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Artwork for A Podcast with Charlie Swenson - To Hell and Back
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A Podcast with Charlie Swenson - To Hell and Back

Charlie Swenson, MD

This podcast series, “To Hell and Back,” is focused on the nature of hellish experiences in life, how people get into them, and to present and discuss tools for coping with hell and getting out. The various podcasts will move back and forth between different varieties of hell in life, and different tools for coping. The tools will be drawn from dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), from other treatments, and from other life experiences.

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  • 20 episodes
  • Updated July 23
  • 55 min on average

Episodes 20

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  • July 23 · 52 min

    World DBT Summit Coming – Episode 127

    Charlie interviews Michaela Swales and Alec Miller, the co-hosts of the DBT World Summit that takes place October 28-30. Learn all that you need to know about this amazing first-ever global event. View video version of this podcast

  • April 9 · 28 min

    Synchronized Swimming – Episode 126

    In this podcast Charlie recalls a piece of biological research he did 57 years ago, at college. He pursued the question: how is it that the 2 billion cells of the human heart, each of which has on its own the capacity to contract, beat in synchrony from birth to death every second or so? What are the biological structures that make that possible? And what does it teach us about cooperation, community, interdependency, and synchrony? View video version of this podcast

  • January 26 · 48 min

    Dialectics, Democracy, Tyranny, Trump, and the American Way – Episode 125

    In the wake of the recent killing by federal agents of two adults in Minneapolis, this podcast represents an attempt to deepen my perspective on these events, on Donald Trump, and on the forces in our country that have supported him. I close with some thoughts about how to counter him in the coming days. View video version of this podcast

  • Aug 15, 2025 · 45 min

    Bystanders Get Off the Sidelines Please – Episode 123

    In this podcast Charlie reviews the six categories of people in the United States insofar as they are actors in the drama between democracy and authoritarianism, highlighting where it might be possible to change the momentum. He then discusses the role of “bystanders” and the psychology of bystanders, with a plea to convert bystanders to more active participants View video version of this podcast

  • Aug 12, 2025 · 35 min

    Nuggets of Gold in Piles of Sand – Episode 122

    In this podcast, Charlie reflects on a recent consultation as a window into the way in which memory is tethered to certain moments, as an example of Linehan’s metaphor for validation as finding a nugget of gold in a pile of sand, and as a segue into the integration of DBT and depth psychology in therapy. View video version of this podcast

  • Jul 3, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min

    Amputation of Morality: What to Do About It? – Episode 121

    The perspective within this podcast is that our current political process is seriously dysfunctional, having been taken over by decision-makers who seem disconnected from normal human morality. After noticing the resemblance of that process to what goes on in mob organizations and families, and in some families where incest occurs, we will identify the various roles in this ugly process and consider what can be done to improve things. View video version of this podcast

  • Jun 16, 2025 · 40 min

    Getting Out of Hell and Into Reality – Episode 120

    This podcast focuses on the fact that we spend most of our lives living in the stories we tell ourselves about reality, but not in reality itself. Hear how DBT helps us to find our way back to reality, and how doing so increases the quality of our lives and the lives of those around us View video version of this podcast

  • May 19, 2025 · 45 min

    Wise Mind, Polarization, Dialectics, and Stopping Fascism – Episode 118

    In this podcast, the third in a series, I clarify the place of dialectics in DBT as an antidote to polarization. Using some case examples, I detail how one might use dialectics. Then I bring the same lessons into finding a way to deal with political polarization and what appears to be a fascist takeover. By the end of my search, I find a way. View video version of this podcast

  • May 1, 2025 · length unknown

    Learning to Say No Effectively to Fascism – Episode 117

    To say NO to the forces and practices of fascism in the U.S., effectively enough to stop it, can be frightening. We will borrow from the DBT skills training model, explaining ways to acquire, strengthen, and generalize the skill of saying NO in hopes that each of us can find our voice and make a difference. View video version of this podcast

