PODCAST · society
The Honest Psychologist
by Dr. Whitney Graff and Dr. Paige Hover
Welcome to The Honest Psychologist podcast, where two licensed clinical psychologists have joined the chat. honestpsychpod.substack.com
Episodes
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Should you tell your therapist you’re upset with them?
This week the docs take on the topic of ruptures and repairs in therapy. What if your therapists misunderstands you? Says something that upsets you, disagrees with you, challenges you? When should you call it quits and when should you try to work it out. This is a public episode. If you'd like to...
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Is your child a little extra?
This week, Whitney is re-reading a classic parenting book that has been helping parents understand their children for decades: Raising Your Spirited Child by Dr. Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. We talk about our own personalities and tendencies, where diagnosis fits in, whether this book should be…
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What’s your love language?
This week the docs are inspired by this post by Alex Falcone who says the love languages are a scam. Is there any evidence behind the concept of 5 love languages? Does that matter if it’s helpful to people? If it’s helpful, why is it helpful? And how should people think about expressions of love...
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What does a top ADHD researcher say about the current state of the field?
This week the docs couldn’t be more honored to welcome Dr. Edmund Sonuga-Barke, a psychologist and research scientist who has been focused on ADHD for the past 35 years. He tells us where things stand in the field right now, the ways he has diverged from his colleagues on how ADHD is understood…
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Why is it harder to diagnose ADHD in adulthood?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com This week the docs are letting our listeners in on the trickiest parts of our jobs doing adult ADHD testing. We cover how genetics factors in, the role of childhood development, hidden criteria in the...
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Do you lack object permanence?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com This week, after a DWTS-related cold open, the docs want to clarify what this term has always meant in the field of psychology and child development and how online videos are re-interpreting? this idea.…
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Why is it hard to be an honest psychologist?
This week the docs get candid about what it’s like to be psychologists in a world where everyone has something to say about psychology. We talk about what happens when popular conversations get diagnoses wrong, how culture shapes the way we understand mental illness, how and why psychology is…
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Feeling Forgetful? Me Too! Let's Talk Executive Functioning.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com Paige is on vacation this week, so Whitney is flying solo…and summer is taking its toll on her. Have you been feeling forgetful, disorganized, or like you’re hanging on by a thread? You’re not alone. In this...
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Could personality explain more than a diagnosis?
In another what-we’re-thinking-about-this-week episode, the docs revisit the topic of the Big 5 Personality factors, also known as the Five Factor Model of Personality. Where do you fall on a continuum for each of these traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and (the...
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What does concept creep have to do with the mental health crisis?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com This week the docs go deep on concept creep. We look at work by Australian researcher Nick Haslam that questions how expanding definitions of harm-related concepts have influenced our perception of worsening...
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How did trauma become part of everyday life?
In the third installment of our trauma series, the docs bring the discussion of trauma into the present. Paige gives us some fascinating research from the world of social psychology. We look at how the term “trauma” gets used in different ways, concept creep, adverse childhood experiences…
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Trauma Series Part 2: Where did our ideas about trauma come from?
This week Dr. Graff takes Dr. Hover on a thrilling ride through history, with brief mentions of: The Odyssey and the ancient Greeks, Victorian psychiatric culture, Freud’s contemporaries, hypnosis and suggestibility, the birth of personal injury lawsuits, and the re-emergence of certain ideas in...
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Trauma Series Part 1: What is trauma?
Welcome to Part 1 of our much anticipated trauma series! This week the docs breakdown what we (psychologists) mean when we say “trauma,” why it’s important to have a definition of this term, what it really means to have a trauma-related disorder, and what the research shows about trauma recovery...
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Does it seem like "trauma" is everywhere?
We are excited to bring you 3 new episodes, all on the subject of trauma: what the term means and how we define it, how our thinking on trauma has evolved over time, what the current research offers us, and where we see this is media and everyday life. Stay tuned! This is a public episode. If…
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Are psychologists judgmental?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com This week the docs take a look at how we treat each other in the fields of mental health and psychology. We want to know why we can be so accepting towards our patients and so harsh towards our colleagues.…
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Is depression caused by a chemical imbalance?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com In this episode, the docs take on the history and research support for the chemical imbalance theory of depression. We review a large-scale research article from 2022 and a book based on that article as well...
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What trends are we seeing in 2026?
