Transforming Relationships – Détails, épisodes et analyse

What creates real change in psychotherapy?

In this episode, Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter speak with Dr. Mary Jo Peebles, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, about the deeper processes that drive transformation in therapy.

Moving beyond technique-driven and manualized approaches, Dr. Peebles explores psychotherapy as a dynamic, relational process—one shaped by uncertainty, mutual influence, and the evolving interaction between therapist and patient.

The conversation examines how therapeutic change emerges over time through moments of connection, rupture and repair, and shifts in perception and expectation. It also highlights the importance of "scaffolding" in early treatment, the role of relational safety, and the neurobiological foundations of lasting psychological change.

If you'd like episode updates, reflections, and future conversations delivered directly to you, join the email list on Substack: https://transformingrelationships.substack.com/subscribe

Topics include:

• The limits of manualized and protocol-driven therapy
• Psychotherapy as a relational, emergent process
• The role of uncertainty and ambiguity in clinical work
• Rupture, repair, and the development of trust
• Scaffolding and early therapeutic structure
• Perception, expectation, and psychological change
• Neurobiological perspectives on transformation

This episode offers a nuanced exploration of psychotherapy for clinicians, students, and anyone interested in how meaningful change unfolds within human relationships.

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Mary Jo Peebles

02:54 The Complexity of Psychotherapy

05:54 Trans-Theoretical Approaches in Therapy

08:47 Siloed Practices in Psychology

11:55 The Role of Identity in Therapy

15:07 Understanding Patient Experiences

18:07 Role Play: Navigating Panic Attacks

20:54 Exploring Uniqueness vs. Commonality in Therapy

24:11 Role Play: Attachment and Connection

27:06 The Therapeutic Alliance and Patient Engagement

36:05 The Emergence of Change

39:02 Navigating Emotional Spaces

43:51 Understanding the Therapeutic Process

46:17 The Role of Ambiguity in Therapy

48:09 Scaffolding in Early Sessions

52:51 Duality of Experience in Therapy

55:05 Rupture and Repair in Therapeutic Relationships

01:01:52 The Challenge of Change

01:06:57 Structural Changes for Lasting Impact

Follow Dr. David Alter:

    General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
     For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com
    
 Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

    General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
    Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com

Are we truly facing a loneliness epidemic—or are we misunderstanding what connection really requires?

In this episode, Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter explore the growing concern that modern life is eroding meaningful human connection. They examine how changes in technology, work, and social structure have reshaped relationships—and why many people feel increasingly disconnected despite constant contact.

The conversation distinguishes between being alone, feeling lonely, and being fundamentally disconnected, offering a more precise framework for understanding emotional isolation.

They also explore why many attempts at connection feel superficial or performative, and what actually creates relationships that are reciprocal, honest, and emotionally sustaining.

The episode concludes with practical, grounded ways to rebuild connection—through consistency, vulnerability, and a willingness to engage beyond surface-level interaction.

Key Topics

• The "loneliness epidemic": reality vs perception
• Real vs superficial relationships
• Technology and social disconnection
• Vulnerability and reciprocity in relationships
• Rebuilding meaningful connection
• The role of environment, nature, and presence

In the latest episode of Transforming Relationships, Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter speak with Renée DiResta, an author and Associate Research Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, who specializes in social media and online misinformation.  In Part 1 of their interview, Eric, David, and Renée discuss her experiences and insights on misinformation, public health, and the role of social media in shaping public discourse.  DiResta shares her personal journey through the vaccine debates and the challenges of online harrassment, emphasizing the need for trust and community engagement in addressing misinformation.  The discussion also explores the influence of algorithms and the power of influencers on public trust and communication.

Hosts: Eric Spiegel, Ph.D. & David Alter, Ph.D.
Guest: Renée DiResta

Watch this and all of our podcast episodes on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@transforming.relationships

Follow Renée DiResta:

• General Info: https://reneediresta.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renee.diresta

  Follow Dr. David Alter:

• General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
• For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com

  Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

• General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
• Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel

 

 

In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Carolyn Daitch discusses the pervasive issue of anxiety in today's society, exploring it's roots, the impact of social media, and the importance of attunement, validation and connection in relationships.  She emphasizes the dual nature of anxiety, highlighting both its survival benefits and the challenges it poses.  Techniques for managing anxiety, including the use of hypnosis, are shared, along with the significance of gratitude and presence in mitigating anxious feelings.  The discussion concludes with key takeaways for listeners to apply in their own lives.

