MyNDTALK with Dr. Pamela Brewer

When Truth Mattered is a gripping, authoritative account of a young editor and his staff painstakingly pursuing the truth of the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970 – a tragedy that has haunted the nation for 50 years and significantly changed the debate about the Vietnam War. The editor, Robert Giles, takes you inside the turmoil and drama of the Akron Beacon Journal newsroom on that fateful day, and on campus at Kent State University, a Midwestern college under siege. Robert provides an urgent lesson for today: What is the role of truth in media? Can you trust the news that you’re hearing and seeing? If not, how do you equip yourself? When Truth Mattered shows how journalism was done right … and how those standards must still be applied today.

Vital to emotional intelligence is fluently reading the language of facial expressions. Famous Faces Decoded shows you that emotions are hidden in plain sight on all of our faces. You'll learn how emotions shape and reflect our personalities, driving behavior. ... From whom to hire, to sales, negotiations, and interacting with your boss, colleagues or customers, as well as in dating, marriage or handling your kids, Famous Faces Decoded will help anyone keen on securing more steadfast rapport with others.

No president in the history of the United States has inspired more alarm and confusion than Donald Trump. As questions and concerns about his decisions, behavior, and qualifications for office have multiplied, they point to one primary question: Does he pose a genuine threat to our country?

Dr. Paul Napper Co-Author of The Power of Agency discusses a science-backed approach to living life on your own terms. Agency is the ability to act as an effective agent for yourself - reflecting, making creative choices, and constructing a meaningful life. Grounded in extensive psychological research, The Power of Agency gives you the tools to help alleviate anxiety, manage competing demands, and help you live your version of success.

Nancy lays out time-tested tools to identify, face, and overcome shadow beliefs from childhood that hold us back, get free of the limits of our comfort zone, and discover the courage we already have to take bold steps into the future. She teaches how to be more present, use our intuition, and get out from under the daily restrictions of autopilot. Bigger Better Braver author Nancy Pickard provides the pathway to uncover our personal vision of what living bigger means and opens the door for a major life change. 

Dyslexic is the remarkable story of Mike Balzano, an undiagnosed learning-disabled child of working class immigrants whose antisocial behavior earned him the name "Crazy Mikey." Failing at everything, he became a garbage collector until crippled by a back injury. He then entered an optical apprenticeship that turned his life around. He earned a high school diploma, graduated from university magna cum laude, and earned a PhD with distinction from Georgetown University in Washington, DC"

A guide to personal and professional empowerment through civility and social skills, written by two White House Social Secretaries who offer an important fundamental message—everyone is important and everyone deserves to be treated well.

What if our lists did more than just remind us to buy milk and take out the trash? What if the practice of list-making could help us discover who we truly are and even point us to our deepest joys, hopes, and desires? Teacher, writer, and wordsmith Marilyn McEntyre shows listeners how the simple act of writing a list can open doors to personal discovery and spiritual growth. 

Jim candidly discusses some of thesensory changes in his life.

Meet gay gang members ... whose gay identity complicates criminology’s portrayal and representation of gangs, gang members, and gang life. 

How the female body has been racialized for over two hundred years. There is an obesity epidemic in this country and  poor Black women  are particularly stigmatized as “diseased” and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat Black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago.

Dr. Gross helps each one of us navigate life’s transitions successfully. Listening to her is like sharing time with a longtime friend. Grief is hard - Gail helps you go through it.  

 Dr. Bryna Siegel investigates the truths and fictions of public understanding about autism, questioning apparent realities too sensitive or impolitic to challenge. Is there really more autism? How has the count expanded by diagnosing autism over other conditions? Have scientific methods in autism diagnosis gone hand-in-hand with autism increases? Are mild autism cases really a 'disorder,' rather than personality variant?

She watched and struggled and loved her child.  Confusion turned to joy at seeing the joy of her child - and then...suddenly... it was different.  

