High Anxiety
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
02/25/21
•34m
About
Comments
Featured In
Even amid optimism about vaccines and declining infection rates, there is mounting evidence that the pandemic is generating a global mental health crisis. Lockdowns and social distancing reduce transmission, but have the unintended consequence of intensifying stress and anxiety, stretching social bonds, and weakening personal relationships. How do we cope with the results? Could rising levels of child abuse, spousal abuse, drug abuse, homicide and suicide leave even deeper marks than COVID itself? Do we need to think differently about mental health interventions?
Dr. Jonathan DePierro and Michael Niconchuk try to answer these questions in this week’s episode of New Thinking for a New World. DePierro is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and a practicing clinician; Niconchuk is a neuroscience researcher working in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan among other places.
Previous Episode
Do you believe in Magic?
February 18, 2021
•26m
The pandemic has forced most of us to move from real life to virtual life—and we are mostly unhappy about the results. It’s not just that we miss the real thing, but that it's virtual alternative—endless hours on Zoom or Teams or some other platform—is such a pale imitation.
Are there different ways to use the tools? Since we may be stuck in this second best world for a while, can we find ways to make it better? Is there a cure for Zoom fatigue?
For answers, we turned to a magician. Magic used to be fundamentally physical, requiring a lot of interaction between the magician and his audience. Mark Mitton is a world class magician, whose performances produced Springsteen-like enthusiasm and engagement from those lucky enough to experience them. How did he move from three dimensions to two dimensions? What can he teach us about communicating during a pandemic?
Listen as host Alan Stoga explores how magical thinking (or, at least, a magician’s thinking) can help us through this crisis. And watch here for the queen of clubs.
Next Episode
Iran’s Annus Horribilis
March 4, 2021
•31m
2020 was an awful year for Iran. A year that started with the assassination of the country's widely popular, leading general ended with the assassination of its most important nuclear scientist. The three year old recession deepened while inflation soared. Widespread shortages, including medicines, made the fight against the pandemic all the more difficult. American “maximum pressure” combined with Iranian mismanagement took a huge toll on the country and on ordinary people. Yet, if anything, the regime seems more firmly in power today than a year or two ago.
How can that be? Will it change? Is there any chance that the Green Movement of a decade ago will reappear during this election year?
Answers are difficult to find, but this week’s New Thinking for a New World podcast guests are in the business of looking for them. Sima Shine leads the Iran program at Israel's prestigious Institute for National Security Studies and spent most of her career in the Israeli Intelligence Community. Dr. Sanam Vakil is deputy director of Chatham House's Middle East Africa Program, where she leads the Iran Forum among other projects.
Listen as they discuss Iran, today and tomorrow.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Promoted