PODCAST · society
Psychobabble
by Hannah Spier, MD
Psychiatrist analyzing how cultural trends and modern therapy incentivize dysfunction. hannahspier.substack.com
Episodes
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#95. Why Female Psychopaths Are So Hard to Recognize
I'm joined by Dr Fiona Girkin, a researcher specialising in female psychopathy and dark personality traits, whose doctoral research examined workplace bullying in the community services sector. We discuss relational aggression, weaponised victimhood, revenge, parental alienation and the…
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#94. She Said It Was Consensual. Then They Called It Trauma.
The Cornell 7 case has become about much more than what happened that night. Jane Doe's lawyer says her behavior afterward — including initially describing the encounter as consensual — is a "textbook" trauma response. Across social media, people are making the same argument: contradictory…
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#93. The Cornell 7: How This Happened.
The Cornell 7 case raises a bigger question: is there any moral category left between "illegal" and "good"? Listen ad-free by subscribing on Substack: https://hannahspier.substack.com/podcast
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#92. How to Cure a Feminist
What does it actually take to "cure" feminism? In this episode, I look at why grievance-based feminism is psychologically attractive, why facts alone rarely change minds, and what can actually replace it. From mate choice and accountability to marriage, interdependence, motherhood and cultural...
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#91. Women Are Getting Angrier. Here's Why.
Female rage is increasingly being reframed as something righteous, therapeutic, even healthy. This is how we have taught women that their anger is not something to regulate but evidence that they've been wronged. Then we look at the dangerous consequences of the therapies built on these assumptions.
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#90. Why Evidence Wasn't Enough for the Lindsay Clancy Jurors
In this episode, I look at the Lindsay Clancy juror interviews and the psychology behind how the jury processed the case. Why did evidence of psychosis seem less important than the belief that Lindsay was a loving mother? Why did the holdout juror become the problem? And what do the interviews...
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#89. Why Powerful Men Fall for Borderline Women
Evolutionary psychologist Edward Dutton joins me to discuss his new book Borderline Genius, Borderline Insane and we ask the question: have women with borderline traits had an outsized influence on powerful men, culture and history? We get into the unstable self, mirroring and attachment, whether...
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#88. Their Surrogate Refused to Abort. Now They're Suing Her.
McKenna West agreed to carry a baby for a California couple for around $60,000. When the baby was diagnosed with a serious heart condition, the genetic parents requested an abortion. West refused, moved to Texas, gave birth and is now being sued for breach of contract. In this episode, I look at...
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#87. The New Feminist Buzzwords You Need to Know
Hannah is joined by returning guests: Janice Fiamengo, author of "The Goddess That Failed" Tom Golden, host of the "Men Are Good" podcast, and Jim Nuzzo author of "The Nuzzo Letter," whose research and writing on men, gender and public policy has featured regularly on Psychobabble. Their work and...
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#86. When "Silent Suffering" Turns Into Manipulation
In this episode, I examine the growing Quiet BPD narrative and the behaviors being described as internalized—from withdrawing and ghosting to relationship tests, reckless behavior and emotional escalation. I ask what happens when psychiatry describes a disorder entirely from the perspective of…
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#85. Why We Want Lindsay Clancy to Be the Victim
The Lindsay Clancy case has become a story about postpartum psychosis, psychiatric medication and a healthcare system that supposedly failed a struggling mother. But does the evidence actually support that story? In this episode, psychiatrist Hannah Spier examines the psychiatric arguments at the...
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#84. Why Women Are Really Angry at Voice Memo Guy
Check out our sponsor: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HANNAH at https://www.oneskin.co/HANNAH A viral voice memo has everyone arguing about timing, pressure and consent. But the real issue is something else entirely. It exposes how ridiculous the conversation around sex and dating has become.
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#83. How We Trained Girls For Conflict
Sponsor: Looki L1 is an AI Life Memory Camera that helps you stay present now and return to the day later. Learn more: https://www.c2go.cc/r/HannahSpierMD | code: Hannah. What ordinary moment would you want to relive? Girls were taught to speak up, resist influence, reject criticism and never...
