Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson - Rick Hanson, Ph.D., Forrest Hanson

Latest Episodes:

Creating a Healthy Relationship (with Yourself) with Najwa Zebian Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

“The mistake most of us make is building our homes in other people. When we do that, we give them the power to make us homeless.”

Poet, activist, and author Najwa Zebian joins Forrest for a conversation focused on discovering what truly matters to us. They use Najwa’s personal story as a way to explore how we can break out of the roles others place us in, create healthy boundaries, and feel worthy from the inside-out. Topics include balancing intimacy and autonomy, self-compassion and self-love, and finding the courage to act authentically.

About Our Guest: Najwa Zebian is an activist, poet, educator, and the author of six books including her recent works Welcome Home, Conversations on Letting Go, and The Only Constant, which will be coming out March 2024. She was raised in Lebanon and moved to Canada at 16 where she later earned her Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Western Ontario.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:05: Najwa’s personal background

6:10: Humility, asking for the things you need, and comparing your pain to others

11:15: Loving your current self into becoming your authentic self

17:10: Navigating change in the face of social pressure

20:45: Intrinsic self-worth, and the beauty of being undefined

32:00: Intimacy and autonomy

40:05: Choosing vulnerability, and paying attention to surrounding influences

50:45: Healthy shared expectations in relationships

53:45: Forgiving others as a gift we give to ourselves

58:30: Recap

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Authenticity: How to “Be Yourself” Sep 25, 2023

Show notes

We’re often told to “be true to ourselves:” to line-up the person we are on the outside with the person we are on the inside. In a word, to be authentic. But what does it really mean to “be who we are,” “get in touch with ourselves,” or to go full new-age “live in alignment with our higher purpose?”

In this episode Dr. Rick and Forrest explore what authenticity is, where it comes from, and whether it’s actually a good thing to be more authentic. They talk about what we really mean when we use the word “authenticity,” the fragmented nature of the self, and problems with unregulated self expression. They then turn towards how we can include all of ourselves, act from our values, and become at peace with who we are.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

2:35: How Rick thinks about authenticity

6:10: Congruence, presentation, and the difference between honest and good

13:45: A personal example of authenticity from Rick and Forrest

17:00: Self-disclosure as a factor of intimacy

19:45: What parts of ourselves are we being authentic to?

23:15: Vulnerability and aspiration

28:10: Carl Rogers’ idea of the perceived self and the ideal self

33:20: Is self-improvement authentic?

36:30: Unconditional positive regard, and embodiment

40:10: Naming what you’re feeling, the vastness of the psyche, and self-honesty

46:25: Having a secure environment for aspirational change

48:45: Individualism, social roles, and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation

53:05: Archetypes, the shadow, and integration

59:20: Recap

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Childhood Trauma, Self-Sabotage, and Therapy: September Mailbag Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

Rick and Forrest open up the mailbag and answer questions from listeners focused on getting the most we can out of therapy, processing old painful experiences, and sabotaging ourselves. They explore the self-fulfilling nature of fear, different forms of therapy and who they can benefit, and how to approach dealing with your mind in general.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:25: My relationship anxiety is sabotaging my relationship!

7:40: Getting more out of therapy

14:00: Should people with CPTSD do cognitive therapy?

19:45: What other kinds of modalities might be beneficial?

23:05: Rick’s “gardening theory of therapy”

29:10: When and how is it appropriate to talk with your adult children about your abusive childhood?

33:30: How can a therapist draw healthy boundaries with their friends?

39:15: How would you advise a person in their mid 20s just diagnosed with ADHD?

46:25: Forrest’s partner’s experience with ADHD medication

48:50: Reframing our understanding of a psychiatric diagnosis

52:00: Recap

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Workaholism: Anxiety, Addiction, and Finding Balance in a Busy World Sep 11, 2023

Show notes

In our productivity-obsessed, always-on world it’s easy for busyness to become a badge of honor. But sometimes that effort-ing transforms from the reasonable pursuit of our goals into workaholism: a compulsive, even addictive drive to work. In today’s episode Forrest and Dr. Rick explore what workaholism is really, the psychological functions it serves, and how it relates to other addictive behaviors. You’ll learn both how to approach changing behaviors like workaholism in general and specific interventions that can help.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

2:20: Differentiating workaholism from working hard

9:40: Preempting criticism, and your internal audience

17:10: Competence, approval seeking, and motives

23:50: Addiction without social stigma

28:40: Population groups more prone to workaholism

33:50: The stages of change

37:45: Moving to the wider view, craving and regret

40:55: Embodying your future self, and social support

43:10: Identity, and creating a coherent narrative

46:00: Underlying feelings, mindfulness, and making choices

49:20: Distinguishing being and becoming

52:25: Tracking your time, and scheduling time off

54:50: Giving others influence over your behavior

56:20: Rick’s personal experience navigating a healthy work ethic

1:01:20: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

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Becoming Emotionally Agile with Dr. Susan David Sep 04, 2023

Show notes

Forrest and Rick sit down with Dr. Susan David, the creator of the concept of Emotional Agility. Emotional agility is what allows us to navigate our complex emotions, make choices aligned with our values, and ultimately lead more authentic and fulfilling lives.

