Mind Dive

The Menninger Clinic’s Mind Dive podcast is a twice-monthly exploration of mental health topics from the professional’s perspective, including the dilemmas clinicians face in their practice. Hosts Dr. Bob Boland and Dr. Kerry Horrell dive into the complexities of mental health care including the latest research and other topical developments through lively discourse with distinguished colleagues from near and far.

Mind Dive is a health podcast hosted by The Menninger Clinic, with 85 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

The Menninger Clinic hosts Mind Dive, a health show with 85 episodes published.

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  Mind Dive

  Episode 80: Parenting Children with Eating Disorders

  Jul 20, 202628 min

  When a child develops an eating disorder, food becomes the battlefield, but the deeper struggle is often about fear, control, shame, and the need to feel understood. We sit down with Dr. Tom Wooldridge, board-certified psychologist, psychoanalyst, and eating disorder specialist, to talk about what actually helps families when anorexia or other eating disorders turn meals into daily conflict. His message is both relieving and challenging: eating disorders are not caused by one thing, parents are not to blame, and behavioral compliance is not the same as emotional recovery. We dig into the heart of his book, End the Food Fight: Replacing Control with Connection to Help Your Child Heal from an Eating Disorder , and why it’s designed as a steady companion for parents working alongside family-based treatment, refeeding plans, and clinical care. Dr. Wooldridge breaks down three practical pillars that support eating disorder recovery at home: emotional attunement, self-regulation, and reflection. We talk about how a stance of curiosity can soften power struggles, reduce shame, and help a child feel held in mind while they face the terrifying loss of “control” that refeeding can bring. We also translate mentalization into real-life parenting language, including what happens when families slip into teleological thinking (“if they just eat, everything is fine”) or go emotionally offline while trying to follow the plan. Finally, we explore the “unspoken conversation” in families, generational body messages, puberty and weight anxiety, plus how to think about social media and peer influence without pretending there’s one perfect rule for every kid. If this helped you, subscribe to Mind Dive, share the episode with a parent or clinician who needs steadiness today, and leave a review so more families can find these tools. Follow The Menninger Clinic on Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn to stay up to date on new Mind Dive episodes. To submit a topic for discussion, email podcast@menninger.edu . If you are a new or regular listener, please leave us a review on your favorite listening platform! Visit The Menninger Clinic website to learn more about The Menninger Clinic’s research and leadership role in mental health.

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  Mind Dive

  Championing Depth Therapy vs Quick Fixes

  Jun 15, 202628 min

  If you have ever wondered why therapy that feels life-changing can be so hard to find and so hard to afford, this conversation puts real numbers and real power dynamics on the table. We sit down with Dr. Linda Michaels, licensed psychologist, co-founder of the Psychotherapy Action Network, and author of *Advancing Psychotherapy for the Next Generation: Humanizing Mental Health Policy and Practice*, to talk about what people actually want from psychotherapy and why the mental health system so often delivers something else. We unpack research from large national samples showing that most people want therapy to be a safe, nonjudgmental relationship that helps them change repeating patterns and get to the root of what drives their distress. Listeners will hear why the public intuitively understands that meaningful change takes time, and how depth therapy and relational therapy align with those goals even when insurance reimbursement, manualized training, and symptom-first protocols push the field in a different direction. Then we zoom out to the forces shaping mental health policy and access: managed care incentives, platform therapy advertising, privacy and confidentiality concerns, and the rapid rise of big tech, venture capital, and private equity in behavioral health. Dr. Michaels also shares how the Psychotherapy Action Network has engaged federal agencies on AI chatbots, why a “therapy as a product” mindset can fail clients, and what happened when Talkspace sued the organization after public criticism. We close with practical solutions, including the launch of Therapy That Sticks and why mentorship and strong training standards matter if we want psychotherapy that leads to sustainable change. Subscribe, share this with a colleague or friend who cares about the future of mental health care, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. Follow The Menninger Clinic on Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn to stay up to date on new Mind Dive episodes. To submit a topic for discussion, email podcast@menninger.edu . If you are a new or regular listener, please leave us a review on your favorite listening platform! Visit The Menninger Clinic website to learn more about The Menninger Clinic’s research and leadership role in mental health.

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  Episode #78

  Episode 78: Dispelling Myths about Autism and ADHD

  May 18, 202642 minS3

  <p>TikTok can make autism and ADHD feel instantly recognizable, but recognition is not diagnosis. We sit down with Dr Alton Bozeman, Director of the Menninger Assessment Center, to separate viral “signs” from the clinical reality of neurodevelopmental disorders and to explain what qualified psychological assessment actually looks for: persistent patterns, true deficits, and real life impairment.<br/> <br/> We dig into the biggest misconceptions around autism spectrum disorder, including the idea of a “level zero” autism that needs no support, the confusion between quirky personality and core social communication differences, and the myth that autism automatically comes with either low intell...

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  Mind Dive

  Episode 77: The Psychiatrist Who Explored Nazi Minds

  Apr 20, 202641 minS0

  <p>This episode dives into history with best-selling author Jack El-Hai to follow psychiatrist Douglas Kelley from wartime trauma work to the Nuremberg prison cells where he tested infamous Nazi defendants and walked away with a conclusion that still chills. Our hosts wrestle with what it means to stop believing in “monsters,” how propaganda exploits ordinary minds, and what Kelley thought democracies must do to resist authoritarianism.</p><p>The most unsettling Nuremberg detail that is shared isn’t a single document or confession. It’s the possibility that the architects of mass violence can look psychologically ordinary when you put them...

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  Mind Dive

  Episode 76: Can AI Play A Role in Care?

  Mar 16, 202628 minS0

  <p>Ready for a clear-eyed look at AI in mental health care? We kick off Season Five of Mind Dive by interviewing ChatGPT, pressing our AI guest on safety, privacy, and practical use, and then stress-testing its limits with live scenarios. No hype, no doom. Just a grounded conversation about what AI can do for clinicians and patients—and where it can’t go.<br/> <br/> We map out the real utility: faster documentation, smarter screening prompts, triage support, and simple coping exercises that help patients self-regulate between sessions. Then we tackle the hard edges. We discuss anthropomorphism, why models “hallucin...

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