Professor Emeritus Gregory S. Aldrete explains some of the hallmarks of Ancient Roman psychology (i.e., their values and motivations). Greg shares rich context and examples, weaving together a story of similarities and differences between life in Ancient Rome and life now. We discuss a wide range of topics, from hand gestures used to compensate for lack of microphones in large arenas, tombstone engravings and graffiti messages, common pets, and sources that historians draw on to find the lesser heard voices of ancient Rome.

Greg is Professor Emeritus of history at the University of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Greg is an ancient historian specialising in the study of civilisations, cultures, and history of the ancient Mediterranean world, particularly Ancient Greece and Rome. Greg is driven to figure out how stuff really worked in antiquity. You can reach out to Greg via email: aldretegs@gmail.com

Explore other interesting work by Greg
Books
The Great Courses
Website

I highly recommend subscribing to The Great Courses to access Greg's lecture series The Roman Empire: From Augustus to the Fall of Rome. Tim and I spent much of our end of year break in 2024 watching it.

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Aldrete, G. S. (2025, June 22). In the minds of ancient Romans (No. 28) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Professor Emeritus Gregory Aldrete for sharing your time and expertise.

In this episode, I catch up with Rahim Thawer about his book The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys, which is currently on presale and is being released 1 June, 2025.

The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys offers a safe, inclusive space to examine, understand, and heal from systemic and interpersonal threats to your mental well-being. Based on proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), this book provides proven-effective tools and exercises to help you reflect on, confront, and manage difficult emotions; improve self-image and self-esteem; and develop healthy coping skills. This guidebook will help you:

• Cultivate greater self-awareness
• Move past negative thinking habits
• Heal emotional wounds and build resilience
• Challenge heteronormativity and gender role rigidity
• Care for your sexual health.

Rahim is a racialized, queer social worker who works as an instructor, psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, consultant, public speaker, podcast host, and writer. He calls Toronto home and currently teaches at The University of Alabama. His work explores the intersection of mental health and systemic oppression. He has a particular interest in examining innovation in queer relationships and exploring how anti-racist, queer-affirming psychoanalytic frameworks can support social workers, training therapists, and organizational leaders.

Pre-order The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys
Amazon US
Amazon Australia

Works mentioned in this episode

Thawer, R. (2025). The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys: Skills to Cope and Thrive as Your Authentic Self. Publisher: New Harbinger Publications. [Pre-Order]

To see more of Rahim's work, check out ladyativan.com

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Thawer, R. (2025, May 13). The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys (No. 27) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Rahim Thawer for sharing your time and expertise.

Dr Will Dobud shares insights about his experience of writing and publishing a non-fiction book - a lessons learnt kind of a chat. Rather than focusing on insights from the book content, we talk about the mechanics, processes, and experiences behind bringing together a non-fiction and mental health focused book.

Will Dobud, PhD, MSW, is a Senior Social Work Lecturer at Charles Sturt University and an award-winning practitioner, educator, and researcher. He is recognised as a practitioner with international experience working with children, adolescents, and families. Will’s research focuses on improving young people’s experiences in therapeutic interventions and outdoor therapies and how clinicians can become more evidence-informed in their decision-making. Will also advocates for youth affected by unethical treatments and interventions, highlighted by the Troubled Teen Industry in the United States. He is a sought-after speaker and trainer for youth-serving organisations, travelling internationally to help organisations enhance their services for those they serve. Will and I collaborate on a wide range of topics and create practice resources together.

Connect with Will on various social media platforms: Facebook, X / Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram

Experiential Practice Symposium
Will is also the co-convenor for the first Experiential Practice Symposium held from 21-23 November on CSU’s Port Macquarie Campus. This is an affordable and accessible event with the theme of “Conversation as Experiential Learning.” Everyone is welcome to attend and facilitate an experiential workshop on learning, mental health, or the philosophy of experience. Learn more here: https://experientialpractice.csu.domains/

Other episodes featuring Will
25. Kids these days: Understanding and supporting youth mental health
9. Exploring outdoor therapies

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Dobud, W. (2025, April 12). Writing and publishing a non-fiction book (No. 26) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Dr Will Dobud for sharing your time and expertise.

Related Psych Attack Episodes

22. Digital phenotyping: Using smartphone metadata to predict mental health symptoms
13. The role of animals in mental health practice
7. Mental health disorders and child development

Related practice resources
Building resilience in children and young people
Engaging young children (0-5 years) in nature play

Related blog posts
Child and adolescent mental health conference 2025

In this episode, I catch up again with Dr Will Dobud about his latest book called 'Kids These Days', which is currently on presale.

'Kids These Days' is essentially a protest for protecting the heroism and spirit of youth. Will co-authored 'Kids These Days' with Professor Nevin Harper from the University of Victoria in Canada. This anticipated book offers a frank exploration of the rising rates of youth mental illness and the ways in which increased interference, intervention, and ideology have influenced these trends. To develop the book, Will and Nevin consulted with experts in therapeutic interventions, parenting, education, outdoor play, social media, and environmental toxins. They examined how mainstream media may, in fact, incite heightened moral panic without representing the best available evidence.

Will Dobud, PhD, MSW, is a Senior Social Work Lecturer at Charles Sturt University and an award-winning practitioner, educator, and researcher. He is recognised as a practitioner with international experience working with children, adolescents, and families. Will’s research focuses on improving young people’s experiences in therapeutic interventions and outdoor therapies and how clinicians can become more evidence-informed in their decision-making. Will also advocates for youth affected by unethical treatments and interventions, highlighted by the Troubled Teen Industry in the United States. He is a sought-after speaker and trainer for youth-serving organisations, travelling internationally to help organisations enhance their services for those they serve. Will and I collaborate on a wide range of topics and create practice resources together.