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit honestpsychpod.substack.com This week the docs are on their own and discussing what’s been on their minds lately. We ask why therapists seem desperate for clients if regular people can’t find therapists, how does anyone know what kind…
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WTF - What's the function?
This week Whitney shares a little preview of an upcoming talk. The docs dig into functional understandings of behavior: the idea that everything we do has a payoff, even when it looks like it's working against us. Understanding what a behavior does for you is the first step to having more choice...
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Emotional Support Animals, Psychiatric Service Dogs and more
Many of us have likely seen the headlines about the vast array of species delineated as Emotional Support Animals (peacocks, snakes, and emus to name a few). Today the docs discuss emotional support animals (ESAs) and the role that mental health providers play, specifically letters of support and...
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Is "brain-based therapy" helping...or distracting?
In this episode, the docs are excited to welcome Dr. Elliott Conklin to unpack a growing trend in mental health: everything getting rebranded as “brain-based.” From polyvagal theory to neuroscience-laced explanations, mental health has become obsessed with the nervous system. But is any of this...
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How accurate is mental health TikTok? With Dr. Mara Whiteside
This week the docs are excited to welcome Dr. Mara Whiteside. She is a board-certified pediatric neuropsychologist who recently made a strong impression at the American Psychological Association conference along with two colleagues presenting insights on mental health-related social media…
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Do stimulants help if you don't have ADHD?
This week the docs are concerned about trends in how stimulant medication is discussed and used without prescriptions, so we consulted the research. We discuss the actual effects of the medication, investigate whether they will improve your grades, your intelligence, or your problem-solving...
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Why would a therapist not take insurance?
Today the docs welcome Dr. Monika Sharma, who has spoken and written about her experience as the owner of a group psychotherapy practice participating in insurance networks. She discusses the particulars and behind-the-scenes details of being in-network therapists, including insurance audits,...
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Should you stop therapy?
This week, the docs tackle a deceptively big question: what even is therapy? The duration of therapy in many ways depends on what the point of it was in the first place. Is it treatment? Personal growth? Life improvement? We dig into the ethics of long-term therapy, the incentive structures that...
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How do you find a therapist?
This week the docs are in it to help you find a good therapist. Where should you start? How do you know who’s a good fit? Does the brand of therapy matter? When you reach out, does no one call you back? We have ideas. Also discussed: dogs and zoomies, books we’re reading right now, favorite…
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What are our predictions for 2026?
The docs are enjoying a casual new years episode, filled with predictions for the next year based on our shared expertise and sometimes vibes. We consider a different model of making resolutions, discuss what actually works in behavior change, lean into the seasons, dream up some new business...
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Is this therapy...or pseudoscience?
The docs are stoked this week to have as our guest Dr. Dean McKay! Our second guest ever and another extremely accomplished psychologist. Dr. McKay is a board-certified clinical psychologist working in both research and clinical practice, and his work focuses on anxiety, OCD, disgust, and the...
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What did we think about that academic accommodations article?
The docs this week have tons to say about this article recently published in The Atlantic about rising rates of mental health disability accommodations in college. We talk ADHD, anxiety, depression, testing and assessment, the ADA and functional impairment. We’re snowed in and stir crazy from the...
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Should you be worried that you're masking?
This week, the docs take a closer look at masking, also known as camouflaging, an experience often linked with autism and a frequent topic across social media. But is masking limited to autism, or can it also show up in other mental health conditions, like OCD? We unpack the research on OCD and...
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Did you see that meme? A podcast about the psychology of trends
This week the docs are pretty confused about a recent internet meme going around, probably because of their advanced age. We take a scenic tour of the history of meme theory and how internet trends reflect aspects of our psychology. Mentioned in this episode:The Meme Machine by Susan Blackmore...
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What brand of therapy are you getting?
We’re talking all our favorite brands, brands, brands, brands. This week the docs do a deep dive on the origins of psychotherapy. We look at how different forms of therapy emerged in the 20th century, the assumptions underlying different therapeutic approaches, and what you might expect depending...
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Are you dating a narcissist?
The docs tackle this “diagnosis” running rampant on social media. We talk about what this term means clinically, what it might mean in everyday conversation, and why it seems to be getting so much play. Also discussed: the aches and pains of middle age (this is truly ground-breaking stuff - we...
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Can we change our personalities?
What is personality and are we stuck with what we’ve got? This week the docs get personal about personality. We talk about what this concept is, the “Big 5” traits, how we ourselves measure up on these traits, what we might want to change, and how that might be possible. We’re pretty honest about...
