<![CDATA[THE PSYCHSURVIVALIST]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist I received my doctorate in Counseling Psychology, have been licensed in New Mexico since 1991, with almost all of my practice in Clinical Psych. I worked inpatient in State Hospitals, in outpatient programs for the severely disabled mentally ill and at what was commonly known as the Albuquerque Jail, formally the Bernalillo County Detention Center, where I supervised counselors. I provided assessments for the State in criminal forensic cases, performed mental health Disability assessment interviews and wrote formal clinical reports, and later reviewed others' reports for Social Security assessing for accuracy and proper determination. Altogether, this amounted to thousands of cases.

My most important preparation for what became my unexpected career came from growing up in a dysfunctional family, where I decided at 17 years old that my best alternative was homelessness. That experience brought me into daily contact with drug addicts, alcoholics, the mentally impaired, criminals, and others who, like me, couldn't see how they could make it in life. Many of these people were my friends. I still think about them, often fondly. Those relationships proved to be important in my training and subsequent practice.

I accept people for who they are. I do not presume them to be either good or bad; I take them as they present themselves. I NEVER assume that I know them better than they know themselves. In that regard, I have never changed. I have been known to say, "I don't like people." The typical response is, "So, why did you become a psychologist?" And I reply, "I think their problems are interesting." If my work opens the possibility of improving a person's functioning and adaptability I am all in-no matter the severity of the case-as long as they want to do the work of therapy.

Recognizing flaws and biases in people does not dehumanize them for me; it ennobles them. It reflects an understanding of what they have been through and what they may have endured, to reach the point where they commit themselves to enlarging their world. As a Psychsurvivalist, I expect people to be people, no more and no less. I hope that the people I have worked with put what they learned to good use. Any success is theirs not mine. I always appreciate and recognize their effort. I am just trying to help them along the way.

]]> RSS.com 2026.401.141116 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:54:36 GMT en f3c74d0d-9e16-5132-995c-77f8b887d965 https://media.rss.com/the-misanthropic-psychologist/20260104_100101_9151b762842272bba0e16c6f75cd2446.png THE PSYCHSURVIVALIST https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist yes Julian Lev 2026 Julian Lev Julian Lev true episodic 19d97020-fa30-11f0-a354-65ab31b50819 podcast true <![CDATA[The Snake's Lecture]]> This is episode 13 with the artwork included. Sorry for any inconvenience due to my error.

