My guest today is Dr. Yael Schonbrun is a clinical psychologist, couples therapist, author, and assistant professor at Brown University. She is the co-host of the Psychologists Off the Clock podcast and author of Work, Parent, Thrive. Her work draws on relationship science, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and clinical research to help people navigate relationships, parenting, and the competing demands of modern life. Her newest book, Why Don’t You Understand Me?, explores the science of human connection and why we so often misunderstand one another.

Some of the topics we explore include:

- The ending of Psychologists Off the Clock after 10 years

- Why being a good communicator doesn't necessarily mean we understand one another

- Why we often overestimate how well we understand the people closest to us

- How attention, inattentional blindness, and confirmation bias contribute to misunderstandings

- The "relational lenses" we develop through our experiences, emotions, and personal histories

- How our assumptions about others can interfere with genuine connection

- The importance of intellectual humility, curiosity, and recognizing the limits of our own perspectives

- What an octopus can teach us about safety, curiosity, and human connection

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Yael’s Website: https://www.yaelschonbrun.com/

Why Don’t You Understand Me?: https://a.co/d/0iavx9s2

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Thank you all for checking out the episode! Here are some ways to help support Mentally Flexible:

Sign up to learn more about my online ACT course!: https://www.mentallyflexible.com/signup

You can help cover some of the costs of running the podcast by donating a cup of coffee! www.buymeacoffee.com/mentallyflexible

Please subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It only takes 30 seconds and plays an important role in being able to get new guests.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mentally-flexible/id1539933988

Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomparkestherapy

Check out my song “Glimpse at Truth” that you hear in the intro/outro of every episode: https://tomparkes.bandcamp.com/track/glimpse-at-truth

My guest today is Paige Rome, RPsych. Paige is a Registered Psychologist and founder of Common Thread Psychology in Airdrie, Alberta.

Paige is trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), the leading evidence-based psychological treatment for chronic insomnia, and brings both professional expertise and personal experience with insomnia to her work. Her broader approach to therapy is collaborative, compassionate, and evidence-based, drawing particularly from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), CBT, and trauma-informed and attachment-based approaches.

Paige is also the creator of The Better Sleep Blueprint: A 6-Week, Evidence-Based Program for Overcoming Insomnia, a self-guided program designed to help people understand what keeps insomnia going, change their relationship with sleep, and rebuild healthier, more sustainable sleep patterns.

Some of the topics we explore include:

-How insomnia develops, why it can persist long after the original trigger is gone, and the role of sleep anxiety, hyperfocus, and control.

-The paradox of sleep and why trying harder to fall asleep can actually make sleep more difficult.

-The core principles of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and how it helps retrain patterns that perpetuate insomnia.

-How ACT and CBT-I can work together, with CBT-I providing a behavioral roadmap and ACT helping people approach that roadmap with greater acceptance and psychological flexibility.

-Practical strategies for better sleep, including consistent wake times, building sleep pressure, understanding your chronotype, and stimulus control.

-The role of radical acceptance in insomnia, and how letting go of the struggle to control sleep can help break the cycle that keeps us awake.

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Paige's website: https://commonthreadpsychology.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigerometherapy/

The Better Sleep Blueprint: https://commonthreadpsychology.com/better-sleep-blueprint/

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Thank you all for checking out the episode! Here are some ways to help support Mentally Flexible:

You can help cover some of the costs of running the podcast by donating a cup of coffee! www.buymeacoffee.com/mentallyflexible

Please subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It only takes 30 seconds and plays an important role in being able to get new guests.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mentally-flexible/id1539933988

Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomparkestherapy

Check out my song “Glimpse at Truth” that you hear in the intro/outro of every episode: https://tomparkes.bandcamp.com/track/glimpse-at-truth

Check out my new album, Holding Space! https://open.spotify.com/album/0iOcjZQhmAhYtjjq3CTpwQ?si=nemiLnELTsGGExjfy8B6iw

My guest today is Steven C. Hayes, PhD. Steve is a clinical psychologist, researcher, and one of the most influential figures in modern psychotherapy. He is the originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), developer of Relational Frame Theory (RFT), and co-developer of Process-Based Therapy. An Emeritus Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, Dr. Hayes has authored more than 45 books and over 700 scientific publications, making him one of the most cited psychologists in the world. His work has fundamentally changed how clinicians understand and treat human suffering, with a focus on psychological flexibility, values, and living a meaningful life.

Some of the topics we explore include:

• Why the original ACT Hexaflex needs to expand — and what's missing from the classic six processes
• How to define ACT functionally so it can grow without losing its identity
• The case for adding sociocultural and biophysiological levels to the psychological flexibility model
• What Process-Based Therapy (PBT) actually is — and why it's both a Trojan horse and an open invitation
• Why middle-level clinical terms like "emotional flexibility" are scientifically legitimate and practically essential
• The ergodicity problem: why group-level research can't tell us what works for individual people — and what to do instead
• Three principles for the future of clinical practice: practice-based evidence, every voice matters, and if you're not personalizing, you're not treating

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Steve’s Website: https://stevenchayes.com/

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Thank you all for checking out the episode! Here are some ways to help support Mentally Flexible:

You can help cover some of the costs of running the podcast by donating a cup of coffee! www.buymeacoffee.com/mentallyflexible

Please subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. It only takes 30 seconds and plays an important role in being able to get new guests.https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mentally-flexible/id1539933988

Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tomparkestherapy

Check out my song “Glimpse at Truth” that you hear in the intro/outro of every episode: https://tomparkes.bandcamp.com/track/glimpse-at-truth

Check out my new album, Holding Space! https://open.spotify.com/album/0iOcjZQhmAhYtjjq3CTpwQ?si=nemiLnELTsGGExjfy8B6iw