Best Stuart Ralph Podcasts (2025)

1
Conversations in Philosophy: 'My Station and Its Duties' by F.H. Bradley 14:44

5d ago14:44

14:44

T.S. Eliot claimed that he learned his prose style from reading F.H. Bradley, and the poet wrote his PhD on the English philosopher at Harvard. Bradley’s life was remarkably unremarkable, as he spent his entire career as a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, where his only obligation was not to get married. Yet in over fifty years of slow, meticulous…

1
Dr Jon Abramowitz: Living well with OCD (#483) 46:20

6d ago46:20

46:20

In episode 483 I chat with Dr Jonathan Abramowitz. Jonathan is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Chapel Hill, NC specializing in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He is also Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. And author of several books including Getting over OCD, The f…

1
Novel Approaches: 'Vanity Fair' by William Makepeace Thackeray 32:52

12d ago32:52

32:52

Thackeray's comic masterpiece, Vanity Fair, is a Victorian novel looking back to Regency England as an object both of satire and nostalgia. Thackeray’s disdain for the Regency is present throughout the book, not least in the proliferation of hapless characters called George, yet he also draws heavily on his childhood experiences to unfold a complex…

1
Story: Rebekah Collins (Contamination & harm OCD, PMDD, advocacy) (#482) 37:16

13d ago37:16

37:16

In episode 482 I chat with Rebekah who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us. We discuss her early compulsions, trauma, an eating disorder, social anxiety and depression, agoraphobia, panic, being told she wouldn’t recover, her mum advocating for her, involuntary hospitalisation, diagnosis, joining support groups, exposure and response p…

1
Love and Death: Elegies for Poets by Berryman, Lowell and Bishop 12:11

19d ago12:11

12:11

The confessional poets of the mid-20th century considered themselves a ‘doomed’ generation, with a cohesive identity and destiny. Their intertwining personal lives were laid bare in their work, and Robert Lowell, John Berryman and Elizabeth Bishop returned repeatedly to the elegy to commemorate old friends and settle old scores.In this episode, Mar…

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Story: Zoey (Fears of choking, obsessing over partners porn use, BDD) (#481) 35:33

20d ago35:33

35:33

In episode 481 I chat with Zoey who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us. We discuss fears of choking and swallowing, obsessing over her partners porn use, therapy, exposure and response prevention therapy therapy (ERP), aligning therapy with her values, body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), seeing her therapist through NOCD, and much more. H…

1
Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘Alice in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll 15:41

26d ago15:41

15:41

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are strange books, a testament to their author’s defiant unconventionality. Through them, Lewis Carroll transformed popular culture, our everyday idioms and our ideas of childhood and the fantastic, and they remain enormously popular. Anna Della Subin joins Marina Warner to explore the …

1
Chrissie Hodges: Advocating for taboo OCD themes (#480) 1:11:43

27d ago1:11:43

1:11:43

In episode 480 I chat with Chrissie Hodges. Chrissie is a Peer Support specialist, founder of OCD Gamechangers, and Author of ‘Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder’. Chrissie was awarded the hero award at the 24th IOCDF conference in San Fran. We talk advocacy, censorship, stigma, the need for advocates to talk about all ex…

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Conversations in Philosophy: 'Autobiography' by John Stuart Mill 14:13

1M ago14:13

14:13

Mill’s 'Autobiography' was considered too shocking to publish while he was alive. Behind his musings on many of the philosophical and political preoccupations of his time lie the confessions of a deeply repressed man who knows that he’s deeply repressed, coming to terms with the uncompromising educational experiment his father subjected him to as a…

1
Jonny Say: Ideas for when people struggle with therapy for OCD (#479) 54:01

1M ago54:01

54:01

In episode 479 I chat with Jonny Say. Jonny is a UK based therapist and co-director at The Integrative Centre for OCD Therapy. We discuss an update on him, we talk about ideas for when people struggle with therapy for OCD. We discuss the length of therapy, he normalises the time frame, trying other approaches, therapists, or a combination of therap…

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Novel Approaches: ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë 26:38

1M ago26:38

26:38

When Wuthering Heights was published in December 1847, many readers didn’t know what to make of it: one reviewer called it ‘a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors’. In this episode of ‘Novel Approaches’, Patricia Lockwood and David Trotter join Thomas Jones to explore Emily Brontë’s ‘completely amoral’ novel. As well as questions of H…

1
Dr Josh Spitalnick: Health Anxiety, and living life well (#478) 1:06:39

1M ago1:06:39

1:06:39

In episode 478 I chat with Dr Josh Spitalnick. Josh is a licensed psychologist, owner and clinical director at the Anxiety Specialists of Atlanta, an outpatient clinic. He is co-author of “The Complete Guide to Overcoming Health Anxiety”. We discuss what’s new with him, his book, the title of the book, this idea of mental health - health anxiety, a…

