Podcast
Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast
Hosted by David Puder, M.D. · EN
Join David Puder as he covers different topics on psychiatry and psychotherapy. He will draw from the wisdom of his mentors, research, in-session therapy and psychiatry experience, and his own journey through mental health to discuss topics that affect mental health professionals and popsychology enthusiasts alike. Through interviews, he will dialogue with both medical students, residents and expert psychiatrists and psychotherapists, and even with people who have been through their own mental health journey. This podcast was created to help others in their journey to becoming wise, empathic, genuine and connected in their personal and professional lives.
37episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT) Explained: Practical Techniques to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Borderline Personality Disorder, OCD & Narcissism
2d ago01:28:52Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Dr. David Puder speaks with Robert Drozek, clinical director of the Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) Clinic at McLean Hospital and teaching associate at Harvard Medical School, about practical Mentalization-Based Therapy techniques to improve clinical outcomes in borderline personality disorder (BPD), OCD, and narcissism. Drozek explains the "What, Why, and How" model of mentalizing, how to address psychic equivalence (rigid certainty), pretend mode, and teleological thinking, and offers concrete strategies clinicians can use in session and assign as between-session work to help patients reconnect with difficult emotions, reduce intellectualization, and develop more flexible, reflective ways of understanding themselves and others. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Nancy McWilliams on Shame, Transference, Personality Disorders & Becoming a Better Therapist
2w ago01:39:14Tap to summarizeIn this in-depth interview, Dr. David Puder welcomes renowned psychoanalyst and author Dr. Nancy McWilliams to discuss essential clinical topics from her seminal books Psychoanalytic Diagnosis and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Dr. McWilliams shares practical wisdom on working with shame in therapy by emphasizing self-acceptance over mere self-knowledge, along with powerful insights into transference, countertransference, and projective identification. The conversation explores how different therapist personality styles influence clinical work, strengths, and vulnerabilities. Additional highlights include building love and trust in the therapeutic relationship, protecting the therapeutic frame, setting early boundaries, and real-world guidance on handling stalking and boundary violations. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.5 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Murderbot: Schizoid Personality, Neurodivergence, and the Search for Humanity in AI
Jun 2600:58:32Tap to summarizeDr. David Puder and Dr. Eric Bender explore the Apple TV+ series Murderbot through a psychiatric lens. Based on Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries, they analyze the hacked SecUnit's journey as a profound portrait of schizoid personality dynamics, neurodivergence, social anxiety, masking, trauma, and the deep human longing for connection while fearing it. Drawing on Nancy McWilliams' work on schizoid dynamics and D.W. Winnicott, the discussion examines AI identity, reflective functioning, PTSD, and what Murderbot reveals about humanity in the age of artificial intelligence. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.0 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Side Effect Mastery in Psychopharmacology: Rawlings–Thompson A-F Classification, Low Slow Titration & Real-World Management with Dr. Michael Cummings & Dr. Blaire Heath
Jun 1901:28:36Tap to summarizeDr. David Puder sits down with psychopharmacology expert Dr. Michael Cummings and Dr. Blaire Heath to discuss Side Effect Mastery in Psychopharmacology. This episode dives deep into the Rawlings–Thompson A-F Classification system for understanding and managing medication side effects, emphasizing low and slow titration strategies to improve tolerability and patient outcomes. They discuss practical, real-world approaches to common challenges, including orthostatic hypotension, excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis from SSRIs/SNRIs), tremor management, alopecia from valproic acid and lithium, anticholinergic burden, and much more. Dr. Cummings shares his insights on receptor dynamics, metabolizer status, bedtime dosing, and when to reconsider diagnosis after treatment failures. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.25 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Disengagement Precedes Enactment: Mastering Countertransference with Dr. Karen Maroda
