The Thinking Mind Podcast: Psychiatry & Psychotherapy

Today Alex answers listener questions on a variety of topics including self-harm, talking to complicated people, the function of dark humour, delusional disorder and benzodiazepene addiction.
If you would like to submit a question to a future ask me anything episode, email [email protected].
Audio-Essay by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Curmi is a consultant general adult psychiatrist with a sub-speciality in addictions who completed his training in the South London and Maudsley NHS foundation trust. He is also a UKCP registered training psychotherapist, and has a special interest in mindfulness meditation.

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If you would like to enquire about an online psychotherapy appointment with Dr. Alex, you can email - [email protected]
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Dr. Benjiman Waterhouse is a consultant psychiatrist. He is also an award-winning stand-up comedian. He has written for the Guardian and Independent and was included in a list of ‘Inspiring Psychiatrists’ by the Royal College of Psychiatrists. You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here, his first book, was released in May 2024
In this episode we discuss the ups and downs of psychiatry training, his experiences with psychotherapy, common misconceptions about mental illness, some of the problems with modern psychiatry and our cultural understanding of mental illness , the potential value of psychedelics, the placebo effect and much more.
Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi, consultant psychiatrist.
If you would like to enquire about an online psychotherapy appointment with Dr. Alex, you can email - [email protected].
Give feedback here - [email protected] -
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Psychotherapist Arie Winograd (LMFT) has spent the vast majority of his 25-year psychotherapy career treating clients with body dysmorphic disorder. He founded and was the director of the Los Angeles BDD & Body Image Clinic. He is the author of Face to Face with Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Psychotherapy and Clinical Insights. He currently works with BDD clients in his private practice.
Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi, consultant psychiatrist.
If you would like to enquire about an online psychotherapy appointment with Dr. Alex, you can email - [email protected].
Give feedback here - [email protected] -
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast
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Matilda Gosling is an author, social scientist and researcher, with two books that cover parenting, development and mental health. Evidence-Based Parenting came out in January 2024, and Teenagers: The Evidence Base will be published in the new year.

Her latest book uses evidence from social and experimental psychology, neuroscience, family systems and adolescent development (among others) to examine parent-teenager relationships, the online world and other connections, mood and maturity, mental health and resilience, risk, and the building blocks needed to become a healthy adult.

Today we discuss both of her books, including topics such as different parenting styles, the psychological function of adolesence, how to guide teenagers with regards to drugs and alcohol, supporting children in terms of their life path, the problem of social contagion amongst teenagers and much more.
You can find out more about Matilda's work here:
https://www.matildagosling.com/
Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi, consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.
If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email [email protected] with "Speaking Enquiry " in the subject line.
If you would like to enquire about an online psychotherapy appointment with Dr. Alex, you can email - [email protected].
Give feedback here - [email protected] -
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Professor Henry O’Connell is a Consultant Psychiatrist working in Portlaoise, Ireland and Associate Clinical Professor with the School of Medicine at the University of Limerick. Henry has a special interest in how principles of evolutionary psychology can be applied to psychiatry, mental health and illness and medical education. Henry was isthe founding chair of the college of psychiatrists of Ireland Evolutionary Psychiatry special interest group in 2021 . In 2022 he published his a textbook Evolution and Psychiatry: Clinical Cases.

Useful links:
https://irishpsychiatry.ie/members/special-interest-groups/evolution-and-psychiatry-special-interest-group/
https://www.wpanet.org/evolutionary-psychiatry#
https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/members/special-interest-groups/evolutionary-psychiatry
https://substack.com/@epsig?r=2dzwd8&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile
Today we discuss among other topics:

What it means to take an evolutionary approach in psychiatry
- The difference between proximate and ultimate causes of mental illness
- The notion of evolutionary mismatch
- Evolutionary perspectives on psychosis, anxiety, panic attacks, ADHD, bipolar disoder
Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi, consultant psychiatrist.
If you would like to enquire about an online psychotherapy appointment with Dr. Alex, you can email - [email protected].
Give feedback here - [email protected] -
Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast
Join Our Mailing List! - https://thinkingmindpod.aidaform.com/mailinglistsignup
SUPPORT: buymeacoffee.com/thinkingmind