How the #limbicsystem may contribute to our cognitive experience not only as a means of passive, scientific observation, but as an active contributor to our learning and experience. #Cognitivepsychology is used to interpret how life events affect us as we go from passive observer, however scientific, to active interpreters of our own experience and vicariously through others. How this might be what was intended by the psychiatrist #ViktorFrankl in his theory of #Logotherapy In which I ask the question, What might the limbic system be doing when it is not reacting to influences that are intended to cause us #fear, #pleasure or pander to our basest needs? What might the limbic system be doing when we are not actively using it?All AI is credited when it appears in the discussion. The conclusions are all my own. AI is only used for clarity and to develop content.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2692441 83fbbcdd-7587-4b19-965d-49eb1e86f834 1248 full 2 2 13 13 false Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:54:34 GMT true <![CDATA[The Snake's Lecture- version 2]]> How the #limbicsystem may contribute to our cognitive experience not only as a means of passive, scientific observation, but as an active contributor to our learning and experience. #Cognitivepsychology is used to interpret how life events affect us as we go from passive observer, however scientific, to active interpreters of our own experience and vicariously through others. How this might be what was intended by the psychiatrist #ViktorFrankl in his theory of #Logotherapy In which I ask the question, What might the limbic system be doing when it is not reacting to influences that are intended to cause us #fear, #pleasure or pander to our basest needs? What might the limbic system be doing when we are not actively using it?All AI is credited when it appears in the discussion. The conclusions are all my own. AI is only used for clarity and to develop content.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2692299 694365ee-3195-4778-8a45-a953bfa92bad 1248 full 1 1 14 14 false Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:29:05 GMT true <![CDATA[Meet Your Lizard Brain: Psychology In Action]]> In which I present the notion that the #unconscious mind doesn't only express itself in our #dreams or when we are not fully aware or in control of what we are doing, but that it is an ongoing participant of our daily life and in our thinking. I argue that it is the basis for what we regard as #internalconflicts because it may not be in agreement with who we perceive ourselves to be and may take an oppositional stand as we refuse to accept certain aspects of ourselves that are discordant with who we believe we are and who we would like to be. I express this idea more fully and dramatically in my novel, Spiders Kill Their Young, available on Amazon that received an excellent Kirkus review, I once again discuss #storytelling as the best medium to understand human problems in context and further examine why this is so.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2649926 6de12738-c8fa-42a0-aff2-95cb51e28311 1490 full 1 1 11 11 false Sun, 22 Mar 2026 20:34:37 GMT <![CDATA[Diagnosing With Your Gut]]> Applying #instinct to #psychodiagnostics. Incorporating feelings in the process of diagnosis. Going beyond #ActiveListening Theory to a more indepth form of listening.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2615856 9a6b9645-04c7-4b88-bd3c-d4781427bfae 1714 full 1 1 10 10 false Tue, 10 Mar 2026 05:00:32 GMT <![CDATA[What's For Dessert? Psychodiagnostics, anyone?]]> #Psychsurvivalist What is a #psychiatricdiagnosis anyway? Is it the name of a disease? Is it mental? Biological? Is it a negative character assessment? Or is it simply name calling, a way to ostracize a person with whom we find fault for any reason or for no reason at all because we just don't like them? This episode explores several reasons for attaching a #clinicallabel, although there may be others I haven't thought of yet. This is the beginning of an answer to the very common question, #Am-I-crazy? Going to the cover art, do you ask the educated doctor or do you ask the monolith that symbolizes the repository of experience? Maybe we are looking in the wrong place for our answer.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2598214 87f2232a-9732-4549-a111-5b8011d41236 1707 full 1 1 9 9 false Tue, 03 Mar 2026 20:58:18 GMT <![CDATA[AI: Man vs. Machine]]> This episode is a clinical comparison of AI functioning with human brain processes, how they are alike and how they differ. The unfortunate, creepy conclusion is that each is mirroring and replicating the other, reenforcing each other even in destructive ways.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2558875 05819893-a510-41d4-951a-1f45220835a0 1535 full 1 1 7 7 false Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:14:39 GMT <![CDATA[AI Inside and Outside the Box]]> I asked MSCoPilot/AI to create a self-portrait. Like any politician #AI deflected and said that it could create a portrait of me, of my thinking as a #Psychsurvivalist based on our discussions. The result was what it called "The Minimalist Logic Monolith & Institutional Mind". This was partly based on what it understood to be my character and also on what it construed from our prior discussions of how I do #psychotherapy. This is my critique of its work on the project and how it diverges from the true intention of my work, comparing what it grasped from inside the box and what I know about myself outside it, that is the me that must survive in the world. Nevertheless I will keep the image, the monolith, as a symbol of what I do, recognizing that some people see me in this way. I suggest you blow it up on your computer screen so that you can appreciate what I consider an important work of minimalist art in detail, an image that some people may recognize as me, their therapist, and others not. But I admit there is some amount of truth in it.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2550856 4fb2867b-feff-482d-b51d-5b87e99de05a 1511 full 1 1 6 6 false Sun, 15 Feb 2026 20:08:06 GMT <![CDATA[On Assessing Military Veterans: Welcome To The Machine]]> In this episode, I describe my experience working with #Veterans, many who were combat veterans, in various stages of #PTSD. I touch on the interface between psychology, at least my background in it, and the VA system. as I recently experienced it. What it means to be a #Psychsurvivalist in a world where survival is merely taken for granted and not a major focus of any assessment or therapy.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2525045 82692b93-afef-4095-b2d6-88e02a7203da 1859 full 1 1 4 4 false Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:49:15 GMT <![CDATA[A Discussion Of The Reiner Case-Are People Good?]]> #Forensicpsychology #Criminalpsychology #Psychsurvival #Psychiatricdiagnosis If the case of #NickReiner were to come across my desk, whether for my assessment of mental health considerations of a criminal case or for Social Security Disability, these are the questions I might ask and what I would be looking for in my review of any available records in order to make a recommendation or determination. The questions I ask here are based entirely on information I have found in public reports in the news media, including statements from his father, Rob Reiner, and from Nick himself. As I say in this podcast, answers to some of my questions may be found in the clinical records from his years of treatment, still others may yet be answered by specific types of examination that he might have had or more likely might never have been subjected to. This is intended to be the beginning of a discussion, not the end of one.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2478294 cdb85824-46d6-4f48-9eae-4344ef126700 1951 full 1 1 3 3 false Thu, 22 Jan 2026 19:18:52 GMT <![CDATA[What Is Psychsurvivalism?]]> #psychology Here are some early essentials of #Psychsurvivalism, that is, separating truth from lies especially when dealing with #attorneys, #politicians, and among #uniformedofficials. I will also introduce the role of #morality in all our actions, what separates morality of the #helpingprofessions whose jobs are to assist from #Iceagents who are given a uniform, a gun, and a mask with nothing else to identify them and whose morality tells them to follow orders and to draw a paycheck.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2466591 42cb29eb-86fe-4e8c-b606-ebd375d770dc 1964 full 1 1 2 2 false Sun, 18 Jan 2026 00:18:07 GMT <![CDATA[Introduction To Psychsurvivalism]]> PsychSurvivalism: What you need to know about psychology to promote your and your family's survival and well-being.