They begin by discussing the four parts of emotional agility and distinguishing it from related concepts like emotional intelligence before exploring how we can “unhook” from our painful or problematic thoughts, feelings, and stories. They then explore how we can identify what really matters to us, act from those values, and find our footing in an ever-changing world.

About our Guest: Susan David, Ph.D. is an award-winning Harvard Medical School psychologist and the author of the #1 Bestseller Emotional Agility. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, and her TED Talk on the topic of emotional agility has been seen by more than 10 million people.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:50: Distinguishing emotional agility from emotional intelligence

5:00: The four parts of emotional agility

10:30: The value of seeing yourself and feeling seen by others

16:20: Continuity of self, and considering your future self

21:45: Ways to recognize our unhelpful patterns or ‘hooks’

26:40: Maintaining context for the full scope of our values

32:55: Defining the concept of values

35:50: Learning from discomfort, boredom, and anxiety

40:30: When you struggle to identify your values in the first place

46:05: Compassion and groundedness amidst constant change

52:40: Accurately labeling your stressors

58:30: Love and wisdom

1:00:00: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

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Impermanence Anxiety: How to Live While Letting Go Aug 28, 2023

Show notes

The only constant in life is change. Moments come and go, people enter and leave our lives, and we ourselves grow, change, and eventually pass away. While this is an obvious fact of life, we usually let it blend into the background, and coming face-to-face with it can fill us with understandable feelings of anxiety, uncertainty, and even dread.

In this episode Forrest and Dr. Rick explore impermanence anxiety: the fears we have related to change. They discuss “macro” and “micro” impermanence, terror management theory, the courage to care, fully embracing life, what tends to help people come to peace with impermanence, and how we can become more resilient in the face of change. Rick closes the episode by explaining how we can come more fully into the present moment, and see reality for what it truly is.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:20: Macro-impermanence and micro-impermanence

9:25: Terror management theory, and grasping the finality of bigger changes

14:50: Fully embracing your reality

26:25: Purpose, meaning, agency and acceptance

32:40: Why change is scary, and recognizing our own fragility

38:10: Repression, avoidance, and sublimation

47:05: A walkthrough of the stages of insight

54:30: Framing yourself in the broader reality, and letting go of painful things

57:40: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

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Metabolism, Brain Energy, and Mental Health with Dr. Chris Palmer Aug 21, 2023

Show notes

Dr. Chris Palmer, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, joins Forrest to discuss the relationship between metabolic function and mental illness. They discuss Dr. Palmer’s work with patients suffering from severe conditions like schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, psychiatry’s current challenges with treatment-resistant conditions, and the important distinction between difficult psychological states and brain-based disorders. They then explore the relationship between mental illness and metabolic function, the key role mitochondria play in the process, and how current treatments impact our metabolism. Forrest and Dr. Palmer close the episode by discussing a number of practical interventions to improve metabolic function, including the ketogenic diet, sleep, exercise, stress management techniques like mindfulness practice, and even love, connection, and sense of purpose.

About our Guest: Dr. Chris Palmer is a board-certified psychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. His clinical practice focuses on helping people suffering from treatment-resistant mental illnesses, including mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and personality disorders. His newest book is Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:35: How Dr. Palmer's personal experience has influenced his work

4:00: The brain energy theory as a response to treatment resistant conditions

9:05: Mental states vs. mental disorders, and problems with our diagnostic criteria

14:25: Brain disorders as metabolic disorders

19:50: Defining metabolism

22:40: The role of mitochondria

28:45: How medication affects metabolism

35:20: How stress and emotions affect metabolism

41:40: The ketogenic diet, mitophagy, and mitochondrial biogenesis

47:40: The importance of education and support around ketosis for medical conditions

53:00: Supplementing medication with lifestyle change vs. replacing it

56:20: Sleep and light exposure

59:35: Love, connection, and sense of purpose

1:06:00: A sense of safety as a prerequisite for healing

1:09:10: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

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Emotional Intelligence: Improving Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Empathy Aug 14, 2023

Show notes

Emotional intelligence is considered an essential trait for everything from being a desirable romantic partner to having a successful career. But what do we really mean when we say “emotional intelligence,” and how can we become emotionally intelligent over time? In today’s episode Dr. Rick and Forrest discuss what’s “in” emotional intelligence, balancing emotional closeness and distance, and how we can become more self-aware, emotionally regulated, and empathic.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:40: What’s emotional intelligence?