Watch this and all of our podcast episodes on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@transforming.relationships

Follow Dr. Carolyn Daitch:

• General Info: https://carolyndaitchphd.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.carolyn.daitch

  Follow Dr. David Alter:

• General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
• For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com

  Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

• General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
• Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel

In this episode, we discuss why we are vulnerable to trance states when we are anxious, worried, afraid, and uncertain. We discuss our deep hunger for safety and security and how that hunger makes us vulnerable to overt or indirect manipulation. 

This episode also prepares us for our upcoming interview of Dr. Carolyn Daitch, a best-selling author and renowned expert on the effective management of different anxiety-based conditions. She will focus on why the use of clinical hypnosis is especially useful in learning to effectively manage all manner of fears. 

If you care to share your thoughts, reactions, or questions, please contact us at tranceformingrelationships@gmail.com. 

  More info on Dr. David Alter:   General Info: www.drdavidalter.com For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com Natural Healing Resources: www.natures-medicine.com   More info on Dr. Eric Spiegel:   General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel

The words 'trance' and 'hypnosis' are often used indistinguishably.  But what do they each mean - and how do they apply to your life?  In the second episode of 'TRANCEforming Relationships', David and Eric describe in vivid detail the many contexts that evoke trance states - and the neurological foundations of the brain states associated with trance. They also explain how the process of therapeutic hypnosis evokes trance & the therapeutic relationship to facilitate healing.  Finally, they share how they became hypnosis practitioners - and what you can learn from their experiences.   Become a part of our growing podcast community by contacting us at tranceformingrelationships@gmail.com.   More info on Dr. David Alter:   General Info: www.drdavidalter.com For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com Natural Healing Resources: www.natures-medicine.com   More info on Dr. Eric Spiegel:   General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel Facebook: www.facebook.com/drericspiegel      

Relationships have the power to transform people's lives - individually and collectively, positively and negatively.  And this power can often be felt resonantly in the first few seconds of an interaction, through key factors like the tone of someone's voice and their non-verbal cues.

Join co-hosts Dr. Eric Spiegel and David Alter - two seasoned health psychologists, relational therapists, and hypnotherapists - as they introduce you to a wide-ranging podcast about how trance forms in relationship, and how relationship transforms lives.  

In this first episode, Eric and David will provide an overview of the many forms of relationship that contain elements of trance, and with them, the capacity for transformation. 

These include our relationships with...

• Our neurobiology, where the role of curiosity, discovery, the known, and the novel are explored
• The process of change, a process deeply connected to the nature of trance and entrancing experience
• Ourselves, whether between mind and body, or between parts of self
• Our partners/spouses/friends, where themes of safety, security, attachment, and connection in the presence of difference are examined 
• The world of ideas, beliefs, attitudes, and fear, where the hosts explore polarization, alienation, demonization, and risk of violence
• The global wisdom traditions that speak to core truths about life, love, and connection that, sadly, we too often disregard at our own peril
• The world of nature and the larger world within which we all co-evolved, and how our evolutionary endowments still contain important keys for physical, emotional, mental, and relational health.

Join us for a journey into the transformative nature of relationships by tuning into Trance-forming Relationships, with Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter.

 

Watch this episode on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/37yhfWpKgD8

 

Learn more about Dr. Alter:

https://www.drdavidalter.com/

 

Learn more about Dr. Spiegel:

https://therapistsinphiladelphia.com/meet-us/eric-spiegel/

https://www.ericspiegelphd.com/

Why is it so difficult to hold multiple perspectives in conflict, especially when identity, history, and trauma are involved?

In this episode, conflict negotiator Naseem Khuri explores the psychology of conflict through the lens of Israel–Palestine and, later in the episode, polarization in the United States. Drawing on his professional work and personal history, he examines how people interpret the same reality in fundamentally different ways, and why conflict is often something to be managed rather than resolved.