Jun 1201:33:54Tap to summarizeIn this episode of the podcast, Dr. David Puder sits down with Dr. Karen Maroda, a renowned psychoanalyst, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin, and author of influential books including The Power of Countertransference and The Analyst's Vulnerability. Together they explore a powerful clinical insight: disengagement precedes enactment. Learn how therapists' unprocessed countertransference (irritation, boredom, guilt, anger, or helplessness) often leads to emotional withdrawal before erupting into destructive enactments that can rupture the therapeutic relationship. Dr. Maroda shares candid examples from her own practice, including a personal enactment she later processed with her patient, and demonstrates practical strategies for catching disengagement early, using constructive self-disclosure, and maintaining emotional presence. The conversation features a live role-play, deep discussion of parentification in therapists' histories, setting healthy boundaries, managing guilt and shame, and turning potential pitfalls into opportunities for deeper connection. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.25 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse: Shame, Masculinity, Disclosure & Healing in Therapy with Doriel Jacov
Jun 501:25:15Tap to summarizeDoriel Jacov joins Dr. Puder to explore the often-overlooked struggles of male survivors of sexual abuse. With one in six males experiencing childhood sexual abuse before age 18, Jacov unpacks the profound impact of shame, masculinity norms, disclosure barriers, and identity fractures that make healing uniquely challenging for men. The conversation covers grooming, power imbalances, coercion, the myth that survivors become abusers, arousal and body betrayal, sexual identity confusion, trauma reenactment, and the complex transference dynamics that arise in therapy, including erotic transference and projective identification. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.25 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Trauma-Specific Reflective Functioning (T-RF): 5 Trauma Mentalization Profiles & Impact on Parenting
May 2901:29:56Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Dr. David Puder explores Trauma-Specific Reflective Functioning (T-RF) with researchers Dr. Nicholas Berthelot and Dr. Julia Garron-Bissonnette. Discover how childhood trauma affects mentalization and learn about the five distinct trauma mentalization profiles identified in mothers with histories of maltreatment: identification with the perpetrator, functionally grandiose, absorbed in trauma, global failures in mentalization, and those with no major failures who show remarkable resilience. The conversation examines how these different ways of processing trauma significantly impact parenting, attachment security, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. By listening to this episode, you can earn 1.25 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Cohort Group Consultation and Reflective Function: Transforming Countertransference into Clinical Insight
May 2200:51:52Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Dr. David Puder is joined by cohort leaders Dr. Allie Riege and Dr. Jeremiah Stokes to explore how reflective function transforms countertransference into deep clinical insight. Through their experience leading psychodynamic cohort consultation groups, they discuss the challenges therapists face with vulnerability, disavowed emotions, and the gap between theory and real-world application. The conversation dives into common therapist personality dynamics, enactments, boredom and irritability as valuable clinical data, and how group consultation helps clinicians develop greater self-awareness and empathy in their work. Drawing from Nancy McWilliams' Psychoanalytic Diagnosis and key concepts like concordant and complementary countertransference, this episode offers practical wisdom for mental health professionals seeking to improve their reflective functioning and psychodynamic case conceptualization. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Understanding Mature Defense Mechanisms in Psychotherapy: Nancy McWilliams Framework with Clinical Examples from the Tuesday Cohort
May 1102:09:08Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Dr. David Puder and the Tuesday 2025–2026 Psychotherapy Cohort explore mature and neurotic defense mechanisms through the lens of Nancy McWilliams' influential framework. Building upon the previous discussion on primitive defenses, they provide an in-depth look at how higher-level defenses such as regression, repression, compartmentalization, isolation of affect, intellectualization, rationalization, moralization, undoing, displacement, reaction formation, and sublimation operate in both everyday life and clinical practice. Filled with rich clinical examples drawn from outpatient psychiatry, emergency settings, trauma work, grief, OCD, and private practice, the cohort discusses the adaptive value as well as the potential costs of these defenses, offering practical insights for recognizing and working with them effectively in psychotherapy. By listening to this episode, you can earn 2.0 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →Primitive Defense Mechanisms Explained: Sexualization, Dissociation, Acting Out, Withdrawal, Denial, Splitting, Omnipotent Control, Projective Identification
Apr 2402:40:25Tap to summarizeIn this episode, Dr. David Puder and his talented Cohort deliver a comprehensive exploration of primitive defense mechanisms, which are the earliest, most fundamental ways the mind protects us from overwhelming anxiety, trauma, and threats to the self. Drawing directly from Nancy McWilliams' Psychoanalytic Diagnosis, they break down key primitive defenses. You'll hear clear definitions, developmental origins, clinical presentations, countertransference implications, literary examples, and real-world clinical vignettes, plus a rich group discussion on when these defenses are adaptive versus maladaptive. By listening to this episode, you can earn 2.5 Psychiatry CME Credits. Link to blog Link to YouTube video
Transcribe →