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#82. The Dark Psychology Behind "High Value" Women
"High-value woman" dating advice promises better men, stronger boundaries and a softer life.A new manifestation of feminism. But much of it is really a guide to entitlement, strategic detachment and low reciprocity—traits that make lasting relationships almost impossible. In this episode,...
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#81. How Women Use Mental Health to Avoid Growing Up
How did ordinary adulthood become evidence of psychiatric suffering? What's the real attraction? In this episode, I react to young women presenting normal functioning as "high-functioning depression," insisting that invisible distress cannot be questioned, and using suicidal language to make...
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80. Why So Many Young Women Suddenly Have "Alters"
Dissociation is a real and measurable psychological phenomenon—but does that validate dissociative identity disorder as it is commonly portrayed online and diagnosed in clinical practice? In this episode, psychiatrist Hannah Spier examines the evidence behind DID, the limitations of self-reported...
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#79. Why We Pretend Women Aren't Violent
SPONSOR: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HANNAH at https://www.oneskin.co/HANNAH In this episode, we look at the Mackenzie Shirilla case as a starting point for a broader question: how do we understand female physical violence? The discussion moves from the details of the case — including...
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#78. Why Men are GIving Up on Modern Women
Modern dating has become increasingly expensive for men — not only financially, but emotionally, socially, and psychologically. In this episode, I look at the inflation of chivalry: the way ordinary courtship has turned into elaborate performance, "princess treatment," promposals and endless…
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#77. The Glorification of Feminist Violence
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HANNAH at https://www.oneskin.co/HANNAH #oneskinpod On June 3, 1968, Valerie Solanas walked into Andy Warhol's studio and shot him. Decades later, she has become a feminist icon, her SCUM Manifesto is taught in universities, and Hollywood celebrated her life in a...
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76. Why Therapy Protects the Pathological Female
Most treatments for Borderline Personality Disorder focus on emotional dysregulation. The goal is to reduce distress, self-harm, anxiety, and crises. But that misses the mark. In this episode, I argue that modern psychiatry has adopted a model of Borderline Personality Disorder that is…
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#73. Psychopath or Sociopath? Reacting to Dr. Ramani and Her Anti-Male Bias
What is the real difference between a psychopath, a sociopath, and antisocial personality disorder? In this episode, I respond to Dr. Ramani's claim that "psychopaths are born and sociopaths are made" and explain why that framing is far too simplistic. I also explain why cold psychopaths unsettle...
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#74. How to Recognize Female Narcissism
In this episode, I break down the red flags of narcissism in women and why female narcissism is often much harder to recognize than male narcissism. Women are taught from very early on to speak the language of empathy, compassion, healing, boundaries, emotional safety and self-awareness. But that...
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#75. Does Motherhood Make Women Sick?
Postpartum depression is real, and in some cases it can be severe and even dangerous. Mothers who are struggling deserve compassion, support, and proper care. But what happens when a normal, difficult transition into motherhood increasingly becomes viewed through the lens of pathology? In this...
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#72. Is Feminism an Intrasexual Competitive Strategy? | Dr Dani Sulikowski
Is feminism really a movement for equality or could it be something else entirely? Evolutionary psychologist Dr Dani Sulikowski joins me to discuss if feminism may be best understood as a form of intrasexual competition between women. Let me know what you think in the comments. Follow Dr. Dani...
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#71. The 3 Mechanisms Behind Female Grievance
In this episode, I look at the mechanisms behind female grievance culture: externalizing blame, turning victimhood into identity, and rewarding antagonism through therapy-speak and social media. I argue that when ordinary disappointment is constantly translated into harm, trauma, invalidation,...
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#70. How Feminism Changed Women's Psychological Makeup
For decades, feminist literature has claimed that feminist identification is associated with better psychological well-being in women. But what exactly was being measured and did those measures tell us anything serious about women's adjustment to adult life? In this episode, I look at the gap...
