SuperPsyched with Dr. Adam Dorsay

Dr. Adam Dorsay hosts University of Virginia behavioral scientist and engineering/architecture professor Dr. Lediy Klotz to discuss Klotz’s book In a Good Place on how spaces affect psychology and how people can thrive by making small, actionable changes. They explore habituation and the idea that subtracting (removing obstacles, noise, or clutter) can improve environments, including using available outdoor space differently (like eating outside). Klotz emphasizes agency as a core psychological need, citing a nursing home study where residents allowed to customize their rooms were 50% more likely to be alive 18 months later, and discusses regaining agency when it’s constrained (e.g., sealed hotel windows). They examine space and dominance in negotiation and sports (goalkeepers, Emiliano Martínez), intentional design to foster interaction (Pixar), “space before screen,” and Klotz shares the loss of his daughter Josie and creating “Josie’s Way” as a memorial space.
00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched
00:28 Why Spaces Feel Good
00:47 Meet Dr Lediy Klotz
02:09 Arrive Early Hack
03:16 The Research Behind It
04:38 Five Years to Write
05:56 Spaces Shape Psychology
07:06 Small Tweaks Big Control
09:04 Subtract to Improve Space
10:04 Eat Outside Reframe
12:08 Designing Outdoor Space
12:56 Office Choices and Agency
15:33 Defining Agency in Space
16:55 Soccer and Agency Lessons
18:31 Goalie Mindset and Space
20:18 Owning the Penalty Area
22:22 Agency Life or Death Study
24:18 Mandela Garden Agency
25:40 Churchill Shapes Commons
26:49 Designing Serendipity
30:01 Digital vs Real Space
31:17 Space Before Screen
32:41 Grief and Boundaries
35:18 Josies Way Memorial
38:50 Spirit Lives in Stories
40:22 Josie Joke Punchline
43:49 Miracle Skill Reaction
46:25 Closing Thanks Farewell
Helpful Links:
Lediy Klotz, PhD
Lediy Klotz, PhD Linked
InIn a Good Place Book

Host Dr. Adam Dorsay interviews developmental psychologist Dr. Alexis Redding, faculty co-chair of higher education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and editor of Mental Health in College, about supporting college student mental health. Redding explains the book emerged from connecting experts who cared about students but weren’t in conversation, and argues mental health support matters for student engagement, belonging, retention, and the broader developmental work colleges can foster. Drawing on archival interviews from the 1940s and 1970s and contemporary studies of the classes of 2025–2026, she finds core emotions like loneliness and insecurity during transitions remain consistent across generations, despite changes like COVID and social media. She recommends avoiding a constant crisis narrative, training staff to ask clarifying questions about clinical language, and replacing “kids these days” and “best four years” stories with more nuance and vulnerability.
00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched
00:49 Meet Alexis Redding
02:16 Why This Book Exists
04:56 Mental Health Pays Off
07:55 Loneliness Then and Now
10:37 Roommate Mirror Effect
13:45 Transitions Shape Wellbeing
16:46 Are Kids Really Different
20:33 TikTok Therapy Language
26:18 Stop the Crisis Narrative
29:29 Ditch Kids These Days
35:26 Archeology and Connection
38:43 Vulnerability as the Skill
43:16 Closing Thanks and Subscribe
Helpful Links:
Dr. Alexis Redding
Mental Health in College - What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students Book
Dr. Alexis Redding Instagram

Dr. Adam Dorsay introduces SuperPsyched and interviews forensic psychologist Dr. Reid Meloy about myths and realities of narcissism. Meloy describes narcissism as a spectrum like blood pressure, emphasizing healthy narcissism as self-care and resilience, while pathological narcissism involves self-absorption that damages relationships and can become destructive; he also discusses malignant narcissism as intense self-focus paired with paranoia, citing Jim Jones as an example. In relationships, narcissists “live in a world of one,” using partners as mirrors for adulation and lacking reciprocal affection, often prompting partners’ realization they are replaceable. Meloy outlines long-term avenues for change—corrective emotional experiences, intensive psychotherapy, and psychoanalysis—and notes depression and loneliness in midlife can be an entry point for treatment, contrasting egosyntonic vs. egodystonic states. He warns about psychopathy’s dangers, its link to pathological narcissism, lack of treatment, and risks when psychopaths gain power.
00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched
00:28 Narcissism on a Spectrum
02:48 Healthy vs Pathological Narcissism
05:15 Malignant Narcissism and Cults
08:36 Everyday Relationship Patterns
12:51 Treatment Paths That Help
15:16 Love as Antidote
18:52 Loneliness Depression and Risk
26:18 Partner Trap Trying to Change Them
28:16 Egosyntonic vs Egodystonic
30:32 Psychopathy Warning Signs
33:10 Final Thanks and Subscribe
Helpful Links:
Dr. Reid Meloy
Dr. Reid Meloy Books
Dr. Reid Meloy LinkedIn
Dr. Reid Meloy Facebook

