💡Wanted: Therapy Deep Dive Topics

About personal philosophy, such as Edward Elric moving away from scientism to develop a more well-rounded philosophy when he is trying to regain his own limbs and his brother's body. The Truth (i.e. God) tests him and other alchemists as well as Father regarding their own natures.

Is it possible to move forward together as a couple if one partner has struggled with a porn addiction? I feel like nowadays with social media, only fans and even streamers use sexual content to catch viewers attention and it’s likely that people are to explore this and even become addicted. It eventually will be known in a relationship and how is the partner supposed to handle this? In my child development class, my professor explained that kids are getting exposed to these kinds of things at an earlier age. I worry for what will become of them and how it will affect their relationships. If it results in addiction, how does that person change habits created at an early age? How has their view of intimacy change? They will create distance, how does the partner work with this?

Psychology of Despair in The Blair Witch Project

This is potentially a controversial topic but maybe finding films where the main character(s) has compromised their identity and their integrity and how they either successfully (or at least *could* successfully) reduce the harm they’ve caused and/or regain their integrity once again

How to overcome abandonment, parental or otherwise. One of my go to movies when I want catharsis for dealing with my own feelings is Smoke Signals. It's an amazing movie about two guys living on a reservation, both dealing with loss, abandonment, abuse, and other issues in very different ways. It's a deep and beautiful therapeutic watch for me. Just try to ignore the bad wig toward the end of the movie. 🤣

I would love to see some deep dives that explore the envirinment's effects on people and how to manage it. For example how to find in person communities in urbanised and digitalised society, how to combat the negative effects of social media, including its many emotion targeting contents, always seeing the extremes rather than the ordinary and influencers implanting harmful and limiting beliefs, how to avoid the several mental health epidemics, work related psychology, like work-life balance, imposter syndrome, burnout, stuff like these (man vs world rather than man vs man or man vs self)

I was thinking about two topics that could be interesting: 1. How to deal with the fear of people dying after someone you loved died unexpectedly 2.How to start a difficult conversation with your therapist, for example I have been with the same one for years and sometimes when I have a new problem I have a difficult time presenting it in a meaningful way that doesn’t feel completely out of the blue

It would be interesting to see a How To Get Into Therapy 101: expectations vs reality. Covering things like how to find a therapist, private practice vs commercial options with their pros and cons, what an initial intake may look like, if you are looking for a counselor or psychologist or psychiatrist and what function each serve, how often you can expect to meet, online vs in-person care, will someone ever ‘graduate’ therapy, why your therapist can’t be a friend or family member, how to de-stigmatize your therapy journey to others, etc.

The movie Hope Floats always hit me hard due to childhood trauma with my mother. But there are other movies that talk about that too.

I know there's been videos about grief and loss, but I think covering specific types of loss would be good. More specifically I think covering pet loss since its kind of glossed over. Maybe Marley and me would be a good starting point? I'm sure there are other movies or shows as well.

If possible, I would love a video on Good tips and advice on how to approach and making long term friendships as an adult (Post-college).

I’d do how to support someone who needs to create a boundary/ making boundaries (so both sides of boundaries and accountability in a relationship) or healing repressed memories

Setting Healthy Boundaries - I can't think of any titles to recommend at the moment, but at least one must exist, right? Since I share Jono's accountability kink, Accountability and Personal Growth - my rewatch of The Good Place brings it front and center to mind. Jimmy in A League of Their Own? Finding Resilience in Hard Times (seems zeitgeisty) - Barf from Spaceballs popped into my head. (I'm not caffeinated yet, so do with that what you will.) Healing Past Trauma - Pick your poison from Neverending Story and fix what it did to us! Lol

How to keep hope alive for finding love someday, when feeling alone and left behind in a world full of married people

How about embracing different life paths in adulthood. I feel like the film Sabrina, starring Julia Ormond, Harrison Ford, and Greg Kinnear would be a great partner for this.

Healthy friendships in movies. Lord of the rings, kpop demon hunters, Kung fu panda, Parks and Rec, Harry Potter.

Two ideas: 1. Imposter syndrome. Any ways/habits to overcome feeling not good enough. 2. Parent caregiving. Adults taking care of their parents. Somewhat the other end of the spectrum from being a successful parents to your children.

Maybe one on learning something life-changing about yourself later in life, like a diagnosis of any type of neurodivergence (ADHD, autism, etc.) in your 30s or beyond. I'm pondering if there's a movie in which a character learns they are very different from the people around them and has to adapt?