  • Apr 20, 2025 · 56 min

    When Hell is an Attack on Democracy – Episode 116

    In this podcast, Charlie draws from DBT in search of ways to understand the current assault on democracy in the United States, and to become more effective at taking care of oneself and acting more effectively. View video version of this podcast

  • Apr 26, 2023 · 1 hr 19 min

    Adapting DBT Skills When Working with Autistic Individuals – Episode 115

    In this episode, the fourth in a series on autism and DBT, Charlie is again joined by Amara Brooke and Rachel Kraus, two DBT therapists who are autistic and who have subspecialties in working with autistic clients. Our focus here is entirely on the application and adaptation of DBT skills in the work with autistic individuals. Which skills work well as they are? Which skills require adaptation in order to work well with this population? Which skills can actually make things worse if you aren’t mindful of autistic features? Please rate, review, and write to me with comments and questions. View video version of this podcast

  • Mar 30, 2023 · 1 hr 13 min

    Top Ten Tips for Adapting DBT to Autistic Clients – Episode 113

    Charlie moderates a discussion between Amara Brook and Rachel Kraus, both of whom are DBT-informed therapists with subspecialties treating autistic and ADHD individuals, as they come of with ten things to consider when adapting DBT to autism. In the next episode after this one, the same guests will specifically address how to modify DBT skills in working with autistic clients. View video version of this podcast

  • Mar 24, 2023 · 1 hr 15 min

    Do we use DBT to target autism? No – Episode 112

    Charlie talks further with Amara Brook about autism, neurodiversity, and DBT: how can DBT be adapted, not to target autism itself, but to help autistic folks succeed at their own life-worth-living goals; how can we apply DBT’s bio-social theory in understanding and treating autistic individuals; and what are the barriers for autistic individuals in becoming DBT therapists? View video version of this podcast

  • Mar 16, 2023 · 1 hr

    Autism, Neurodiversity and DBT – Episode 111

    It seems that the world is paying more and more attention to autism in particular and neurodiversity in general. Beginning with this episode, Charlie talks with Amara Brooke, Ph.D., about autism, neurodiversity, and ways of adapting DBT to help an autistic individual reach their life-worth living goals. Tune in for this three-episode special conversation, which will eventually lead to ten tips for adapting DBT therapy with autistic people, and then on to what is meant by the Universal Design for Learning. View video version of this podcast

  • Mar 9, 2023 · 1 hr

    Wise Mind – Episode 110

    Charlie provides an in-depth discussion of WISE MIND as used in DBT. What is it, why is it so valuable, what are perspectives on it, what are its features, how do you access it and use it? He then discusses a painful example from his own life when he needed wise mind but failed to access it. View video version of this podcast

  • Feb 23, 2023 · 1 hr 7 min

    “As Bad A Year As It Was, It Was As Good As It Could Have Been” – Episode 109

    In a manner that is absolutely true to these words from her DBT and life mentor, Seth Axelrod, Andrea Gold has completed her one year of prescribed treatment for breast cancer, with the best results one can hope for. Tune in to this episode to hear Andrea celebrate the completion of the year and reflect upon how she managed the suffering (a lot) and created fun and connection through it all (a lot). She brings an infectious and intelligent enthusiasm, an emotional and affiliative personality, and a bad-ass exposure and DBT lifestyle, to rather grim cancer-related events: diagnosis, staging, mastectomy, radiation, chemotherapy, and survivorship. Listen, connect, reflect…learn from her. View video version of this podcast View Gallery

  • Nov 24, 2022 · 46 min

    Guaranteed Success, By Design – Episode 108

    > In part 2 of the conversation with world class trainer Cem Eren, join Charlie and Nicole and enter the Lion’s Den, a practice environment thoughtfully constructed to support our training journey from the moment we step through the door until the moment we step out of it. As we tour the space, we hear how unconditional acceptance underlies Cem’s strategy for facilitating positive change, and how his intuitive application of dialectics translates to clients that consistently hit huge goals and make extraordinary transformations. View video version of this podcast

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