This is the greatest podcast episode ever recorded, and if you don't think so then you're a discreditable source and we'll destroy you. This week in the forest of terrible things, we dig up some truly horrific defence mechanisms. And we examine them in more detail than we expected, which means that the holy grail of unconscious exploration, dream interpretation, remains tantalisingly out of reach in the upper canopy until next week. This episode is a beast, sniffing for truffles on the forest floor.

Defensiveness might be an inherent aspect of childhood development, but does an adult have any reason to be defensive in their thoughts and communication? Why should it be exclusively the tiny number of people in formal therapy who unlock their repressed ideas and set them free in consciousness? The liberation is as cathartic as any in the material world, and the ability to identify defensiveness is accessible through paying attention.

In our conversation this week, ornamental nut dispensers get smashed, Judge James stops banging his gavel at parties, and driving an electric car into a river makes for a transcendent social rite of passage. Just don't try it at home (but do try everything else). If you think we sound awful with our confessions, try listening to yourself.

In the unlikely event that you find the discussion of childhood repression frustrating, see your therapist. Alternatively, repress it by skipping to the 39 minute mark where the conversation moves on, just as long as you feel bad about doing so, and you will. This episode ultimately climaxes in a forest clearing, nakedly exposed to Carl Rogers' idea of unconditional positive regard. A likely trailer for things to come on this podcast.

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