Skip to content
Sign in
Artwork for Savvy Psychologist
Health & FitnessMental HealthEducationSelf-ImprovementScience

Savvy Psychologist

QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Seeking a healthier emotional life? It’s time to bring a trained psychologist and mental health expert along for the ride. Dr. Judy Ho explains the why behind complex emotions, helps you form better relationships, and guides you down the path of self-understanding.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Play
Open in
  • 27 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 17 min
  • English

Episodes 27

NewestOldestLongest
All20Unplayed20In progress0Played0
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • #575
    Tuesday · 18 min

    Existential Depression: Why do I feel empty when nothing is wrong?

    575. You’re functioning. You’re achieving. Nothing has gone dramatically wrong. And you wake up one morning and realize you genuinely can’t remember the last time something felt worth doing. A lot of people describe this as a feeling of emptiness. This week Dr. Judy Ho unpacks existential depression — the kind with no obvious cause, rooted in the collision with life’s biggest questions — what it is, why it hits the most thoughtful and high-achieving people hardest, and three ACT-based tools for moving toward meaning even when meaning feels absent. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #574
    September 22 · 24 min

    The love that controls you: Understanding coercive control

    574. It doesn't start with a bruise. It starts with devotion that slowly becomes suffocation. The Netflix documentary Death of the Pastor's Wife, released August 26, 2026, has put coercive control back into the national conversation — a pattern of behavior that is now more commonly reported than physical abuse in many contexts and that carries some of the most severe mental health consequences in the intimate partner violence literature. This week Dr. Judy Ho unpacks what coercive control actually is, what drives someone to do it, how trauma bonding keeps people in it, and three evidence-based tools for recognizing it, navigating it, and helping someone you love who may be living it. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #573
    September 15 · 18 min

    Why do I feel lonely even when my life is full?

    573. You have a full life. People who love you. A calendar that barely has room to breathe. And somehow, underneath all of it, you still feel alone. Today Dr. Judy Ho unpacks the loneliness that nobody talks about — the kind that lives inside a full life — why it happens, what it's actually doing to your body, and three simple, evidence-based things you can start doing today to feel genuinely more connected. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #572
    September 8 · 17 min

    Have you always been "a lot"? You might be a highly sensitive person

    572. If you were ever told you were too sensitive, too intense, or that you feel things too much — this episode is for you. The Highly Sensitive Person trait affects 15–30% of the population, shows up in over 100 animal species, and has measurable differences on brain scans. It is not a flaw. This week Dr. Judy Ho breaks down what HSP actually is, what makes the HSP brain genuinely different, the strengths that almost never get named, and three tools for thriving as an HSP rather than just surviving. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #571
    September 1 · 17 min

    What the Lindsay Clancy trial gets wrong about postpartum psychosis — and what every parent needs to know

    571. The trial of Lindsay Clancy — the Massachusetts mother who allegedly strangled her three young children and says she was in the grip of postpartum psychosis — has reopened a conversation the public has been getting wrong for years. Baby blues, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis are three completely different conditions. Only one is a psychiatric emergency. This week Dr. Judy Ho explains the clinical distinctions, the warning signs that loved ones and clinicians miss, the systemic failures that allow this illness to go untreated, and the forensic question at the center of the trial: can a person be both sick and responsible? Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. CORRECTION: In this episode I originally misspoke about the burden of proof in lack-of-criminal-responsibility cases. In Massachusetts, once the defense raises the issue, the burden actually falls on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was criminally responsible. I know this — it just didn't come out right on the recording. We remove that line in the audio podcast. Thank you all for listening and for contributing to this important discussion about mental health. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #570
    August 25 · 33 min

    Billy Eichner on how to be fearless without trauma or shame

    570. People constantly tell Billy Eichner he's fearless, and they always want to know how he does it. In Savvy Psychologist's first-ever interview episode, Dr. Judy Ho sits down with the comedian behind "Billy on the Street" and "Parks and Recreation" to trace that boldness back to its source, and it isn't the one you'd expect. There's a stubborn myth that artists have to suffer to be great, but Billy's story is the opposite: two middle-class parents in a small Queens apartment who never instilled an ounce of shame in him and leaned all the way into who he was. His new audio memoir, "Billy on Billy," reveals how feeling completely safe and accepted as a kid is what gave him permission to take risks and become fully himself. The reframe at the heart of it: real confidence is built by love, not forged through pain. Listen to "Billy on Billy: An Audio Memoir" Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #569
    August 18 · 17 min

    Why you stay up way too late even when you’re exhausted: The psychology of revenge bedtime procrastination

    569. It's midnight. You're exhausted. You have to be up in six hours. And you are absolutely not going to bed yet. Sound familiar? There's a name for it — and it's not laziness. Revenge bedtime procrastination is what happens when your brain decides that staying up is the only way to get something back after a day that felt completely out of your control. This week Dr. Judy Ho breaks down the psychology and neuroscience behind why we do this, including the surprising cortisol effect that means ignoring your first wave of tiredness can keep you awake an extra 60 to 90 minutes, and how to actually break the cycle. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  • #561
    June 23 · 18 min

    The psychology of slow living: Why slowing down is actually good for your brain

    561. People are baking sourdough, taking up needlepoint, going on phone-free walks, and joining knitting circles — and experts say it's one of the healthiest things they could be doing. This week, Dr. Judy Ho unpacks the neuroscience behind the slow living trend: why tactile, analog hobbies are a clinically meaningful antidote to urgency culture and digital burnout, what 'flow state' actually is and how it heals the brain, and how to build your own version of a slower life starting today. Have a mental health question? Email Dr. Judy's team at at psychologist@quickanddirtytips.com Find Savvy Psychologist on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more psychology tips. Watch on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@SavvyPsychologist More from Dr. Ho on her other channels: Dr. Ho's website, Substack, LinkedIn. Savvy Psychologist is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips. Find a transcript at QuickandDirtyTips.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Showing 1–20 of 27 episodes