Movies: I was recently rewatching the IT films and I was thinking how great even multiple episodes could be about the 1st movie (2nd if you want also) about going from childhood-puberty and how the monster in that story is all about the childhood trauma and how different people cope and how it can effect your choices later in life and also how you can transform childhood fears/memories that hurt you and use them to make you feel more powerful. I just think those movies/the book delves SO deep into the things that scare kids and how there's that age where we still have that belief in magic/monsters and how we can lose that as adults. Also, the movie Companion would be great. I don't want to spoil anything, but I'd love to see your take on all of the dynamics in relationships that movie tackles, yet not TOO seriously. It's similar to Ex Machina, but with a bit more comedy. TV Shows: I would LOVEEEE to see episodes on Shrinking. I know it's a TV show, but it's so amazing and I know it's on your lists of great shows for Alan and for Jono to watch. With all of the family dynamics I think you could do multiple episodes on that show alone. I'd also LOVE a deep dive into the limited series Adolescence which is only 4 episodes, but it such an important show and the acting/film-making would be such a great topic for both of you.

My older brother is an alcoholic. I'd like to know more about how the addiction has formed the person he's become. Does addiction lead to selfishness? Why is he always trying to be a victim? He will literally make up scenarios claiming he was wronged or attacked, and they get even worse when he's drunk. When I was younger I believed everything he said because why wouldn't I? Then I noticed a trend where if I brought up something he said at a later time, he'd look frustrated or angry, as if he was mad at me for believing his lie? I'm at a point now where I haven't spoken to him in a couple years. I did not cut off contact but I put up a few boundaries that he's very upset about and he just cut off contact himself. Most of the family has cut contact with him, except my mom. I don't really know what to do or how to handle this. I hate not having him in my life, how do I manage dealing with all this? I'm not sure which movie y'all would want to do for this topic, maybe Beautiful Boy or Sound of Metal? Sound of Metal is a gorgeous film that I think would be an awesome episode

I know Jono is a family therapist, but I'm curious for any takes he and Alan might have on dealing with physical disability diagnoses and how those affect both the self and others. I would recommend Out of My Mind on Disney+ for this, not Wonder. The first is so so much better as a movie. Although Wonder could be acceptable if they look into and discuss the topic/term "disability porn" alongside what I listed above about disability.

*How to overcome internal emotional obstacles that keep you from enforcing healthy boundaries with a narcissistic parent *particularly if you're their only family still living*

I would love to touch on the “therapy speak” consequences and how to not be afraid of applying what you’re learning about yourself and relationships “out into the wild.” I’ve seen a trend, and experienced this myself, of over reflecting and over therapizing yourself to where it makes causes fear or judgement either within yourself or other people.

How to help tweens/teens understand that "who we are" changes throughout our lifetimes without robbing them of a sense of stability & security. Fostering mental flexibility when parenting a kid who thinks they've got it all figured out (his personality, religion, politics, turns out my 6th grader has solved it all!). Basically what else can I do besides recite them the Ted Lasso dart scene?

- How to identify core believes learned in childhood and how to verify if they are still valid / needed in adulthood - How to heal your inner child - How do you know, who you really are and not defined by only the negative thinking one might have.

Since watching and reading "The Outrun" I want to know more about addiction. What are the dynamics, why does addiction develope, what form of addiction, what are differences and similarities between different forms/addiction objects and also, how das overcoming an addiction look like and how does it work, what does it take, are there points of no return, what does addiction do to the person itself in points like selfimage (that's an official English word, isn't it?😅) and imagine of the outside world? I would like to understand that better

A therapy deep dive on dehumanization? Not necessarily as a weapon against another (like verbal abuse) but also not something entirely like a people pleaser. Solo afflicted i think? Someone who believes/accepts themself as 'less than human', and often appear as selfless or a general community boon, but they frequently deny their own needs (whether behind closed doors or in public). I'd also love a deeper dive into the topic of DID but i fully understand if that's a little outside the scope of the ballpark :0c

I also really loved the twilight movies as you guys reviewed them- they are totally my garbage movie loves but terrible as anything other than that. It was fun to have things be more loose and just you all watching awful movies. I didn’t know all of the badness until we had Alan’s expertise add in the terrible. Not sure what movies this leads to- other than 50 shades and we shouldn’t torture ourselves that way

I think cheating and divorce and the longer term impacts of divorce on families later- I love It’s Complicated. With Meryl Streep, Alex Baldwin, and Steve Martin. It’s really a great look at families and divorce and moving on or not. Nora ephron and her white kitchens too.