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#69. Preventing the Pathological Female and the Role Feminism Played
Prevention matters because once these patterns are learned, they are extremely difficult to undo. I am not convinced we can confidently call them curable. This is a practical look at what could make a difference, first at the individual-level, and then at a societal level. Listen to ad-free...
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#68. This Therapy Teaches You How To Manipulate
At first, Dialectical Behavioural Therapy sounds like good therapy: calm tone, validation, "skills," the language of care. But if you look closely, something very different is happening. In this video, I break down a real clip of a DBT therapist and show how what is presented as "help" can, in...
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#67. Borderline vs Vulnerable Narcissism: A Diagnostic Walk-Through of Taylor Frankie Paul
What if borderline and vulnerable narcissism are the same traits—just executed differently? Using a real case, I break down the strategy behind. Want ad-free episodes? Go to the Psychobabble Substack and subscribe! https://hannahspier.substack.com/
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#66. How Borderline Traits Develop and Why They're Increasing Now
Borderline Personality Disorder is usually framed as the result of trauma: a broken attachment system, a damaged patient reacting to early wounds. This is inclomplete. Borderline traits persist not because they are purely pathological, but because, in many contexts, they are functionally…
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#65. What Louis Theroux Refused to Show About the Manosphere | Janice Fiamengo, Tom Golden & James Nuzzo
What was presented as an investigation into the subculture of the "Manosphere" felt like something else entirely. In this panel discussion, I'm joined by Janice Fiamengo, Tom Golden, and Jim Nuzzo to react to the new manosphere documentary and discuss what this actually was, what they got right…
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#64. Is Borderline Personality Caused by Trauma?
Borderline Personality Disorder is routinely explained as trauma response. In this episode, I look at the evidence behind that assumption. It matters because bad causal stories produce bad therapy. Become a Psychobabble Insider and join us for Live Clinical Sessions twice a month! This is a…
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#63. How to Screen for Borderline Traits
This isn't about calling women "crazy." It's about recognizing the strategy behind the "aura" and the patterns of behavior that society often fails to warn men about. As a mother of two sons, I am seeing these dynamics play out more than ever, and it's time for a clinical and social autopsy of…
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#62. Borderline: The Female Version of Antisocial
Are we misdiagnosing female predators as "patients"?In this video, I explore a provocative but clinically grounded theory: that Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often the female expression of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). While we have no trouble identifying the "Language of...
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#61. Challenging the 'ADHD Was Always There' Narrative
ADHD did not expand by accident.In some U.S. states, nearly 1 in 5 boys have been diagnosed. Adult diagnoses continue to rise. The standard explanation is simple: "It was always there — we're just recognizing it now."But genuine medical conditions do not behave this way.In this episode, I trace…
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#60. The ADHD Surge Adult Women
ADHD is officially classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder: a lifelong brain condition said to be present from birth. But despite decades of research, there is still no biomarker, no diagnostic brain scan, and no consistent neurological abnormality that can reliably distinguish an "ADHD…
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#59. Girl Rotting, Heterofatalism & "Decentering Men"
I am joined by Janice Fiamengo, Tom Golden, and James Nuzzo to analyze a "folder of awful" containing various feminist buzzwords and social media trends. If you want to go deeper, here is the recording from a live session with Psychobabble Insiders,. These live discussions are where we can…
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#58. Dissecting the 4 Major Obesity Delusions
Obesity is increasingly explained through hormones, genetics, metabolism, and microbiomes. These explanations sound compassionate, scientific, and non-judgmental — but they often fail to explain what we actually observe and definitely fail those who want to lose weight. Become a Psychobabble...
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#57. Psychiatry Made the Bipolar Child Inevitable
To question a diagnosis today is to trigger a moral reaction.In contemporary psychiatry, diagnostic categories no longer function merely as clinical tools. They increasingly operate as moral identities, conferring legitimacy, status, and exemption from blame. When criteria are questioned, the...