4:25: Curiosity, care, and rational vs. emotional decision making

9:30: The five domains of emotional intelligence

11:30: Courage

18:40: Competence, capacity, and application

23:40: Anger, and discerning wants and needs

25:25: Self-awareness

30:20: The stories we are drawn to

33:20: Empathy

44:40: Self-regulation

48:50: Widening the space

51:45: The feelings beneath the feelings

53:00: Feeling overwhelmed, boundaries, and differentiation

1:01:10: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

Connect with the show:

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Neuroplasticity Tools to Change Your (and your kid’s) Brain with Dr. Caroline Leaf Aug 07, 2023

Show notes

Our thoughts, emotions, and experiences can reshape the very structure of our brains, allowing it to adapt and change over time. This is known as neuroplasticity, and while it’s present throughout our lives the younger we are the more powerful it is.

On today’s episode, Dr. Caroline Leaf joins Rick and Forrest to explore how we can harness the power of neuroplasticity to clean up our mental mess…and teach our children to do the same. They detail Dr. Leaf’s five-step Neurocycle process, walk through a practical example, and explain how we can use mind-management tools to reshape our relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings. Dr. Leaf then shares how we can introduce these tools to young people, the importance of nurturing a child's sense of agency, and the power of teaching through modeling.

About our Guest: Dr. Caroline Leaf is a clinical and cognitive neuroscientist who has been researching the mind-brain connection, the nature of mental health, and the formation of memory for over 40 years. She’s the host of the top mental health podcast Cleaning Up The Mental Mess, and her newest book How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction

1:00: The five steps of Dr. Leaf’s NeuroCycle

6:30: A walkthrough of the process using an example from Rick

13:50: Helping kids have a sense of agency in difficult environments

20:35: Teaching children through modeling, and building connection with different age groups

26:55: What motivates us to take action and reckon with our past

33:20: Empowering kids to have thoughts and feelings without ‘being’ them

35:20: Recap

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off.

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

Connect with the show:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So You Want to Be a Therapist? Jul 31, 2023

Show notes

Over the last 10 years interest in therapy has boomed, and with the greater demand for therapists more people than ever are considering pursuing a career in mental health. On today’s episode Forrest speaks to five therapists and therapists-in-training to learn the lessons they wish they’d known when they started.

You can watch this episode on YouTube.

Key Topics:

0:00: Intro

2:15: Rick Hanson

5:05: Key traits of good therapists

17:50: Questions a prospective therapist might not think to ask

25:00: Self-employement, emotional regulation, and boundaries

27:45: Efficacy, complacency, and respecting the craft

31:45: Lori Gottlieb

35:20: Emotional intimacy and human connection

38:50: Modalities

40:50: Vulnerability, uncertainty, and making mistakes

48:10: Terry Real

52:45: Learning how to heal yourself first

55:35: What therapy is actually like

59:30: Messiness

1:03:15: Elizabeth Ferreira

1:06:35: Somatics, and being yourself

1:11:50: How to suffer with someone, then let it move through you

1:16:45: Awareness and the bravery of owning what’s in the room

1:21:15: Chaos, and loving yourself

1:27:45: Taylor Banfield

1:34:00: Sitting with a client for the first time

1:37:45: Choosing a specific career path

1:39:10: Boundaries

1:43:15: Recap

About our Guests: Rick Hanson is a psychologist, Senior Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, New York Times best-selling author, and frequent guest on Being Well.

Lori Gottlieb is a practicing therapist in Los Angeles, and is the author of the bestseller Maybe You Should Talk to Someone.

Terry Real is a longtime clinician, the founder of the Relational Life Institute, and bestselling author of a number of books including Us: Getting Past You & Me to Build a More Loving Relationship.

Elizabeth Ferreira is an associate somatic psychotherapist working in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you’d like to work with Elizabeth, you can reach out to her through her website or Instagram.

Taylor Banfield is a graduate student in the PsyD program at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California.

Support the Podcast: We're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link.

Sponsors:

Factor delivers fresh, never-frozen, fully prepared meals right to your door. Head to factormeals.com/beingwell50 and use code beingwell50 to get 50% off!

Join over a million people using BetterHelp, the world’s largest online counseling platform. Visit betterhelp.com/beingwell for 10% off your first month!

Want to sleep better? Try the Calm app! Visit calm.com/beingwell for 40% off a premium subscription.

Connect with the show:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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