media influence and screen time and drug use and hurt from relationships and broken bones and just basic screw-ups on your part – but there’s no guaranteed rule book. Parenting has stages.. . Today’s episode is on the stage of parenting, where you leave the “teaching” stage of parenting to the “consulting” stage. You move from having a very central, controlling role with your kids to a less primary, but still very important role. You don’t tell them what to do necessarily – but you offer guidance. And if they fall, you help them get up. You show your belief in them – you don’t try (as hovering helicopter or even worse lawn-mower parents do) to make sure they’re not facing any obstacles. You may think you see the obstacle before they do – but they’re grown. And... Fri, 27 Jun 2025 05:00:51 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/4f5893cd-0a5e-4e71-bd50-bdbcf9cda292/stream.mp3 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/7a7bef97-db2d-4bc2-993a-32a9753cea51/stream.mp3 Therapy-misspeak – overusing the terms used by psychologists and doctors and therapists – has blown up in recent years. Words that are used in the mental health world to diagnose or describe certain mental illnesses or traits of mental illnesses have become part of everyday language. But not in a good or accurate way. The trend seems to be leading… not to better mental health – but to a dilution of the actual pain or hardship that is mental illness as well as to hinder you learning how to talk more plainly about your emotions or experiences. Things to remember about therapy-misspeak:  Not all jerks are narcissists. No one has one day where you have bipolar disorder or OCD. A reaction isn’t a trigger. Getting hurt isn’t necessarily trauma. It’s important but it’s not necessarily traumatic. Imposter syndrome isn’t the same as feeling initially overwhelmed by something you’re trying to do or become. Self-care isn’t as powerful as self-respect. Borderline isn’t yo... Fri, 20 Jun 2025 11:40:02 +0000 https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/7a7bef97-db2d-4bc2-993a-32a9753cea51/stream.mp3