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#56. How Borderline Was Rebranded as Bipolar
I explain how traits once understood as borderline pathology were gradually laundered into bipolar disorder — through expanding criteria, rapid cycling, and the replacement of personality with biology.This isn't about denying suffering.It's about why diagnosis matters, how boundaries collapsed…
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#55. When Dark Traits Drive Paternal Alienation
Most so-called "high conflict" divorces are not what people think they are. The term suggests two volatile adults locked in mutual chaos. But in a significant subset of cases, what looks like dysregulation is strategic. It is controlled, reputationally aware, and often concealed behind the…
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#54. Why Women Get Away With Narcissism (3 Patterns You'll Recognize)
In this video, I walk through three everyday patterns in which narcissistic traits are reframed as vulnerability, self-awareness, or moral superiority and therefore escape recognition altogether. From self-diagnosis culture to parenting ideology, these behaviours are often praised rather than…
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#53. AuDHD: When Psychiatry Becomes Customer Service
Therapists can't say no to women, psychiatry won't protect its categories, and TikTok has turned serious disorders into identity accessories.In this video, I walk you through a proper differential diagnosis and show why the behaviours commonly labeled "AuDHD" are not autism, not ADHD, and not...
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#52 The Survival Guide for Dealing with Cluster B and Borderline Women
This episode sits very deliberately at the "how do I deal with this?" level. It's for people who find themselves repeatedly destabilised in relationships marked by manipulation, emotional volatility, and confusion — and who are tired of being told to simply communicate better, be more empathetic,...
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The Most Unhinged Feminist Comments on Reddit (Game Show Edition)
Welcome to the Psychobabble Christmas Special — and to the most dangerous game on the internet: Can You Think Like a Feminist? I brought three of my favorite anti-feminist friends — Janice Fiamengo James L. Nuzzo Tom Golden — and challenged them to guess which Reddit comments from…
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Female Luxury Beliefs with Rob Henderson
In this episode I speak with Rob Henderson author of Troubled and originator of the concept luxury beliefs: ideas that raise the status of the elites while harming the people with the least margin for error.But today we look at something he's rarely asked to unpack: the female side of luxury...
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The Rise of the Pathological Female
A cultural and clinical blind spot: the rise of female-coded Cluster B traits. Why do so many go undiagnosed? Why has misbehavior been rebranded as "trauma"? In this episode I break down how ideology, therapy culture, and social media have distorted our understanding of female pathology and why…
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Feminism's Buzzwords: How Women's Studies Rewrote Reality
In this episode, we trace the evolution of Women's Studies — the ideological factory floor where feminist theory manufactures its ever-expanding vocabulary. From the early days of academic grievance studies to today's buzzwords like microfeminism, hermeneutic labor, and kin-keeping, we examine…
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Feminist Buzzwords: The Conversation Continues and We Test Our Internalized Misogyny
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit hannahspier.substack.com In this bonus segment for Psychobabble Insiders, we continue our decipering of feminist jargon. This time focusing on the "labor" terms that turn everyday acts of love, thought, and care into political...
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How Therapy Culture Is Destroying Families
One in four American adults is now estranged from their parents, and most aren't cutting contact over abuse, but ideology. In this conversation with Noelle Mering author of Awake, Not Woke and the forthcoming No Contact, we discuss why so many young adults are severing ties with family....
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Psychiatrist analyzing how cultural trends and modern therapy incentivize dysfunction. hannahspier.substack.com
HOSTED BY
Hannah Spier, MD
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How many episodes does Psychobabble have?
Psychobabble currently has 103 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
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Psychiatrist analyzing how cultural trends and modern therapy incentivize dysfunction. hannahspier.substack.com
How often does Psychobabble release new episodes?
Psychobabble publishes regularly with 103 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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Who hosts Psychobabble?
Psychobabble is created and hosted by Hannah Spier, MD.
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