The conversation addresses intergenerational trauma, competing narratives of loss and displacement, the danger of certainty, and the role of process in creating conditions for understanding. It also explores the limits of empathy in active conflict and the importance of building structures that allow people to be heard without requiring agreement.

This episode offers a psychological perspective on conflict, identity, and polarization—both in international contexts and in everyday human relationships.

Hosts: Eric Spiegel and David Alter

Guest: Naseem Khuri

 

Follow Dr. David Alter:

   General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
    For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com
 
Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

   General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
    Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com
    Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel

How can hypnosis transform the way we experience pain?

In this episode, psychologists Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter speak with Dr. David Patterson, a leading expert in pain psychology and medical hypnosis, about the science and psychology of pain—and how hypnosis can reshape our relationship with it.

The conversation explores the critical differences between acute and chronic pain, the role of neuroplasticity in maintaining pain patterns, and how hypnosis can help patients shift perception, reduce suffering, and reconnect with activity and meaning.

Dr. Patterson also shares deeply personal reflections on grief, resilience, and healing, illustrating how relational aspects of therapy and human connection play a powerful role in recovery.

This episode offers both clinical insight and human perspective on one of the most challenging experiences people face: living with pain.

Hosts: Eric Spiegel and David Alter

Guest: David Patterson

Keywords

Pain management
Hypnosis
Neuroplasticity
Chronic pain
Medical hypnosis
Psychotherapy
Pain treatment
Mind-body medicine
Emotional resilience
Healing

 

Follow Dr. David Alter:

   General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
    For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com
 
Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

   General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
    Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com
    Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel

 

In this episode of Transforming Relationships, Dr. Eric Spiegel and Dr. David Alter sit down with Dr. Susanna Carolusson, a psychologist whose career has spanned five decades of work in trauma treatment, hypnosis, and ego state therapy. Drawing on both clinical wisdom and lived experience, Dr. Carolusson reflects on how her own childhood adversity—including growing up with a deeply troubled parent—shaped her lifelong curiosity about the mind and her commitment to helping others heal.

The conversation explores ego state therapy and parts work, the role of hypnosis in trauma treatment, and the importance of attunement and emotional safety in the therapeutic relationship. Dr. Carolusson describes how understanding the different "parts" of the self can help clients move toward integration, resilience, and a renewed sense of vitality.

Along the way, she offers practical wisdom for therapists and anyone interested in personal growth—from learning to listen to the body's signals to cultivating the kind of curiosity that restores energy, creativity, and connection.

Whether you're a clinician, a student of psychology, or someone interested in the process of healing, this episode offers a rare opportunity to learn from a therapist whose work bridges personal transformation and decades of trauma-informed practice.

Hosts: Eric Spiegel and David Alter

Guest: Susanna Carolusson

Watch this and all of our podcast episodes on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@transforming.relationships

Topics Covered:

• Ego state therapy and parts work

• Hypnosis in trauma treatment

• Attunement and safety in psychotherapy

• Curiosity as a therapeutic tool

• Therapist–client boundaries

• Resilience and childhood adversity

• Listening to the body in the healing process

Keywords:

psychology, trauma therapy, hypnosis, clinical hypnosis, ego state therapy, parts work, trauma healing, attachment, psychotherapy, mental health, therapy techniques, resilience, personal growth, attunement in therapy, trauma treatment

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Transforming Relationships
05:26 The Role of Hypnosis in Trauma Treatment
10:51 Understanding the Parts of the Self
16:11 Curiosity as a Therapeutic Tool
25:39 Navigating Therapist–Patient Boundaries
34:56 The Dandelion Child: Resilience in Adversity
45:19 Listening to the Body: Intuition and Healing

 

Follow Dr. Susanna Carolusson:

    General Info: https://carolussons.se/english.htm

Follow Dr. David Alter:

   General Info: www.drdavidalter.com
   For Couples: www.partnersatcrossroads.com
 
Follow Dr. Eric Spiegel:

   General Info: www.ericspiegelphd.com
   Group Practice: www.therapistsinphiladelphia.com
   Instagram: www.instagram.com/drericspiegel