1
Love and Death: ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ by Thomas Gray 15:21

2M ago15:21

15:21

Situated on the cusp of the Romantic era, Thomas Gray’s work is a mixture of impersonal Augustan abstraction and intense subjectivity. ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ is one of the most famous poems in the English language, and continues to exert its influence on contemporary poetry. Mark and Seamus explore three of Gray’s elegiac poems and…

1
Story: Jakob (Panic, derealisation, the fear of ‘going crazy’, existential OCD) (#477) 44:33

2M ago44:33

44:33

In episode 477 I chat with Jakob who has kindly agreed to share his OCD story with us. We discuss his story, panic, derealisation, the fear of ‘going crazy’, existential OCD, his advocacy work, exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https://theocdstories.com/episode/jakob-477 The podcast is made po…

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Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘Invisible Cities’ by Italo Calvino 15:35

2M ago15:35

15:35

Italo Calvino’s novella Invisible Cities is a hypnagogic reimagining of Marco Polo’s time in the court of Kublai Khan. Polo describes 55 impossible places – cities made of plumbing, free-floating, overwhelmed by rubbish, buried underground – that reveal something true about every city. Marina and Anna Della read Invisible Cities alongside the Trave…

1
Story: Megan (Worries of choking, health anxiety, existential and religious OCD) (#476) 55:10

2M ago55:10

55:10

In episode 476 I chat with Megan who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us. We discuss her story, worries of choking, hyperawareness of swallowing, her compulsions, other themes including existential and religious OCD, accepting and navigating relapses, OCD getting in the way of medication, health anxiety and fears of other mental health…

1
Conversations in Philosophy: 'Circles' and other essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson 15:10

2M ago15:10

15:10

Circular reasoning is normally condemned by philosophers, but in his 1841 essay ‘Circles’, Emerson proposes that not getting anywhere is precisely what we need to do to find out where we already are. In this episode, Jonathan and James consider Emerson’s use of the circle to demonstrate an idealistic philosophy rooted in the natural world, in which…

1
Nate Gruner and Meaghan Cleary: Functional Analytic Psychotherapy for OCD (#475) 1:00:59

2M ago1:00:59

1:00:59

In episode 475 I chat with Nate Gruner and Meaghan Cleary. Nate is a staff behavioural therapist at the obsessive-compulsive disorder institute at McLean hospital. Meaghan is a licensed mental health counselor and a registered dance and movement therapist. She is also a behavioural therapist and group facilitator at the obsessive-compulsive disorde…

1
Novel Approaches: 'Crotchet Castle' by Thomas Love Peacock 36:12

2M ago36:12

36:12

Thomas Love Peacock didn’t want to write novels, at least not in the form they had taken in the first half of the 19th century. In Crotchet Castle he rejects the expectation that novelists should reveal the interiority of their characters, instead favouring the testing of opinions and ideas. His ‘novel of talk’, published in 1831, appears largely l…

1
Catherine Goldhouse: I-CBT, feared self, and understanding inferential confusion (#474) 57:47

2M ago57:47

57:47

In episode 474 I chat with Catherine Goldhouse. Catherine is a licensed independent clinical social worker (LICSW) who specialises in anxiety, OCD, and relationships. We discuss Catherine’s OCD story, inference-based CBT (I-CBT), exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), reality sensing, the idea that I-CBT cares about the why, this concept o…

1
Love and Death: Elegies for children by Ben Jonson, Anne Bradstreet, Geoffrey Hill and Elizabeth Bishop 13:37

3M ago13:37

13:37

This episode looks at four poems whose subject would seem to lie beyond words: the death of a child. A defining feature of elegy is the struggle between poetic eloquence and inarticulate grief, and in these works by Ben Jonson, Anne Bradstreet, Geoffrey Hill and Elizabeth Bishop we find that tension at its most acute. Mark and Seamus consider the w…

1
Stephen Smith share’s NOCD’s story (#473) 1:13:44

3M ago1:13:44

1:13:44

In episode 473 I chat Stephen Smith. Stephen is the Cofounder and CEO of NOCD. Stephen shares his OCD story, the story of NOCD, the ups and downs of getting it to where it is today, the commitment from their team to improve access to OCD therapy, NOCD’s therapists and the rigorous training for them, and much more. Hope it helps. Show notes: https:/…

1
Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ by Jonathan Swift 15:41

3M ago15:41

15:41

Jonathan Swift’s 1726 tale of Houyhnhnms, Yahoos, Lilliputians and Struldbruggs is normally seen as a satire. But what if it’s read as fantasy, and all its contradictions, inversions and reversals as an echo of the traditional starting point of Arabic fairytale: ‘It was and it was not’? In this episode Marina and Anna Della discuss Gulliver’s Trave…