Each year, more than 500,000 people are diagnosed with dementia in the United States. ... Families are faced with the need to make vital end-of-life decisions about medical treatment, legal and financial matters, and living situations for those who no longer can; no one is prepared for this process. And many caregivers grapple with sadness, confusion, guilt, anger, and physical and mental exhaustion as dementia enters its final stage. 

Nurses are trained to think of others. We are trained to think of patients and the trauma they may experience ,  but how much awareness do we have of the trauma nurses experience?  In a conversation for clinicians and lay persons, Dr . Karen Foli shares her experiences and her expertise.

An Illicit Love" is unique among affair memoirs. Salsberg offers a triple perspective. She is first "the other woman," then "wife." She is also a licensed clinical social worker who counsels patients on infidelity issues. This trifecta of experience allows her to analyze her own life choices.

Dr. Travers teaches us that from very early ages, some at two and three years old, trans children find themselves to be different from the sex category that was assigned to them at birth. How they make their voices heard—to their parents and friends, in schools, in public spaces, and through the courts—is the focus of today's conversation.

Brain Stages is the ultimate leg up for parents and caregivers in today's complicated, competitive world. A grade-by-grade guide through the formative elementary school years, this book will show you how to have fun with your kids as you help them grow into successful, well-adjusted children.  

...Chris Watts was a family man. Everybody, including his family, believed that. Yet, on August 13, 2018, he murdered Shanann, his pregnant wife, and two young daughters ... . As terrible as his story is, it is also a warning because, to this day, living behind bars, Watts is still acting out the character traits that made him kill in the first place. In this, the first and only psychological exploration of the Watts family murders, psychotherapist Lena Derhally has pieced together the crime, the events leading to it, and most of all, her beliefs about the “why,” including the fact that Chris Watts—now a self-described “man of God”—is not in the least remorseful about killing his family..

Today's guest says her history is what has informed the person she became and the professional she is today - a warm, compassionate, knowledgeable professional who helps others in ways that were simply not available to her as she grew up.  

Jim challenges some of the changes in his life -- some of which he was unaware and quite displeased ...If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org

"From the beginning, Geneen Roth was told she was too sensitive, too emotional, too curious, too demanding, too intense, and too big. Yet gaining and losing weight for decades did not improve her self-worth or reduce other people’s criticisms. Like most women who struggle with their weight, she believed that if she could resolve what seemed to be the source of her self-hatred—how and what she ate—she would be thin, happy, and free. That belief, she discovered, was false."

Jim continues sharing his very personal experience of dementia -  discussing some of the subtle changes of which he is aware and  unaware...If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org 

They were so close - they held each others secrets; each others joys and sorrows.  Susan describes her brother as "larger than life" ... and then without any real warning...he was gone.  How did she cope - how did her family manage.  You will be stunned and heartened by Susan's story.

Jim continues sharing his very personal experience of dementia -   today he is joined by Pamela - for an exploration of their experiences of his diagnosis. If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org 

Chris Watts was a family man. Everybody, including his family, believed that. Yet, on August 13, 2018, he murdered Shanann, his pregnant wife, and two young daughters ... . As terrible as his story is, it is also a warning because, to this day, living behind bars, Watts is still acting out the character traits that made him kill in the first place. In this, the first and only psychological exploration of the Watts family murders, psychotherapist Lena Derhally has pieced together the crime, the events leading to it, and most of all, her beliefs about the “why,” including the fact that Chris Watts—now a self-described “man of God”—is not in the least remorseful about killing his family.." 

Jim continues sharing his very personal experience of dementia -  today he is joined by Pamela - for an exploration of their experiences of his diagnosis. If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org

“About one third of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime, and one in five have had one in the past year. The consequences of anxiety go far beyond the suffering experienced by the individual." 

With statistics that suggest over 40% of couples have met on line - it might be time for you to do a little research on what to do/not do.  Christiane has created the perfect guide to safe and productive online dating!   

