Are you someone who cries a lot? And do you always understand what these tears are about? Perhaps you wonder whether your tears are healthy or if they are something to be embarrassed or worried about? Or maybe you never or hardly ever cry but know people who cry at the drop of a hat and you wonder about this? Listen to Dr Imke Herrmann, who describes herself as ‘a professional crier’, as she explores these questions.

What is ‘being’ and what is ‘doing’ and why do we seem to put so much emphasis these days on ‘being’? Has ‘doing’ become the poor cousin of ‘being’? Barry Strmelj, contrasts these two states and explains how ‘being’ and ‘doing’ can work together.

Growing from a dependent infant into a well adjusted adult is a long and complicated process, according to Dr Mirisse Foroughe, and young people need the opportunity to learn to handle life’s hardships and experience difficult emotions. In this episode Mirisse shares some of what she has learnt from over 20 years’ experience riding the emotional rollercoaster with children, adolescents and their families.

This episode looks at the importance of psychotherapists working on their own emotional process. Marco Mendes tells the story of his own experience of shame in the course of training as an Emotion Focused Therapist and describes the impact of one small moment during his training in transforming the pain of his shameful experience.

When we have unfinished business with significant people in our lives it seems logical that these people should be involved in working things out so we can move on. However, in this episode, Dr Antonio Pascual-Leone explains how associated persistent and difficult emotional experiences related to others can be worked through all by ourselves.

Have you had the experience of the same old difficult feeling coming up again and again, even though you thought you’d worked things out? In this episode Aksel Inge Sinding talks about this common experience and the emotional process that might be going on and making this happen.

What is the experience of shame and how does it differ from feeling embarrassment or guilt? Dr Shigeru Iwakabe addresses these questions as well as talking about the cultural differences in shame and its functional purpose.

Do you have a critical part of yourself that sometimes gives you a really hard time? In this episode Rhonda Goldman discusses the benefits of becoming aware of this critical voice and how tuning into the emotions it generates can be helpful.

Why on earth would we want to feel emotions that are painful? It makes sense that we often do things to avoid feeling pain but, as Lars Auszra explains, sometimes this can lead to an even more painful experience.

What is it that keeps us stuck in old patterns and habits when we really want to change? Anna Oldershaw sheds some light on the complexity of change and to to approach the experience of ‘stuckness’.

How does self-compassion help us in the face of suffering and what are some of the obstacles that make it difficult to find compassion for our selves? Shari Geller discusses how self-compassion can help us to experience and work with other difficult emotions and pain.

Many cultures attach great value to being sociable and extroverted, making shyness, at times, problematic. Robert Elliott, a ‘formerly shy person’, discusses how some people learn to be scared of other people and offers ways of overcoming shyness and even learning how to become more comfortable as a public speaker.

Did you get angry as a child? And what happened when you did? Or perhaps you have children now that get angry and as a parent you don’t know what to do with it? Anne Hilde Vassbo Hagen talks about the function of helpful and unhelpful anger in children and how parents can help be it.

How is it that a love that starts off so exquisitely can sometimes turn into nothing but trouble and distress? Rhonda Goldman discusses the dance of couples and the role that vulnerability and fear play in the highs and lows of the intimate relationships.

What is it that makes grief last so much longer for some people than for others? And does the process of grief ever end? Jason Sharbanee discusses the complicated nature of grief and how we might understand it from an emotion focused perspective.

How does an engineer change into a world leading ‘emotion-ologist’? Leslie Greenberg tells the story of this evolution and the pathway he took to learning how to Change Emotion with Emotion.

‘Yummy foods and starvation are like taking a good strong dose of pain medicine.’ Joanne Dolhanty talks about an emotion focused perspective to understanding eating disorders.

Have you ever felt that if you let yourself cry your tears will never stop? As difficult as it can be sometimes, there are benefits of getting in touch with our sadness. Juliette Becking explains why ‘It’s sad to not be able to be sad’.

Often people sit on the edge of therapy before diving in and there may be many reasons for this. Emotion Focused Therapist, Ashley White, talks about the experience of many possible future clients as they contemplate seeking help, and of new clients as they start the process of therapy.

What is at the core of emotional pain, and how does it show itself? Join Dr Ladislav Timulak as he explains what has been learnt from listening to individuals in therapy about their experience of emotional pain.