A Little Help For Our Friends

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A Little Help For Our Friends

Dr. Kibby McMahon

167 episodes

1 week ago

Message us here! Ever felt like your worth depends on how useful you are to other people? Turning the big 4-0 pushed me to confront a lifelong habit of people pleasing. In this episode, I talk about people pleasing: how it took root in chaos, hid behind “being nice,” and quietly drained my energy, confidence, and joy. I unpack what research says about what "people pleasing" is, how chronic pleasing links to mental health issues, and why so many of us end up orbiting charismatic "takers" who l...

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Society & Culture,

Health & Fitness,

Social Sciences,

All content for A Little Help For Our Friends is the property of Dr. Kibby McMahon and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Message us here! Ever felt like your worth depends on how useful you are to other people? Turning the big 4-0 pushed me to confront a lifelong habit of people pleasing. In this episode, I talk about people pleasing: how it took root in chaos, hid behind “being nice,” and quietly drained my energy, confidence, and joy. I unpack what research says about what "people pleasing" is, how chronic pleasing links to mental health issues, and why so many of us end up orbiting charismatic "takers" who l...

Show more...

Society & Culture,

Health & Fitness,

Social Sciences,

Episodes (20/167)

A Little Help For Our Friends

Detox From People Pleasing: Breaking Free of the "Echo-Narcissus Syndrome" And Becoming Your Own Authority

Message us here! Ever felt like your worth depends on how useful you are to other people? Turning the big 4-0 pushed me to confront a lifelong habit of people pleasing. In this episode, I talk about people pleasing: how it took root in chaos, hid behind “being nice,” and quietly drained my energy, confidence, and joy. I unpack what research says about what "people pleasing" is, how chronic pleasing links to mental health issues, and why so many of us end up orbiting charismatic "takers" who l...

1 week ago

46 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with "Rosemead's" Anzi DeBenedetto: How family and friends fail when loving someone with mental illness

Message us here! A mother, a son, and a community caught between love and stigma: the new movie "Rosemead" (produced by Lucy Liu) hits like a quiet earthquake. After watching the early screening, I ugly-cried when I found out that it was based on a true story. Because the story tackles the complexities of loving someone with mental illness, I just had to talk about it here. In this episode, I sit down with "Rosemead" actor Anzi De Benedetto to unpack how a true story about schizophrenia, grie...

2 weeks ago

56 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Holiday Survival Roadmap For Dealing with Your Dysfunctional Family

Message us here! Holiday gatherings promise connection, but so many of us walk in bracing for old patterns: the comment that lands like a dart, the sibling rivalry that never grew up, the invisible work of keeping the peace. In this episode, I delve into why this season can feel so raw and how to survive it when your family reunions don't resemble a Hallmark card. I also talk about this year’s surge in anxiety and grief, the rise in estrangement, and the isolation that lingers after the...

3 weeks ago

58 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Breaking the Deadlock: How To Flip The Switch on Constant Conflict

Message us here! Ever feel a conversation snap from “let’s talk” to “we’re yelling” in seconds? When you find yourself butting heads with someone over a "sensitive" topic, it can seem impossible to get on the same page. In this episode, I unpack a research-backed way to dissolve stalemates and actually influence change without steamrolling the person you love. The trick isn’t the perfect comeback: it’s validation, or "tactical empathy." I talk about the clinical science behind validation th...

4 weeks ago

50 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Dr. Elsa Friis: How Parents Can Tackle Taboo Topics Without Breaking Connection

Message us here! Are you avoiding talking to your kids about topics that are just...awkward? In this episode, I chat with Dr. Elsa Friis, clinical psychologist and VP of Product at Alongside, to unpack a practical way to tackle taboo topics (sex, porn, consent, screens) without burning the bridge you’re trying to build. Dr. Friis takes us from a group home with twelve boys to community-led parenting programs in Kenya, showing how cultural humility changes results. Warmth, respect, and ...

1 month ago

53 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Dr. Geoffrey Grammer: New Frontiers in Treating Depression When Meds Fail

Message us here! What if you've tried everything, but are still depressed? Did you know that one third of people with depression don’t get enough relief from antidepressants? In this episode, I talk to psychiatrist and CMO of Neuronetics, Dr. Geoffrey Grammer, about what should people do when our mainstream treatments for depression fails us. He sheds light on new advancements for treatment-resistant depression: transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and nasal esketamine, two evidence-...

1 month ago

52 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Dr. Marcus Rodriguez: Parenting Young Adults Through Anxiety, Anger, And Algorithms

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What if the “problem behavior” you see- anger, anxiety, avoidance, endless scrolling- is your kid’s way of shielding against something deeper? In this episode, I chat with Dr. Marcus Rodriguez, director of the Youth and Family Institute and tenured professor at Pitzer College, about what parents can do when their young adult children struggle with adulting. We dig into when these young adults hit a wall, their nervous systems recruit anger, a...

1 month ago

1 hour

A Little Help For Our Friends

Making You the Villain: The Gaslighting Effect of Projection

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Ever walk away from a conversation feeling like the villain in someone else’s story? In this episode, I dig into projection—the defense that pushes a person’s unwanted traits and feelings onto you—and show how it warps reality, fuels gaslighting, and leaves loved ones doubting their own character. I break down the differences between borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder in plain terms: emotion dysregulation ...

1 month ago

49 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

So Long, Co-Host; Hello, Crippling Self-Doubt and New Frontiers

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Little Helpers, this is a new era for this community: This is my first episode as the solo host of "A Little Help For Our Friends." It's Dr. Kibby and we're saying goodbye to my beloved co-host, Jacqueline Trumbull as she moves on from this podcast. This will be a new phase focused on what made this community matter from day one: centering caregivers, loved ones, people-pleasers, and supporters who carry the unseen weight of mental illness an...

2 months ago

38 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Jordon Monroe: Healing Narcissism With Honesty And Heart

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) To open Season 6 with a bang, we start where most hot takes end: with a self-aware narcissist describing his collapse, the shame behind the mask, and the painstaking choices that made empathy real. Jordan Monroe, a former tech founder turned emotional healing coach, joins us to explore a grounded path out of grandiosity, defensiveness, and reality wars—without dismissing the deep harm survivors endure. We dig into what actually shifts behavi...

2 months ago

59 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Season 5 Wrap Up: Beating Cancer, Becoming a Psychologist, and Leaping into the Next Chapter

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What happens when the hamster wheels we've been running on suddenly stop spinning? In this raw and deeply personal Season 5 finale, we pull back the curtain on our own mental health journeys over the past year, revealing the profound transformations that occur when life forces you to confront your deepest wounds. Dr. Kibby shares her post-cancer emotional reckoning, describing how surviving treatment was just the beginning of her healing jou...

3 months ago

56 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Manifestation: Path to Your Dreams or Just Wishful Thinking?

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What happens when two skeptical psychologists take a deep dive into the world of manifestation? In this episode, we take a look at what "manifestation" is, what is actually based in science...and then we try manifesting for real. We start by acknowledging our initial skepticism about the idea that you can get everything you want just by thinking about it- a practice that became popular from the book "The Secret." But as we peel back th...

3 months ago

1 hour 2 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Eating Disorders: What Friends and Family Need to Know

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Do you have a family member, friend or roommate whose relationship to food is a little...concerning? Eating disorders hide in plain sight, often disguised as diet culture, fitness goals, or "healthy eating." But beneath these socially acceptable lifestyles lie deadly mental health conditions that claim more lives than almost any other psychiatric disorder. In this episode, we break down the clinical realities of various eating disorders whil...

4 months ago

1 hour

A Little Help For Our Friends

Enabling: When Helping Our Loved Ones Makes Things Worse

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) When does our help cross the line from supportive to harmful for our loved ones with mental health challenges? In this episode we dive deep into the complex dynamics of "unintentional reinforcement," a less judgmental term for "enabling" that acknowledges how our best intentions can sometimes backfire. Drawing from personal experiences with addiction, depression, and avoidance behaviors, we explore how our actions sometimes shield our ...

4 months ago

56 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Humiliation: The Spiciest Social Emotion

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Humiliation might be the most painful social emotion we experience, even traumatizing. Yet it's much less talked about compared to its cousin, shame. In this revealing episode, we unpack the distinct characteristics that make humiliation uniquely devastating and potentially dangerous. When someone in a position of power debases you in public, that's not just intense shame- it's humiliation. You simply experience a profound loss of status and...

4 months ago

1 hour 6 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Agatha Peters: Navigating Narcissism Across Cultural Lines

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What happens when cultural expectations of family loyalty collide with the reality of narcissistic abuse? In this special episode, licensed clinical social worker Agatha Peters brings a fresh perspective to this complex intersection, drawing from her personal journey as a Nigerian-American and her professional expertise working with clients from collectivist cultures. For those raised in communities where family honor and respect for elders ...

4 months ago

56 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Interview with Amber Rae: When Staying In A Safe Relationship Hurts You More Than Leaving

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What happens when you look into a stranger's eyes and suddenly realize what's been missing from your marriage all along? In this episode, bestselling author Amber Rae joins us to share her transformative journey from a nine-year relationship that checked all the boxes on paper but lacked true intimacy and connection. Amber's story challenges our conventional understanding of commitment, revealing how we can unknowingly convince ourselves tha...

5 months ago

54 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Love Island USA Analysis Part 2: The Emotional Intelligence Behind Reality TV Relationships

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Now that Season 7 of "Love Island USA" has finished, we're unpacking the fascinating psychological dynamics that made this season so compelling. In this episode, we discussed how the men of Love Island gave us a masterclass in modern masculinity. In an era where men's mental health is suffering from isolation and loneliness, these bromances offered a refreshing alternative to toxic masculinity. T It turns out that protecting and providing lo...

5 months ago

1 hour 10 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

The Hidden Pain of Rejection: Understanding Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria and Its Link to ADHD

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) What happens when criticism feels like a physical blow? For some of you, rejection and criticism trigger an emotional response so intense it has its own name: Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD). In this episode, we deep into the painful world of RSD – that overwhelming feeling of shame and worthlessness that can follow even minor criticism for or rejection. Jacqueline shares a raw, personal story about crying in a supervisor's office foll...

5 months ago

1 hour 6 minutes

A Little Help For Our Friends

Love Island USA Analysis Part 1: Untangling Reality TV Relationship Dynamics

Send us a text! (add your email to get a response) Ever wondered what reality TV can teach us about psychology? In this episode, we put our mental health expertise to "work" analyzing the relationship dynamics on the first 17 episodes of Season 7 of "Love Island USA," revealing fascinating patterns that mirror what therapists see in couples therapy every day. Tell us your thoughts using the "send us a text" link above! The villa becomes our laboratory as we dissect the pursue-withdraw ...

5 months ago

1 hour 8 minutes