A podcast that shares interviews of authors that wrote the books that mental health professionals are reading.

Psychotherapist and podcast host Jessica Fowler interviews Jesse Finklestein, PsyD. who is the co-author of the book Skills for Real Life: A DBT Guide to Navigating Stress, Emotions and Relationships with Shireen L. Rizvi, PhD. In this episode, we explore the modules of DBT which include mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness can be used to help people in everyday life.  In addition, Dr. Finklestein explains DBT’s skills can help toward change not just in behavior but in creating hope and tolerating pain. He describes the book’s accessible, design-driven format, including having visual elements and “skills paths” to help readers choose tools for specific situations.  

Psychotherapist and podcast host Jessica Fowler interviews licensed clinical social worker and author Sophia Valle Galano about teen anxiety and her book, Calming Teen Anxiety: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Your Teenager Cope with Worry. Sophia Valle Galano explains that teen anxiety often looks different than adult anxiety and may appear as overwhelm, school refusal, panic symptoms, isolation, or irritability. Adults should assess frequency and the degree of impairment. Sophia and Jessica explore what to do when teens refuse therapy, including brainstorming alternative supports.  Sophia emphasizes boundaries around teen therapy, not over-involving parents or grilling teens afterward, and highlights listening, collaboration, preventive approaches, and not avoiding difficult topics like substance use and sexual health to build trust and safety.

About the author:

Sophia Vale Galano is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, author, speaker, teacher and practicing therapist. Sophia was born in Los Angeles, raised in London, and holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from New York University. She has been providing therapy since 2015 and has over a decade of experience working with adults and adolescents. Sophia has treated individuals and families in her private practice while also providing therapy in medical, educational, residential and outpatient settings. She is an expert at treating teenage anxiety, and is the author of the book, Calming Teenage Anxiety: A Parent’s Guide to Helping Your Teenager Cope with Worry.

Psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler closes season nine of “What Your Therapist Is Reading” with Dr. Dana E. Crawford, licensed clinical psychologist and trauma-informed care expert, to discuss her book “Healing Bias: Your Guide to Individual, Interpersonal and Institutional Change.”  We explore how bias shows up for people and Dr. Crawford shares about her Bias Reduction Theory and Training (CBRT) as a framework for addressing culture-based countertransference and projection in therapy and beyond.

*information provided in this program is for informational and educational purposes only.

Psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler interviews licensed clinical social worker and author Phil Lane about his book, "Overcoming Panic and Panic Attacks." Lane shares that the book is rooted in his own experience with intense panic attacks. Listen in as we explore the topic of panic, causes and how to handle it through various interventions. We also address fear of recurring panic, framing episodes as temporary “flare-ups,” and note that panic symptoms can mimic medical emergencies, so ruling out health issues and keeping up with checkups is important.

Highlights:

Challenging Panic Thoughts

What Panic Really Is

Book Roadmap Overview

Why Panic Happens

Baseline Habits

Therapy Tools That Help

Fear of Panic Returning

Somatic Mimics and Medical Checks

Self Awareness and Triggers

*Information shared is for informational and educational purposes only.

Psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler interviews Katyee Gillis this week about parental abandonment.  We are discussing her book: Healing from Parental Abandonment and Neglect: Move Beyond Insecure Attachment to Build Safety, Connection and Trust with Yourself and Others (affiliate link). Katyee Gillis defines parental abandonment as a parent or caregiver severing the relationship through rejection, being kicked out of the home, or loss of a caregiver after divorce, and notes it can occur across the lifespan and overlaps at times with family estrangement. There are a variety of causes including family dysfunction, abuse, and homophobia/transphobia.  This in as we discuss how abandonment can impact the child and how to move forward with healing,

Information shared is for informational and educational purposes only.

Psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler interviews Lisa Gray this week about relationships and chronic illness.  We discuss her book:  Thriving in a Relationship When You Have Chronic Illness: Navigate Challenges and Keep Your Relationship Strong Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.  We explore how chronic illness changes couple dynamics and how acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can help.

Information shared in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.

Psychotherapist and host Jessica Fowler interviews health coach, author, and speaker Esther Avant about her book, "To Your Health: A Lifestyle of Health, Happiness, and Confidence,".  We explore how changing perspective can free people to question beliefs and pursue goals.

On this weeks episode of What Your Therapist is Reading, Jessica Fowler speaks with Dr. Jessica Zucker about her book Normalize it: Upending the Silence, stigma and Shame that Shapes Women’s Lives, which examines women’s experiences from girlhood through menopause, including miscarriage, body image, motherhood, and friendship, and aims to dismantle the silence, stigma, and shame surrounding them.

Highlights

Unspoken Pain and Joy

Replace Silence with Stories

Miscarriage Stigma and Shame

Motherhood Without a Village

Three-part framework—acknowledge it, share it, normalize it

Menopause

Friendship Grief and Loneliness