Grieving towards a better world

Have you heard of “The Dark Triad?”  It sounds like a mysterious crime syndicate in a James Bond movie.   But it’s real. The Dark Triad refers to the worst personality traits a person can have.  Narcissism.  Machiavellianism.  Psychopathy.

Think of former U.S. President Donald Trump.  NY financier Bernie Madoff.   Serial killer Paul Bernardo.  

Each of them has at least one of these traits according to a researcher who studies personality disorders.     

And there’s even a fourth dark trait – sadism.  Put them all together and they form a tetrad of the most dangerous qualities a human can possess.

Renowned personality researcher Delroy Paulhus gives a compelling overview of why we have these human traits, how they’re exhibited, and even more shocking - why no one is exempt from any of these behaviours.  

Info on Guest:

Delroy Paulhus is a personality researcher and professor emeritus of the Dept. of Psychology at the University of British Columbia.   For more info:  https://psych.ubc.ca/profile/del-paulhus/

An article on the four “dark personalities”:  https://paulhuslab.psych.ubc.ca/research/dark-personalities/

Add’l Info: 

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

Humans are complex beings.

And one of the most perplexing puzzles that John McPhee is trying to figure out –  is how we move.  

It’s a question that’s fascinated him for most of his life.

And during his 30+ years as a systems design engineer, he’s come up with remarkable achievements:

everything from improving electric and autonomous vehicles,  developing exoskeletons for stroke patients,  and increasing the performance of Olympic  and pro athletes. 

His lab even developed a hockey blade that allows hockey players to skate faster.

As well as a baseball pitching machine that can replicate every baseball pitch ever produced in the last ten years.  Even Garrit Cole’s. 

Canada's leading expert in systems dynamics John McPhee shares his amazing inventions and how he’s advancing the way we move. 

Info on Guest:

John McPhee is the Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics and Professor in Systems Design Engineering at the U of Waterloo.   In 2021, Stanford University named him among the top 2% of scientists in the world.  

For more on his research and inventions:  https://uwaterloo.ca/systems-design-engineering/profile/mcphee

To watch a video on his work:  https://uwaterloo.ca/systems-design-engineering/contacts/john-mcphee

Add’l Info: 

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

Are there some things about you - habits or behaviours you’d really like to change? Maybe you’re dealing with anxiety?  Or depression?

Or you’ve been in one bad relationship after another and you want this pattern to stop. You’ve wondered about going for counselling.  But you’re skeptical.  Maybe even scared. Can psychotherapy, or as some people call it – talk therapy - REALLY help??

Who needs it?  What are the different approaches?  And how often do you need to go to benefit? We cover that and a lot more with clinical psychologist Martin Drapeau.  

He’s knowledgeable, thoughtful, and open to discussing some of the troubling issues he’s seeing.  I learned a lot!

Info on Guest:

Dr. Martin Drapeau is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Counselling Psychology and Psychiatry at McGill University.  For more information on his research and work, please check out these links:

https://www.mcgill.ca/edu-ecp/martin-drapeau

https://www.drmartindrapeau.ca/  Dr. Drapeau also has some helpful videos on his website that cover different aspects of psychotherapy and mental health incl. this one on how to choose a psychotherapist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCQNtQA9Lg0

Add’l Info: 

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

I bet if you took a random poll, many would say people’s general behaviour has  deteriorated. - a lot. 

And you can witness this just about anywhere.  On the street with strangers, shopping in a store, when you’re driving – all kinds of rude behaviour.  And you see it with politicians, corporate leaders, celebrities.  And let’s not even get into social media.  

The world seems less welcoming. .. even dangerous.  

What’s happened to good manners, politeness, and behaving respectfully towards others?

We explore the question of bad behaviour,  what it means, and what could be behind it.

Info on Guest:

Mervyn Horgan is a sociologist and professor with the Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph.  For more info:     https://socioanthro.uoguelph.ca/people/mervyn-horgan-0

Sociable Cities Project:  https://www.sociablecities.uoguelph.ca/

The Civil Sphere in Canada: https://csahs.uoguelph.ca/news/2022/05/the-civil-sphere-in-canada

Add’l Info: 

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

It occupies a significant chunk of our life. But we pay little or no attention to it at all. Dreaming.  

There are scary dreams, happy dreams, erotic dreams.. and everyday, run-of-the-mill dreams.  But what do they mean?  

How do we remember them, analyse them, even CONTROL them?  (yes it’s possible) By studying how we sleep and dream we can better understand ourselves and our lives. 

Listen to cognitive scientist Elizaveta Solomonova on the world of dreams. It will open your eyes.   

Info on Guest:

Elizaveta Solomonova is a cognitive scientist who teaches a course called The Science of Dreams at Concordia University in Montreal.  She’s also a researcher with the Neurophilosophy Lab at McGill University.  For more info:   https://sociabilityofsleep.ca/elizaveta-solomonova/

Cross-cultural sleep & dreams study: https://www.neurophilosophylab.org/s-projects-basic-2

Psychology Today:  https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/contributors/elizaveta-solomonova-phd

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

We hope you're enjoying the holiday season with family and friends. It is a time meant for peace and goodwill and yet, for many, this has been a time of conflict, violence and war. How can we better understand the world during troubled times and even come away with hope? We thought hard about this and we wanted to end 2023 with our interview with Dr. James Orbinski-- first aired in June of this year. It's difficult to listen to. This interview can be disturbing, but it is also incredibly powerful and moving, bringing an understanding of the common humanity we all share. 