Connect with Will Dobud and Nevin Harper on various social media platforms:

Will: Facebook, X / Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram
Nevin: LinkedIn, Substack, Instagram

Experiential Practice Symposium
Will is also the co-convenor for the first Experiential Practice Symposium held from 21-23 November on CSU’s Port Macquarie Campus. This is an affordable and accessible event with the theme of “Conversation as Experiential Learning.” Everyone is welcome to attend and facilitate an experiential workshop on learning, mental health, or the philosophy of experience. Learn more here: https://experientialpractice.csu.domains/

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Dobud, W. (2025, March 27). Kids These Days: Understanding and Supporting Youth Mental (No. 25) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be some errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Dr Will Dobud for sharing your time and expertise.

In this episode, I catch up with Rahim Thawer about envy and its impacts in our social and sexual lives.

Rahim is a racialized, queer social worker who works as an instructor, psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, consultant, public speaker, podcast host, and writer. He calls Toronto home and currently teaches at The University of Alabama. His work explores the intersection of mental health and systemic oppression. He has a particular interest in examining innovation in queer relationships and exploring how anti-racist, queer-affirming psychoanalytic frameworks can support social workers, training therapists, and organizational leaders.

Episode content
0:00 - Introduction
1:16 - Rahim's background and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

6:21 - How Rahim got interested in envy

11:48 - The difference between envy and jealousy

17:09 - Queer experiences of envy

20:07 - Envy and systemic oppression

20:53 - How to manage envy

25:49 - Has social media made envy worse?

29:46 - Online content creators and envy

31:22 - Can envy be managed through CBT?

34:39 - Why are some people not impacted by envy?

40:19 - How to keep up to date with Rahim’s work

Works mentioned in this episode

Thawer, R. (2022, June 9). The Matrix of Envy in Our Social and Sexual Lives. Medium.

Thawer, R. (2025). The Mental Health Guide for Cis and Trans Queer Guys: Skills to Cope and Thrive as Your Authentic Self. Publisher: New Harbinger Publications. [Pre-Order]

To see more of Rahim's work, check out ladyativan.com

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Thawer, R. (2025, Jan 15). Envy in our social and sexual lives (No. 24) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be some errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Rahim Thawer for sharing your time and expertise.

To round out 2024, I have created this highlights episode.

This year, the 6 guests (from Australia, Finland and the U.S.) and I have covered:

• investigative interviewing for disclosures of maltreatment (Episode 17)
• what sex therapy is, kink and paraphilias (Episode 18)
• academic mental health (Episode 19)
• self-advocacy and professional development and relationships (Episode 20)
• human-dog relationships (Episode 21)
• adolescent mental health and the use of digital phenotyping (Episode 22).

Cite this episode
MacDonald, J. B. (2024, December 20). Psych Attack highlights 2024 (No. 23) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be some errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

In this episode, I catch up with Dr Taylor A. Braund to hear about his research into digital phenotyping. In particular, we discuss the link between mental health symptoms and keystroke metadata from smartphones.

Dr Taylor A. Braund is a Research Fellow at Black Dog Institute and UNSW School of Clinical Medicine, Australia. To see more of Taylor’s work, you can reach out on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Research mentioned in this episode

Braund, T.A. (2024). The continued hype and hope of digital phenotyping. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(448).

Braund, T. A., O’Dea, B., Bal, D., Maston, K., Larsen, M., Werner-Seidler, A., Tillman, G., & Christensen, H. (2023). Associations between smartphone keystroke metadata and mental health symptoms in adolescents: Findings from the Future Proofing Study. JMIR Mental Health, 10(e44986).

Braund, T. A., Zin, M. T., Boonstra, T. W., Wong, Q. J. J., Larsen, M. E., Christensen, H., Tillman, G., O’Dea, B. (2022). Smartphone sensor data for identifying and monitoring symptoms of mood disorders: A longitudinal observational study. JMIR Mental Health, 9(5):e35549

O’Dea, B., Braund, T. A., Batterham, P. J., Larsen, M. E., Glozier, N., & Whitton, A. E. (2024). Reading between the lines: Identifying the linguistic markers of Anhedonia for the stratification of depression. CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. (Paper)

Seminal digital phenotyping papers

Huckvale, K., Venkatesh, S., & Christensen, H. (2019). Toward clinical digital phenotyping: A timely opportunity to consider purpose, quality, and safety. npj Digital Medicine, 2(88).

Insel, T. R. (2017). Digital phenotyping: Technology for a new science of behavior. JAMA, 318(13):1215–1216.

Torous, J., Kiang, M. V., Lorme, J., & Onnela, J. P. (2016). New tools for new research in psychiatry: A scalable and customizable platform to empower data driven smartphone research. JMIR Mental Health, 3(2):e16.

Some available digital phenotyping platforms

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/onnela-lab/beiwe-research-platform/

https://www.digitalpsych.org/lamp.html

https://www.biaffect.com/

Cite this episode

MacDonald, J. B. & Braund, T. A. (2024, Oct 1). Digital phenotyping: Using smartphone metadata to predict mental health symptoms (No. 22) [Audio podcast episode]. In Psych Attack. www.psychattack.com

Transcript
The transcript for this episode was developed using transcription software. There may be some errors in the content as I do not have capacity to review for accuracy.

Acknowledgements

Psych Attack is created and hosted by Dr Jasmine B. MacDonald. The video and audio for this episode was edited by Morgan McRae. Special thanks to Dr Taylor A. Braund for sharing your time and expertise. Please note that the views and opinions expressed by Taylor in this episode are his own and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policy of his employer.