This podcast is about survival, specifically about psychological survival Most survival discussions are about weapons and methods for their use, They usually don't do as well in explaining the situations in which you might use those weapons and how to avoid getting into them. That is the main focus here.. It is about the psychology of the influences that result in misjudgment and poor outcomes, how to recognize and avoid them.

This is about how to think or how to think about thinking, how to recognize and train yourself in how to respond mentally and emotionally when a response to threat is required, even in situations when threat is inobvious to all parties involved. Or as Leonard Cohen said in his song, Hallelujah, "...all I've ever learned from love Was how to shoot someone who outdrew you." It is about how to recognize and respond to mental and emotional uncertainty, even with intimates. This presentation discusses how to recognize environmental factors that could result in threat and the people who live and function in those environments that are exploitative or threatening even when there is no intention of causing harm. I might not tell you what to do in specific situations, but I hope to provide useful information on how to recognize them, interpret them, and how best to react to them.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2452765 5e86c362-67c2-4cdf-88c3-c9fecc9792c4 779 full 1 1 1 1 false Sun, 11 Jan 2026 01:22:33 GMT <![CDATA[The Psychologist and The Snake: What Extreme Measures Tell Us About Our Thinking]]> An introduction to how the #rational prefers to overlook the part of us that is #irrational that may have still more influence on our actions. This is the #unconscious of #Freud and #Jung, but that is played out on a much larger stage, a part that influences all of our actions on an ongoing basis and that often impels us to decisions that may be #self-serving and #harmful of others, but that may lead to a deeper truth of who we are.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2672856 6c67aa67-6f5c-4886-bfd4-3568afd68918 1630 full false Mon, 30 Mar 2026 00:50:28 GMT <![CDATA[The Psychology Of AI]]> Here is an #exploration of how AI interacts with humans at a #psychological level, how it influences us and how we influence it. Without a based understanding of ourselves and our machines, we could get lost n the pursuit of #psychsurvival, by getting overwhelmed by conflicting information from different sources with different #motives. This is a first approach.

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2585862 eb6d8ac4-c71c-40b5-bac5-322e490afff6 1454 full false Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:05:53 GMT <![CDATA[Weaknesses vs. Dysfunction in the Mental Health System: Craziness vs. Crazy Making]]> How many psychologists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One. But the lightbulb has to want to be screwed. Change is only a small part of the equation.

#Psychsurvival looks at thought and action in relations to the intended goal. Psychiatrists make the diagnoses, then write med orders with the goal of managing symptoms.. Nurses monitor patient functioning and note behavioral changes. Psychologists assess stability and reality contact. Patients just want to get back to what is familiar however dysfunctional. We were taught that the head of the treatment team is the patient. But everyone knows better.. Like the Tower of Babel, everyone uses different languages and understands roles differently toward purposes that are hardly discussed. Is this a flaw or a feature? #criminalbehavior #insanity

]]> https://rss.com/podcasts/the-misanthropic-psychologist/2510138 3a75c406-dc6f-437d-85b5-1b5502f166d6 1618 full false Sat, 31 Jan 2026 23:52:41 GMT