There are very few people who’ve experienced life like James Orbinski - doctor, humanitarian, activist .  He’s had unforgettable experiences on the front lines of aid:  Somalia during its civil war and famine, Afghanistan as the Taliban came to power, and Rwanda during its horrific genocide.  

And though he’s witnessed the very worst of human behaviour, he has also witnessed the best.  People willing to sacrifice the greatest gift of all – their life – to help those in need.  

James spent years with the int’l aid organization Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) that received the Nobel Peace Prize under his leadership in 1999.  Today he’s director of the Dadaleh Institute for Global Health Research at York University.

He continues to work for a better tomorrow – for everyone.

Info on Guest:

Dr. James Orbinski is a medical doctor, humanitarian, activist, and currently the Director of the Dadaleh Inst. for Global Health Research and York University in Toronto.  Dr. Orbinski received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of Médecins sans Frontières in 1999 when he was President.  

For more on his background:  https://www.yorku.ca/dighr/person/james-orbinski/

He is also the author of the bestseller “An Imperfect Offering:  Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century.”  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/124758/an-imperfect-offering-by-james-orbinski/9780385660709  A must read book!  

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.   

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

It’s the holiday season – a time for family, friends and happy times together. But then the season’s over and we’re back to the worries and grind of everyday life.  Happiness can seem fleeting, so difficult to hold on to.  

But there’s actually a science around happiness and some answers as to what makes us happy.

Some of the findings seem obvious.  But others may be surprising including the fact that many people think they know what makes them happy.  But they’re wrong.  

Are you one of them?

Info on Guest:

Lara Aknin is a social psychologist and a professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University.  She’s also a co-editor for the United Nations World Happiness Report which comes out every year.  For more info on Lara and her work:

https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/about/people/current-faculty/laknin.html;

Lara’s Helping and Happiness Lab:  https://www.sfu.ca/psychology/research/hhl.html

The UN’s World Happiness Report:  https://worldhappiness.report/

Add’l Info:  

Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  And if you’d like to check out our website:  https://cramideas.com/

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

Are you stressed?  Who isn’t! We seem to be faced with constant demands at work and at home.  

Obligations to family, responsibilities at work, commitments to friends and so on.    And it’s all a race against the clock.  

As a society,  we seem to be stressed out.  

And what makes this dilemma even more problematic is that stress is contagious!  That’s right.  The research on this is fascinating.  Just listen to neuroscientist Jaideep Bains.  

We take a deep dive into our brains to find out what’s happening to us when we’re on stress overload.

Info on Guest:

Jaideep Bains is a neuroscientist,  Director of of the Krembil Research Institute and Senior Scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network in Toronto.  He’s also a Professor in the Dept. of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Calgary.  For more info on Jaideep’s work:  https://www.uhnresearch.ca/researcher/jaideep-bains 

and https://profiles.ucalgary.ca/jaideep-bains.  
and https://stressynomicslab.ca/

Add’l Info:

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  And if you’d like to check out our website:  https://cramideas.com/

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

There are all kinds of delusions.

Here’s one: You believe you’re the star of a movie and that your life is being watched and recorded.  Every second of it.  And everyone around you – your family, friends, even strangers – they’re in on it.  This is your life and it’s hell.

This unusual mental disorder, dubbed The Truman Show syndrome (after the movie starring Jim Carrey), was observed by psychiatrist Joel Gold in a number of patients.  He along with his brother, neurophilosopher Ian Gold wrote about it.  

On this podcast, Ian Gold explores this disorder and other kinds of delusions. The Truman Show syndrome is a serious condition.  But what about delusions a lot of people seem to have –  who aren’t necessarily mentally ill?  How and why does this happen?

Is this someone you know?  Could it be you?

Info on Guest:

Ian Gold is a neurophilosopher.  He’s a Professor of philosophy and psychiatry,  and Chair of the Dept. of Philosophy at McGill University.  For more info about his work and research, check out these links:  https://www.mcgill.ca/tcpsych/faculty/iangold

Ian Gold’s lab:   https://www.neurophilosophylab.org/

Add’l Info:

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  And if you’d like to check out our website:  https://cramideas.com/

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!

What is the meaning of memory? Imagine waking up one day with no memory from the time you were 15. That’s what happened to a woman in the Maritimes. She went into cardiac arrest and was in a coma for three weeks. She was 29 at the time but when she awoke, she was a child again.

It’s such an incredible story that I reached out to Dr. Howard Chertkow, a cognitive neurologist. I wanted to find out how this could happen, and to explore more about memory’s function, how we can preserve it, and how it affects who we are.  

Info on Guest:

Dr. Howard Chertkow is a cognitive neurologist and Chair in Cognitive Neurology and Innovation at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, and senior scientist with the Rotman Research Institute:

https://www.baycrest.org/Baycrest/Research-Innovation/People/Researchers/Scientists/Dr-Howard-Chertkow

Dr. Chertkow on reducing your risk of dementia:  https://www.facebook.com/baycrestcentre/videos/15-things-you-can-do-now-to-reduce-your-risk-of-dementia-11-protect-your-heart/254144695551740/

Add’l Info:

We’d really appreciate your support!  Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas.  Thanks for listening!  And if you’d like to check out our website:  https://cramideas.com/

We’d really appreciate your support! Please rate our podcast and subscribe and follow us on social @CRAMideas. Thanks for listening!