How about Body image and self love. I think a great movie to start with is the Korea film Red shoes and the seven dwarves. It was genuinely a great surprise how fun and actually insightful it was on what true beauty is

Viktor Frankl and Man's Search for Meaning. Written by a Holocaust survivor and designed to help people find meaning and purpose in life after extreme trauma, it's a good segue into trauma-informed care. I think we're all struggling to find meaning in the absurdity of life these days.

The importance of self-love and how to maintain it I feel it's important to keep working on this because too many people fall into self-loathing

I’d love to see a deep dive on the role reversal that occurs as parents age, when children become the caretakers. Bonus points if there’s discussion of siblings trying to take on that role.

How to be an optimist while married to a pessimist. I deal with this on a daily basis.

How to navigate being trapped in responsibilities and circumstances that hinder us from being able to make choices for our own lives and figure out our own wants and needs. What would be a good way for someone in a situation like this to cope? What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a movie reference I had thought about for this topic.

Letting go of your kids as they transition into adulthood / parenting young adults (this could be a good cinema therapy episode with Steel Magnolias)

Learning to see our strengths.

Realizing your childhood was actually abusive and you honestly had no idea it was until you hit a point in adulthood.

Identifying when anxiety is disordered versus a normal response to *waves hands at everything*. Are we (and our kids) collectively just getting better at labeling anxiety or are the increases in diagnosis because we're all freaking out more in a disproportionate response to the environment we live in?

I would love to learn from Olaf when he's teaching the kids of the town how to control control things you can when things feel out of control? I feel like I'm spiraling with everything happening. Everything feels so heavy

The power of not hardening yourself to the world and the strength it takes to soften up/stay soft (meet people with love and and open heart) when life has been hard In all aspects of life — not romantically

I'd love a deep dive on how to keep yourself in an abusive relationship. How to not forget your worth when it's constantly deminished and keep your humanity when you're being dehumanised and belitled on daily basis. I just got out of a 10 year relationship that did all of that (plus physical violence to really reinforce the message of - you're worthless) and I feel like I managed to keep my humanity and worth, but looking back, I'm not sure how I did it...

How to deal with anxiety. Sometimes, the universe doesn't want to cooperate. And it can be hard on a lot of people.

navigating major differences in your relationships

How to navigate one partner preferring to have biological kids while the other partner would prefer to adopt. Also, what factors should and shouldn't play a role on whether to adopt or to have biological kids.

How to choose a therapist/find the right therapist (especially if you're looking to better yourself more than have a clear specific challenge)

Recalibrating/resetting our nervous systems after living with and working through trauma

How to deal avoidant accountability personality or traits

Parenting teenagers. I'm sure you both have thoughts! :)

How to balance giving yourself grace while aiming for higher standards of behaviors. Tips for the extremely avoidant: how to usefully self-reflect on your current situation, how to access your emotions when you're so used to ignoring them, How to reach out to family members without "appearing" to be acting out of character. Complex PTSD and what to do about it.

- Generalized anxiety disorder, and how the symptoms differ between men and woman - Addressing the stigma about men and mental health - Psychosomatic symptoms to mental health issues, and why they simple aren't "in your head"

- Different types of therapy treatments and how to know which works best for you - An in depth breakdown between a LCSW, LCP, LMFT, etc. - Lyrical breakdowns of songs in movies, such as Your Idol and how to listen with your mind on, too. - How to deal with loved ones with extreme views.

I'd love a deep dive on externalizing emotions and how to reintegrate them.

Authenticity

Identity/Integrity in That Thing You Do! Specifically the idea of holding to who you are when others want you to be something else. But I'm also just being a dork about a Tom Hanks movie.

Finding motivation/purpose in a crowded world where nothing seems unique and people aren’t really paying attention anymore. My teenagers are normal in that they don’t know what they want to do as a career, but I can’t get them interested in exploring.

Identity formation in your 20s: why early adulthood feels destabilizing/the anxiety of choosing a path

How do you integrate the good things a person gave you after a relationship (romantic/friendship/professional) ends? Like, you’re not in touch anymore, but you know you’re a better person for knowing them? Related to recent videos, you know they’ve changed you “For Good”?

Internet culture and overconsumption of information’s impact on mental health!

Finding ways to heal/find optimism during difficult periods of life

Hey Ive been waiting for something like this! A topic I'd love to hear Jono talk about is how to safely love someone prone to self destructive tendencies. If a film is necessary to explore I had this question or thought while revisiting 1996's Twister with Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton!

Healing/finding yourself after a breakup

I’d like to see a deep dive on gas lighting, how to recognize a narcissist, and how to deal with and/or separate yourself from them