Dr. Adam Dorsay introduces SuperPsyched and interviews psychologist, professor, and author Dr. Alan Godwin about his book Ties That Bind: Unraveling Stories That Keep Us in the Dark, focusing on how individuals and societies accept untrue “stories” that merely sound true. Godwin shares growing up in segregated Jackson, Mississippi, where his idyllic childhood coexisted with racial terror across town, illustrating collective normalization of dysfunction. He discusses confirmation bias, motivated reasoning, and how adults construct self-justifying narratives, contrasting Jonathan Rauch’s “reality-based community” (evidence, epistemic humility, tolerance for ambiguity) with a “story-based fortress” that discards disconfirming facts and becomes both protection and prison. Using clinical examples like “Katie” and modern cases of relatives drawn into conspiratorial information silos, he emphasizes attachment and identity as drivers of collective deception, argues people are often drawn out by relationships more than information, and concludes that humility is the key skill for better truth-seeking.
00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched
00:52 Meet Alan Godwin
02:42 Growing Up in Jackson
05:43 Stories and Lying
07:46 Bias and Normalization
10:08 Truth Hurts Then Frees
12:37 Reality Based Community
14:46 Story Based Fortress
18:02 Escaping the Fortress
20:14 Katie and Personal Healing
22:00 Harry Potter Blindness
22:50 Accents and Linguistics
23:27 From Self Doubt to Uncle Irving
24:42 Collective Deception Online
26:48 Environment Reveals the Real You
28:57 Information Silos and Gaslighting
30:58 Attachment and Identity Needs
33:57 Sports Fandom as Microcosm
36:14 Crowd Seduction and Nazi Rallies
38:32 Truth Needs Trusted Relationships
40:32 AI Can’t Replace Human Connection
41:41 Humility as the Ultimate Skill
44:35 Closing Thanks and Farewell
Helpful Links:
Dr. Alan Godwin
Dr. Alan Godwin LinkedIn
Ties That Blind: Unraveling Stories That Keep Us in the Dark Book

Dr. Adam Dorsay introduces an episode of SuperPsyched featuring physician Dr. Howard Schubiner discussing his updated book, Unlearn Your Pain, and evidence-based approaches to chronic pain that avoid medication or surgery. Schubiner recounts his path from academic medicine to learning from Dr. John Sarno and explains how pain can persist without tissue damage due to neuroplastic neural circuits shaped by stress, emotion, and life experiences, with pain sometimes worsening via nocebo effects from medical messaging and MRI interpretations. He describes criteria suggesting non-structural pain and research indicating most chronic back/neck pain cases may be neuroplastic despite abnormal imaging. Schubiner outlines treatment steps: accurate diagnosis, education about brain-based pain, pain reprocessing therapy to reduce fear and build safety signals, and emotional awareness and expression therapy to address underlying emotions and trauma, citing clinical stories and randomized controlled trial support.
00:00 Welcome to SuperPsyched
00:28 Chronic Pain Problem
01:13 Meet Howard Schubiner
02:33 Sarno Origin Story
04:37 Sarno Theory Explained
06:53 How Pain Is Learned
11:21 Compassion and Root Causes
12:34 Pain as Social Justice
15:43 Placebo Nocebo Power
19:17 MRI Words and Nocebo
21:09 Adam Sciatica Story
22:27 When Surgery Helps
23:10 Fibromyalgia Is Real
23:17 Neuroplastic Pain Evidence
23:56 MRI Study Contradiction
26:35 Is It All In Head
27:30 Brain Creates Pain
29:12 Back Pain Recovery Story
31:50 Sensitivity And Temperament
34:02 Peacemaker Pain Pattern
35:33 Endometriosis And Boundaries
39:40 Treatment Steps Overview
42:25 Emotional Expression Therapy
45:05 Movement And Farewell
Helpful Links:
Unlearn Your Pain Website
Unlearn Your Pain Book
Episode 84 - Unlearning Your Pain | Howard Schubinder, MD
The Science Behind The Symptoms Podcast