1
Stories: Nick Sireau & Margherita Zenoni (& Orchard OCD) (#472) 56:02

3M ago56:02

56:02

In episode 472 I chat with Nick Sireau and Margherita Zenoni about their stories. Nick founded Orchard OCD a not-for-profit for advancing global OCD research, and Margherita manages the communication and fundraising for Orchard OCD and is doing her PhD at the University of Cambridge. We discuss their OCD stories, their work at Orchard OCD, the rese…

1
Conversations in Philosophy: 'The Essence of Christianity' by Ludwig Feuerbach 10:29

3M ago10:29

10:29

In The Essence of Christianity (1841) Feuerbach works through the theological crisis of his age to articulate the central, radical idea of 19th-century atheism: that the religion of God is really the religion of humanity. In this episode, Jonathan and James discuss the ways in which the book applies this thought to various aspects of Christian doct…

1
Story (and therapist): Bronwyn Shroyer (OCD, PTSD, EMDR, I-CBT) (#471) 49:57

3M ago49:57

49:57

In episode 471 I chat with Bronwyn Shroyer. Bronwyn is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who specialises in two treatment areas: OCD and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Bronwyn has lived experience with both PTSD and OCD. We discuss her OCD story including PTSD, the interplay between trauma and OCD, eye movement desensitization and reprocess…

1
Novel Approaches: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen 31:53

3M ago31:53

31:53

On one level, Mansfield Park is a fairytale transposed to the 19th century: Fanny Price is the archetypal poor relation who, through her virtuousness, wins a wealthy husband. But Jane Austen’s 1814 novel is also a shrewd study of speculation, ‘improvement’ and the transformative power of money. In the first episode of Novel Approaches, Colin Burrow…

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Dr Steven Phillipson: The treatment of children and adolescents (9-25) with OCD (#470) 1:01:37

3M ago1:01:37

1:01:37

In episode 470 I chat with Dr Steven Phillipson. Steven is a licensed clinical psychologist who specialises in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for OCD. Steven is the Clinical Director at the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy in New York. We discuss the treatment of children and adolescents (9-25) with OCD, Steve breaks it down by age group…

1
Love and Death: Milton's 'Lycidas' 12:31

3M ago12:31

12:31

Milton wrote ‘Lycidas’ in 1637, at the age of 29, to commemorate the drowning of the poet Edward King. As well as a great pastoral elegy, it is a denunciation of the ecclesiastical condition of England and a rehearsal for Milton’s later role as a writer of national epic. In the first episode of their new series, Seamus and Mark discuss the politica…

1
Story: Rachael (harm OCD, postpartum OCD, fears of developing psychosis, health anxiety, existential OCD) (#469) 40:00

3M ago40:00

40:00

In episode 469 I chat with Rachael who has kindly agreed to share her OCD story with us. We discuss OCD themes including harm, postnatal fears of developing psychosis, existential, religious, and health anxiety. We talk about exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP), learnings from ERP, how her partner helped, shame and much more. Hope it hel…

1
Fiction and the Fantastic: ‘The Thousand and One Nights’ 14:41

4M ago14:41

14:41

The Thousand and One Nights is an ‘infinite text’: it has no fixed shape or length, no known author and is transformed with each new translation. In this first episode of Fiction and the Fantastic, Marina Warner and Anna Della Subin explore two particularly mysterious stories in the context of the wider mysteries and pleasures of the Nights. ‘The P…

1
Emily Hemendinger: OCD and pets (#468) 43:12

4M ago43:12

43:12

In episode 468 I chat with Emily Hemendinger. Emily is clinical director of the OCD Program at the University of Colorado Health Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. We discuss what Emily has been up to, the positives of pets on mental health, how pets can trigger our OCD, how this plays out in various themes of OCD, how vets can play a role in reducing c…

1
Conversations in Philosophy: 'Fear and Trembling' by Søren Kierkegaard 12:24

4M ago12:24

12:24

The series begins with Søren Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling (1843), an exploration of faith through the story of Abraham and Isaac. Like most of Kierkegaard’s published work, Fear and Trembling appeared under a pseudonym, Johannes de Silentio, and its playful relationship to the reader doesn’t stop there. Described as a ‘dialectical lyric’ on the…

1
Introducing ‘Novel Approaches’ 7:57

4M ago7:57

7:57

Clare Bucknell and Thomas Jones introduce their new Close Readings series, Novel Approaches. Joined by a variety of contemporary novelists and critics, they'll be exploring a dozen 19th-century British novels from Mansfield Park to New Grub Street, paying particular (though not exclusive) attention to the themes of money and property. The first epi…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Stuart Ralph Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen