Gerald is a psychoanalyst, who has studied human behavior for a long time. He has used that expertise to formulate hypotheses about social issues, like feminism, civil rights, and most recently mass shootings in America.

Some of his views have been called insensitive or offensive. For example, in trying to explore how to stop mass shootings, one of his ideas is to regulate who is allowed to parent a child. The thought being that ineffective child rearing (among other social/cultural issues) is leading to a number of mass shootings.

That type of idea is the exact one I want to explore on the show. I want us to swim in the nuance, sensitivity, and uncomfortableness. Not for the shock factor, but because genuinely exploring these types of ideas allows us to learn.

If it is a horrible idea, then let us rip it apart and examine it to see. I fully understand that words can do damage and these topics can be difficult to discuss. But my hope is that this show is able to walk the line of being open minded/exploring, while at the same time holding people accountable and calling out things that seem harmful.

A more complete bio from Gerald is below:

Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D. is a licensed psychoanalyst who has been practicing in New York for over 45 years. During that time he has offered numerous presentations at conferences and published 30 books and numerous papers in professional journals, including “The Myth of Sexual Abuse.” Other papers offer original theories on the death trauma, gender narcissism and autism. InThe Mass Killer: Six Case Histories That Tell Us Why, he directs his psychoanalytic knowledge and research to an examination of the how and why of mass killings, exploring the psychology and social psychology of six notorious cases.

Dr. Schoenewolf is a noted psychoanalyst, listed on Wikipedia, with a world-wide reputation. In addition to his writings on psychology, he has also published nine novels, translated two books of philosophy, written, directed and produced two feature films. and wrote and illustrated a book of poetry and a DVD of video poems. He currently lives in Bethlehem, PA with his wife, Julia, his parrot, Lucky, and his cats, Minnie and Max.

Most Recent Episodes

November 10, 2023 Mature Content

"Family" – Tony Losacco

These conversations are hard. I've listened back to this one a number of times and the only thing I can keep thinking is "nuance."These discussions are nuanced, these topics are nuanced, life is...

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November 1, 2023 Mature Content

"The power of philosophy to heal society" – Nikos Patedakis

"Philosophy is actually the end of abstractions."Wow, what a statement to think about. How different our approach to life might become if we embrace that thought. How much more reflective and...

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October 25, 2023 Mature Content

"Everything is always my fault" – Chad Wittfeldt

Chad is a successful business person who now works to help coach others on how to be successful. What's super interesting about Chad is that:1. He has some spiritual and religious values that...

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Terry McMullen Podcast Host

I spent much of my career trying to consult companies on how to better achieve their goals. I was a Finance major, a Harvard Business School graduate, and a business strategist. I've always been curious and I've always loved trying to solve problems. It was a really good fit for a while, but then life happened.

Within the span of a couple of years I had a son, my sister tragically passed away, and my wife became severely ill with Multiple Sclerosis. All of a sudden everything I thought I knew about life didn't seem to make sense anymore. I needed to raise my son and teach him how to be a good person but I realized I didn't even know what it meant to be a good person, let alone know how to teach him to be one. I also realized that I wasn't capable of being the person my wife needed me to be to help care for her. Simply put, I wasn't good enough.