Jim continues sharing his very personal experience of dementia. We discuss the urgent need for education and selected available resources. If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org

If you grew up with an emotionally immature, unavailable, or selfish parent, you may have lingering feelings of anger, loneliness, betrayal, or abandonment. You may recall your childhood as a time when your emotional needs were not met, when your feelings were dismissed, or when you took on adult levels of responsibility in an effort to compensate for your parent’s behavior. These wounds can be healed, and you can move forward in your life.

It's hard to imagine that a profession known for its members' compassion, patience and generosity of spirit - could in fact, hurt each other.  Learn what is happening, why it's happening and what can be done. 

Jonathan Mooney, a neuro-diverse writer, advocate, and father meditates on his life, offering the radical message that we should stop trying to fix people and start empowering them to succeed

About one third of U.S. adults experience an anxiety disorder during their lifetime, and one in five have had one in the past year. The consequences of anxiety go far beyond the suffering experienced by the individual. 

Christine Ristaino was attacked in a store parking lot while her three- and five-year-old children watched. Ristaino shares what it felt like to be an ordinary person confronted with an extraordinary event―a woman trying to deal with acute trauma even as she went on with her everyday life, working at a university and parenting two children with her husband. She not only narrates how this event changed her but also tells how looking at the event through both the reactions of her community and her own sensibility allowed her to finally face two other violent episodes she had previously experienced.

Jim continues sharing his very personal experience of dementia. If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org

Garbarino focuses on how and why some convicted teenage murderers have been able to accomplish dramatic rehabilitation and transformation, emphasizing the role of education, reflection, mentoring, and spiritual development. Garbarino shows us the prisoners’ world that is filled, first and foremost, with stories of hope amid despair, and moral and psychological recovery in the face of developmental insult and damage.  

With statistics that suggest over 40% of couples have met on line - it might be time for you to do a little research on what to do/not do.  Christiane has created the perfect guide to safe and productive online dating! 

Jim is back to continue sharing his very personal experience of dementia. If you would like to email Jim or Pamela you can do so by sending an email to Pamela@ MYNDTALK.org 

If you believe a broken relationship is at the core of your being - if you have ever believed that you are not “good enough” - this is the conversation for you to hear and share. 

Dr. Marc Feldman describes people’s strange motivations to fabricate or induce illness or injury to satisfy deep emotional needs. ... From the mother who shaves her child’s head and tells her community he has cancer, to the co-worker who suffers from a string of incomprehensible "tragedies," to the false epilepsy victim who monopolizes her online support group, "disease forgery" is ever-present in the media and in many people’s lives. 

Why are so many women dissatisfied with their sex lives?Something is missing from their intimate encounters ...Their relationships are suffering. Many women find themselves wondering what’s wrong with them. If you’re a woman and any of this sounds familiar, Dr. Anita H. Clayton wants you to know that there’s nothing wrong with you–what’s wrong is the ridiculous fantasies you’ve been sold about sex, and the unrealistic expectations you cling to. 

Listen to this conversation - and then share it with family, friends and colleagues.  Community tragedies impact human life, be it weather, deaths, indeed, assaults of any kind.  And yet, there is healing.

A noted religious scholar draws on centuries of Qur'an and Biblical studies to offer his rigorous and revelatory commentary on how these holy books are intrinsically connected.Reynolds demonstrates how Jewish and Christian characters, imagery, and literary devices feature prominently in the Qur'an, including stories of angels bowing before Adam and of Jesus speaking as an infant. 

We all acknowledge that physical aggression occurs - but how much do we know, understand or even care about non-physical aggression?

Darryl, a 27year veteran of ABC news shareshis views on the media, the holidays,and the value of male friendships.

Minister, Banking professional, Marketing expert and Mental Health Clinician  -  it would seem like ethics would be stretched to the limit to accommodate all these roles - and yet, not for Community Mental Health clinician Mark Fuqua. 

How do you know when it's "ok" to resume dating?  Who do you check with?   What about your friends?  What about your children? This conversation could help you get back out into the world in a way that feels comfortable and affirming.   

There are many misconceptions about aging .  One of the myths is that it is a time to slow up and slow down.  Not so!