School of Psych | Insightful interviews and stories about psychology, culture, and relationships. - SoP 5 | The Superhero Therapist w/ Janina Scarlet, PhD

SoP 5 | The Superhero Therapist w/ Janina Scarlet, PhD

02/16/16 • 47 min

School of Psych | Insightful interviews and stories about psychology, culture, and relationships.

Dr. Janina Scarlet may not be faster than a speeding bullet or able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but she knows a thing or two about superheroes. Instead of x-ray vision or super speed, her superpowers include compassion, courage, and empathy.

Author of the upcoming book ‘Superhero Therapy’, due out in late 2016, Janina has worked with active duty military service members and civilians by using the power of stories, comics, and pop culture to help people navigate the stresses and strains of post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain conditions.

She’s been interviewed by the HuffPost Live, spoken regularly at a number of comic/fantasy/sci-fi conventions, and contributed chapters to the Sterling Publishing PsychGeeks book series including The Walking Dead Psychology, Star Wars Psychology, Game of Thrones Psychology, and Star Trek Psychology.

She describes herself as a psychologist, a scientist, an animal lover, and a full-time geek with a mission to “take over the world with geek culture and compassion”. You can find her on twitter @Shadowquill or visit her website: www.superhero-therapy.com But all great superheroes have fantastic origin stories, right? Well, Janina is no exception. And like so many other incredible superhero stories, this one starts with a terrible radioactive accident... Whether you love the X-Men, you long to enlist with the Guardians of the Galaxy, or even if you just can’t figure out what’s a Doctor Who, you can be our hero by leaving us an honest rating and review on iTunes. For more amazing adventures, remember to subscribe to the podcast and visit us at http://schoolofpsych.com or follow us on twitter @SchoolofPsych.

Previous Episode

SoP 4 | Why am I STILL Single?!: A causal quagmire w/ author Sara Eckel

Sara Eckel was a self-improvement guinea pig. As a freelance writer for women’s magazines and a single woman in her 30s, she talked to psychologists, coaches, yoga teachers, and even took an acting class in a quest to figure out why she was still single and what to do about it. At age 39, without a serious boyfriend in eight years, one man actually looked at her and said: “What’s wrong with you?” The answer to that question is the basis of her first book, “It’s Not You: 27 (Wrong) Reasons You’re Single” based on her hit essay for the New York Times Modern Love column.

Sara Eckel is a full-time freelance writer and personal coach. She’s been a nationally syndicated columnist and her work has appeared in publications like The Washington Post, Salon, Women’s Health, Time Out New York, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, The BBC, The Village Voice, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. Currently partnered? No worries, this episode is still for you. It’s not an episode about what it’s like being single and what’s wrong with you if you aren’t partnered and how to go about meeting someone. It’s about how all of us think about being single, and about some of the awful things we sometimes say to singles, especially single women in their 30s and beyond. Most importantly, this episode about compassion. Compassion for yourself and compassion for others and what happens when it’s not there. Sara’s been deeply influenced by her meditation practices and learning about Buddhist teachings. At the heart of this episode is a quagmire...about valuing couples while also embracing singlehood and accepting ourselves as we are even when we might want something more. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast to have new episodes sent directly to your listening device and go visit us our website over at SchoolofPsych.com for shownotes and more.

Next Episode

SoP 6 | Get Me Out of Here! w/ Colleen Mullen, PsyD, LMFT

Dr. Colleen Mullen knows that breaking free from a bad situation isn’t always smooth sailing. Scapegoated and physically abused in her childhood home, she had to find her own ways of solace and escape until striking out on her own at age 17. Find out how Colleen reached escape velocity with the help of a therapist and the inspiration of her father...a man who struggled with the disabling strictures of childhood polio. Colleen reached escape velocity to come to peace with her past and provide counseling, motivation, and inspiration for those struggling with addictions, relationship conflicts, trauma, and anxiety. She has a doctorate in marriage and family therapy and started the Coaching Through Chaos practice in San Diego, California. Her work has been featured on PsychCentral.com and Fortune.com and she’s also host of the Coaching Through Chaos podcast featuring interviews with experts in health and well-being to help inspire, motivate, and empower you to greater personal success. Colleen and I actually traded podcast interviews this week, so make sure to go over and check out the Coaching Through Chaos podcast this week at coachingthroughchaos.com as Colleen interviews me about my own personal and professional journey helping deep feelers navigate powerful emotions and complicated romantic relationships. As always, you can find us by heading over to SchoolofPsych.com and be sure to follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/schoolofpsych) and Twitter (@schoolofpsych).