ACT Therapist Dr. Jessica Borushok: Stop Fighting Anxiety—Change Your Relationship to It: In this episode of Renegade Psych, the host speaks with Dr. Jessica Borushok ("The ACT Therapist"), a clinical psychologist and ACT trainer, about shifting from symptom control to values-driven living by building psychological flexibility. They discuss how Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational Frame Theory (RFT) explain anxiety, trauma triggers, and the mind's tendency to form symbolic networks that fuel rumination and avoidance. Dr. Borushok breaks down practical ways to notice "hooks," distinguish automatic thoughts from chosen cognitive behaviors, and decide when problem-solving is useful versus when it becomes unhelpful mental avoidance, using tools like metaphors and small committed actions. They also explore perceived vs actual control, how clinicians get stuck in outcome-focused rigidity, the mixed role of diagnosis and medication depending on function, and why she started a YouTube channel to make ACT concepts accessible. 00:00 Support the Channel 00:26 Medical Disclaimer 00:59 Meet Dr Jessica Bach 02:00 Her ACT Origin Story 05:28 Why ACT Clicks 07:49 RFT Explained Simply 11:52 Using RFT in Sessions 14:11 Modern Minds and Threats 19:48 Complaining and Rumination Loops 20:50 Hooks and Problem Solving 24:22 Lemon Metaphor for Rumination 26:35 Avoidance and Addiction Reframed 30:38 From Bad Dad to Values 33:15 Committed Action in Real Life 35:46 Process Over Outcomes 37:09 Stories Shape Behavior 37:25 Process Over Outcomes 38:32 Control and Panic Skills 41:29 Therapist Stuck Moments 45:14 From Knowing to Feeling 49:12 Medication and Diagnosis Nuance 55:05 Why Start YouTube 01:01:49 Evolving Clinical Thinking 01:03:26 Medical Causes First 01:06:15 How Little We Know 01:08:14 Closing and Call to Action Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! Check us out on our socials #RenegadePsych and if you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Hey folks, I'm trying something different by posting my full audio episodes on all non-YouTube platforms monthly instead of weekly.  You can still see the video with graphics on my YouTube channel, which will separate each full-length interview into appropriately titled segments for more concise viewing.  This month, I'm talking again with James Greenblatt, MD and psychiatrist who specializes in an integrative (or functional) approach to psychiatry.  Dr. Greenblatt is openly critical of the current shotgun-treatment-approach to mental health, throwing medications and other treatments at conditions without first obtaining more information to decipher potential root causes of things like OCD, addiction, anorexia/eating disorders, bipolarity, depression, anxiety, and more.  Dr. Greenblatt has been a critical advocate for the increased use of lithium supplementation to treat lithium deficiency and both of us felt vindicated by the August 2025 Harvard Alzheimer's study, which, in our clinical opinion, is icing on the cake of evidence that lithium supplementation has a clear and obvious role in Alzheimer's prevention and treatment with a phenomenal benefit:risk ratio. Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! Check us out on our socials #RenegadePsych and if you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Hey folks, I'm trying something different by posting my full audio episodes on all non-YouTube platforms monthly instead of weekly.  This conversation is with Antonio Nardi, MD, and we discuss the immoral and aggressive marketing of SSRIs, overpromised in terms of efficacy and safety profiles, which led to the near-dissolution of use of the MAOI class of antidepressants, which are significantly more effective than SSRIs in treating depression.  We also talk about the underutilization of lithium, and how to appropriately use benzodiazepines in clinical practice and find the balance between creating dependence/withdrawal cycles AND using them when they're indicated for short-term or intermittent use.  What I see in clinical practitioners is that older docs/providers UNDERESTIMATE the risks of addiction and younger professionals tend to OVERESTIMATE the risks and UNDERUTILIZE this very effective (in the short-term) tool of psychopharmacology.  I want to point out EPISTEMIC HUMILITY - knowing what you don't know, as a KEY FEATURE of my talk with Dr. Nardi, and I have so much respect for that being at the heart of his clinical practice philosophy.  ENJOY! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me as I read a monologue by a 3rd-year DO student (Pikeville, KY), Elizabeth Lukens, about ways to secure unbiased and unattached funding in order to remove financially motivated entities from designing studies and interpreting data sets in a way that is biased towards their ultimate financial profitability goals.  In Elizabeth's mind, there are better ways to independently decipher the truth by promoting evaluators disconnected from potential bias to explain how the data and methodology should be interpreted. Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me and Jon Berner, MD/psychiatrist and PhD, about the broken US healthcare system, the abysmal state of affairs in treating and diagnosing mental health, and, of course, lithium.  If you're looking for a polished conversation high on professionalism, keep looking.  If you're looking for an unfiltered, in-your-face appraisal of the disastrous consequences of poor psychiatric management, then you're in the right place.  Enjoy this multi-part series, and if you're a provider, don't fall victim to the FANTASIES OF UNDERSTANDING REALITY and for God's (or Allah's, or Buddha's, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's) sake, USE MORE LITHIUM, though IT IS NOT A PANACEA... and for God's sake, do your research on these new anti-amyloid therapies like Lecanemab and Donanemab (Lequembi and Kisunla).  Dr. Berner harps on the importance of their extortionate cost, but I think they offer a POOR BENEFIT:RISK ratio with a high side effect burden and low likelihood of efficacy. Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me and Jon Berner, MD/psychiatrist and PhD, about the broken US healthcare system, the abysmal state of affairs in treating and diagnosing mental health, and, of course, lithium.  If you're looking for a polished conversation high on professionalism, I'd keep looking.  If you're looking for an unfiltered, in-your-face appraisal of the disastrous consequences of poor psychiatric management, then you're in the right place.  Enjoy this multi-part series, and if you're a provider, don't fall victim to the FANTASIES OF UNDERSTANDING REALITY and for God's (or Allah's, or Buddha's, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's) sake, USE MORE LITHIUM!, though Dr. Berner reminds us in this segment of the conversation that LITHIUM IS NOT A PANACEA!!! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me and Jon Berner, MD/psychiatrist and PhD, about the broken US healthcare system, the abysmal state of affairs in treating and diagnosing mental health, and, of course, lithium.  If you're looking for a polished conversation high on professionalism, I'd keep looking.  If you're looking for an unfiltered, in-your-face appraisal of the disastrous consequences of poor psychiatric management, then you're in the right place.  Enjoy this multi-part series, and if you're a provider, don't fall victim to the FANTASIES OF UNDERSTANDING REALITY and for God's (or Allah's, or Buddha's, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster's) sake, USE MORE LITHIUM! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me and Jon Berner, MD/psychiatrist and PhD, about the broken US healthcare system, the abysmal state of affairs in treating and diagnosing mental health, and, of course, lithium.  If you're looking for a polished conversation high on professionalism, I'd keep looking.  If you're looking for an unfiltered, in-your-face appraisal of the disastrous consequences of poor psychiatric management, then you're in the right place.  Enjoy this multi-part series, and if you're a provider, don't fall victim to the FANTASIES OF UNDERSTANDING REALITY! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me as I talk with David Healy, MD, psychiatrist, in a (now 6-part) series discussing his experiences testifying as an expert witness on the role of SSRIs in causing suicide and homicides, and other side effects of this class of medications.  In a country with more mass shootings than anywhere in the world, we've got to do a better job of investigating what the role of our medications are in causing suicide and homicide.  While SSRIs are very helpful for some people in the short term, and a few in the long-term, others have tragic side effects.  The flat reality is that there are not the sheer number and publicity of court cases involving other classes of psychiatric mechanisms of action as there are SSRIs.  Join us as we break down this very important potential side effect and help others be better educated so they know what to look out for when starting these medications and when to stop! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Join me as I talk with David Healy, MD, psychiatrist, in a (now 5-part) series discussing his experiences testifying as an expert witness on the role of SSRIs in causing suicide and homicides, and other side effects of this class of medications.  In a country with more mass shootings than anywhere in the world, we've got to do a better job of investigating what the role of our medications are in causing suicide and homicide.  While SSRIs are very helpful for some people in the short term, and a few in the long-term, others have tragic side effects.  The flat reality is that there are not the sheer number and publicity of court cases involving other classes of psychiatric mechanisms of action as there are SSRIs.  Join us as we break down this very important potential side effect and help others be better educated so they know what to look out for when starting these medications and when to stop! Pop on over to our YouTube channel and subscribe and join for membership if you're interested.  And, if you're passionate about what we do here at Renegade Psych, we're now on Patreon! If you'd like to support our work, you can! Or not... I'll continue putting out content as long as my other jobs pay the bills.  Other things you can do: liking, commenting, and sharing our posts also go a long way! https://patreon.com/RenegadePsych. Thanks for listening to the audio podcast... You should check out our posted video podcast on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZ1bds1MGMM4tSbY7ISqug) as there are graphics overlaying the video to make it all more interactive and educational.  For more social media content, check us out on all social media platforms @RenegadePsych. If you have any comments, questions or challenges to the information we've presented here, if you'd like to be a guest to the show, or if you have general comments, questions, or suggestions, email us at [email protected] and follow the link https://renegade-psych.podcastpage.io/  to our website for source material, transcripts, and additional links for my guests. If you feel passionate about our message and what we're trying to do, and you'd like to donate, you can also follow the link in the show notes to our website. Disclaimer, this podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided in this podcast and related materials are meant only to educate.  This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. While I am a medical doctor and many of my guests have extensive medical training and experience, nothing stated in this podcast nor materials related to this podcast, including recommended websites, texts, graphics, images, or any other materials should be treated as a substitute for professional medical or psychological advice, diagnosis or treatment. All listeners should consult with a medical professional, licensed mental health provider or other healthcare provider if seeking medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.