The CBT Dive

Host and therapist Rahim Thawer talks to Vance, a sex and intimacy coach, who discusses his behaviors and thoughts when he feels excluded, and his desire for a group of friends. Vance shares his experiences with friendships and the fear of being too much for others. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the isolation that can come with personal growth and the importance of being understood by a small group of people.

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Psychotherapist and host Rahim Thawer and Riz discuss Riz’s travel adventures and how they have led to unique stressors and insights into his relationship with money. Riz shares situations that have brought up difficult feelings, such as feeling cheated and disappointed when spending money on experiences that don't meet his expectations. 

Rahim helps Riz identify his automatic thoughts and behaviors that arise in thes...

In this episode, host Rahim Thawer talks to Kae about the recurring feelings of stress around when rent is due. The conversation explores Kae's thoughts and emotions related to financial struggles, self-criticism, and worries about falling back into unhealthy habits. Rahim and Kae also cover topics such as maintaining psychological safety, rationalizing thoughts, and the fear of not being able to escape past trauma and financi...

When you’re ghosted by someone after a couple of dates, it’s legitimately infuriating. It’s okay to feel frustrated and even deceived. But, what else comes up for you in those moments? In this episode, we explore the underlying fears that get reawakened after a ghosting experience. These include fears of being unworthy or unattractive and also an overarching fear of never finding happiness. Through the therapeutic process, this gue...

In this interview, Dr. Farooq Naeem shares his longstanding research interest in CBT and culture. He discusses how CBT concepts can conflict with the beliefs of people in non-Western cultures and then delves into the various ways people can understand and approach depression and schizophrenia from their own worldviews. He also discusses his research on using CBT for psychosis and delivering CBT interventions by e-mail.

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In this interview, Dr. Trevor Hart discusses the need for CBT interventions that target sexual and gender minorities (SGM) and explains how they differ from standard psychotherapy. He addresses some of the critiques that are often shared about the CBT approach and shares his perspectives on the utility of goal-oriented models. Finally, he tells listeners what resources they can avail themselves of to learn more about SGM-affirming ...

When community organizations create roles for people with lived experience, how does this get experienced on the employee side? In this episode, we talk to a harm reduction activist, drug user, and community worker committed to gay men's health. He explores the imposter syndrome and feelings of self-doubt when working next to academics and other credentialed folks. 
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You have a work assignment but you avoid getting started, worry about failure, catastrophize, and then negate positive feedback when it's been submitted and reviewed. Sound familiar? In this episode, we explore a common but frustrating pattern. We query the possibility of Adult ADHD and locate its roots in childhood family dynamics. Sebastien leaves the session more insightful about how he came to believe that self-criticism w...

If you were called out publicly (or worse, cancelled altogether), would your closest friends stick by your side and be there for you? In this episode, we examine the impact of being betrayed by close friends on social media for their own self-preservation. We also explore how the loss, grief, and trauma can permeate all future relationships and leave you with self-doubt anytime you decide to trust someone. 
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We’re all on our individual journeys. That’s what this guest strongly believes. Still, there’s legitimate resentment that comes up when you feel judged by people on dating apps who appear to be well sorted with their nice job titles and cushy bank accounts. In this episode, we conjure up Beyonce to help reframe the feelings of inadequacy that arise when capitalism and grind culture don’t fit for people who are working through traum...

Friendships come easily to some of us while others struggle to be seen, understood, and affirmed. In this episode, we explore the story of someone who felt outcast by a group of peers who saw him as inconsistent around his values and behaviour. And, the skills to mend the ruptures were hard to conjure up on both sides of the divide. BrownGayRealness examines his subsequent fears about the possibility of maintaining long-term relati...

While gay men often toss out their straight-world rule book and start anew, queer women don't always have the same luxury. Women are socialized, encouraged, and pressured to be so many things, including maternal. In this episode, Telsa considers what it means to be with a partner who doesn't want children. As a queer woman in her mid-thirties, she's torn between choosing love and the finality of closing the door on h...

What do your friends expect from you when you make plans together? Sometimes we might feel like we have to bring only positive energy or always be helpful in some way. In this episode, we gently shift away from assumptions about toxic friendships and begin to consider how low self-worth might contribute to our relationships going downhill.

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Do you ever scold yourself for small mistakes? What's underneath that tendency to self-punish? In this episode, Dawn examines the time she cursed at herself for merely leaving a water bottle in her car. We did a deep dive to unearth a core belief around (in)competence and fears of future failures.

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Sometimes self-doubt increases with age. And, we look back at the bold decisions of our twenties and thirties and wonder if we made the right choices. In this episode, Phil examines his grief, regret, and anxiety about changing careers in his mid-40s and wonders if he really should have left his post-secondary studies for a partner over a decade ago.
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What keeps you up at night? And how does a thought-restructuring tool help with sleep? In this special episode, I interview two sleep medicine specialists based in Australia. We discuss what drives sleep disturbance and insomnia and behavioural approaches to support people who struggle with getting good sleep. Have a look at the D-BAS 16 questionnaire below to see if you have dysfunctional beliefs that drive your insomnia.

Did your parents want you to be a doctor or an engineer? Perhaps they came from a place of precarity and unintentionally undermine your efforts to carve out your own path to be a creative, to freelance, to take risks. In this episode, Nino processes his preparation-avoidance ahead of a job interview. His avoidance is rooted in negative self-talk and self-doubt. But, who's voice is it? He worried he might be a disappointment, b...

Being a single gay man isn't easy. Many of us long to be in relationships. We're intentionally crammed into urban centres to have access to one another and yet the dating culture feels a bit unkind. This is complicated by any mental health struggles because being able to know your needs and communicate them is a whole other skill set mired in stigma. In this episode, Kareem talks about where his mind and heart take him wh...

This special episode is a departure from using intervention tools in real-time and instead explores their value from a population-based mental health perspective.

In this episode, we explore what it means for Sogand Zakerhaghighi to be a visibly Muslim mental health professional living in Canada (and in Alberta specifically). We both delve into what mental health conversations look like in our respective Muslim cultures al...