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What is dopamine scrolling?
We are all familiar with scrolling, more notably doom-scrolling, but have you ever heard of dopamine scrolling? Today, Paige shares excerpts from an article from University of Chichester and interviews with social psychologist Jonathan Haidt about the role of dopamine in scrolling. While the...
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What is bipolar disorder?
The docs read that one article about Selena Gomez and her mom starting a mental health media company. We refrain from getting into celebrity gossip but one part, the bit about diagnoses of bipolar and ADHD and PTSD, caught our attention. We deep dive on what bipolar is, whether or not diagnosing…
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Five truths, a meme
The docs are caught off guard by a social media post that completely nailed human psychology. The Instagram post says that it reflects a prompt to ChatGPT asking for “5 things everyone must understand about their own psychology or they risk failing at life.” The AI gave some really good…
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Is the mental health crisis actually a crisis of meaning?
In today’s episode, Whitney expands on her thoughts about how we use therapy in the current era. Are we going to therapy instead of finding meaning in other areas of life? Is this actually a problem or just a new iteration of what therapy can be? Are we expecting therapy to do what it wasn’t...
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What could it be if it's not autism?
We are beyond excited to have as our first podcast guest, Dr. Stephanie Nelson, a clinical neuropsychologist and pediatric neuropsychologist who knows a lot about a lot of things. She is the current president of the American Board of Pediatric Neuropsychology, she does assessments and…
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Why the bubble bath doesn't cut it
In today’s episode, we discover that both of the docs are generally pro-bubble bath but anti- making bubble baths the essence of self-care. We discuss how flattening self-care into stereotypical spa activities is not what we need when we’re burned out. How can we do self-care that isn’t about...
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Should you (or your child) be re-evaluated?
Whitney’s a little irked at the start of this episode at what seems to be a trend in the mental health field: clinicians working backward from diagnosis to symptoms, rather starting with the stuff that’s relevant and significant and working forward towards a good understanding of it. Then the…
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What do we actually know about emotions?
In this episode, Whitney updates Paige on her research into the literature on how emotions influence our thinking and decision-making, including some surprising findings about why emotions are actually ESSENTIAL for making good choices. We slightly digress on topics including burnout, coping with...
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What role does AI have in mental health?
In this episode, we ask ourselves about the overlap between AI and mental health. We discuss professional reactions to AI in the mental health field, the different places AI might be intersecting with the work that we do, is AI therapy a thing, and the topic of staying humble about what we offer…
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Should your therapist always agree with you?
In this episode we start with the question “should your therapist always agree with you?” This might seem like a straightforward no, but there is some nuance to it. What is validation? Is it different from agreement? Can we handle being challenged by our therapists, even if we know it’s good for...
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What did we think about that NYT ADHD article?
In this episode we discuss this article by Paul Tough in The New York Times Magazine (sorry if it’s paywalled for you - we do recommend getting your hands on a copy if this discussion interests you because it's important to see what was actually written, not what everyone says was in there!).…
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What could it be if it's not ADHD?
Hey everyone! In this episode we talk about all the things that give us crappy attention besides ADHD. We discuss burnout, anxiety, depression, menopause, and other factors that make us (that’s right, “us” as in the professional psychologists attempting to host this podcast…[with mixed results…])...
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What if you don't want to meditate, and is anger a secondary emotion?
Thanks for finding us here at The Honest Psychologist podcast! In this episode, we talk about when doctors are candid with their patients, whether we practice meditation, what mindfulness is actually good for, and whether anger is always covering up another emotion. This is a public episode. If...
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Why is it that trying to be happy doesn't work?
In this, our first full length episode, (where we were still trying to figure out how to be podcasters!) we discuss an article in the Atlantic about pain and happiness. We talk about how we approach these topics as therapists and how a therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy can help us...
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Introductions!
This is a short first episode where we talk about who we are, why we started this project, and what we’re hoping to cover in future episodes. Thanks for joining us! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Honest Psychologist have?
The Honest Psychologist currently has 48 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Honest Psychologist about?
Welcome to The Honest Psychologist podcast, where two licensed clinical psychologists have joined the chat. honestpsychpod.substack.com
How often does The Honest Psychologist release new episodes?
The Honest Psychologist has 48 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Honest Psychologist?
You can listen to The Honest Psychologist on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Honest Psychologist?
The Honest Psychologist is created and hosted by Dr. Whitney Graff and Dr. Paige Hover.
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