The SelfWork Podcast
The SelfWork Podcast
Margaret Robinson Rutherford PhD
I'm Dr. Margaret, a psychologist for over 30 years, TEDx speaker, and the author of Perfectly Hidden Depression. I created The SelfWork Podcast in 2016 to explain mental health treatment and to give you the chance to consider therapy without thinking it's weird or that it somehow suggests you can't fix your own problems. My team is very honored that nine years later, SelfWork has earned nearly 5 million downloads! Each episode features the popular listener question as well as interviews with outstanding guests, authors, and experts, adding to the wide diversity of topics listeners so appreciate. Regularly rated as one of the top mental health/depression podcasts out there (ranked as a top .5% internationally) I keep it short, casual, and focused on "what you can do about it." I'd love to hear from you. Please join me.
510 SelfWork: Ted Lasso, The Pandemic and The Power of Secrets
This week – in fact to be punctual about it – on August 5th, 2026 – the first episode of the new Ted Lasso season was released. Today, we're going to focus on the meaning of so many of Ted Lasso characters having secrets that they're keeping.... and the freedom they discover in the telling of them. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Aug 7
21 min
509 SelfWork: EMDR Therapy: How It Can Help Fill Emptiness and Release Grief with Dr. Laurel Parnell
EMDR Therapy is known for its treatment of trauma. Dr. Laurel Parnell teaches and demonstrates how it can be healing for emptiness and grief - when relationships were never loving and for when they're gone. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jul 31
43 min
508 SelfWork: The Eye-Opening Grief of Disillusionment and Heartbreak
Disillusionment is defined in psychology as a "belief collapse." And the grief that that implosion can cause can be very hard to work through. Today's focus will be on how to do just that - get through disillusionment. What is disillusionment? Disillusionment happens when something you desire or believe strongly is true and right – something that you’ve worked hard to create or to build - crashes into a harsh reality. So many of my clients through the years have been disillusioned, demoralized people. They have reached a level of pain in their hearts and very souls that feels overwhelming. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jul 24
20 min
507 SelfWork: How to Effectively Talk To A Perfectionist
The subject for today is how to talk with a perfectionist about your concern for them. Or if you’re the perfectionist, how to allow someone into your world enough for you to hear that concern. I'll offer five definite approaches that work and you'll learn about the feedback loop that makes perfectionism addictive. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jul 17
22 min
506 SelfWork: Therapy Harm: Straight Talk with Dr. Patricia Dixon
Today psychologist and mental health advocate Dr. Patricia Dixon is shedding light on the often misunderstood concept of “therapy harm.” She explains what it is, how it can happen even with the best intentions, and why clients who experience it often struggle to speak up. We’re also going to focus on what’s called “colorism” - when fairer skin becomes an avenue toward privilege - and how she addresses that in her teaching and practice. Colorism happens in multiple cultures and is so important to legitimize as happening regularly. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jul 10
39 min
505 SelfWork: What's The Most Recent News For Depression Sufferers in 2026?
What's the most recent news for depression sufferers in 2026? That's the question Dr. Margaret researched today. Some new treatments are available now; some are still trying to get FDA approval. But there's a lot of promise out there, especially for what's termed treatment-resistant depression. There's also a new book out, Rethinking Suicide, that points out more recent research findings in suicide prevention. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jul 3
20 min
504 SelfWork: Your Questions and Answers: Is Anorexia Back "In", Borderline Moms, and Mother/Son Enmeshment
Dr. Margaret will focus today on questions and answers that listeners have sent her by either voicemail or email. First topic for today: Is anorexia back "in" as beautiful? Second: Why could you be allowing your mom (with borderline traits) to occupy such emotional space in your life? And third: If I'm openly sad when my son is getting ready to leave home, am I unintentionally setting him up to feel guilty? Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jun 26
23 min
503 SelfWork: Important Insights Into How to Interpret the Enneagram with Courtney Smith
Our expert speaker is Courtney Smith, who's a coach, group facilitator, and consultant who works with individuals and Fortune 500 companies to achieve change. She is a renowned practitioner of the Enneagram personality system, which she teaches alongside other personal development tools. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jun 19
47 min
502 SelfWork: The Medical and Mental Trauma of Chronic Invisible Illness with Amy Kurtz
194 million Americans–more than 76 percent of the population–are living with chronic illness. Many eventually stabilize, but what happens when the body heals and you still don’t feel safe inside it? Patient advocate and health coach Amy Kurtz knows this gap in our healthcare system firsthand. Having gone to 36 doctors, she was already exhausted from that decades-long effort. Finally hearing the diagnosis of late-stage neurological Lyme disease with co-infections, and getting the right treatment, her labs had improved. But as her body began to stabilize, the fear didn’t fade. . It was her husband who finally named what she couldn’t: the illness may have receded, but the trauma hadn’t. What emerged from that conversation is her book that came out this week - BUT YOU LOOK FINE (Balance, June 9), an earnest guide to get through the dark tunnel of what she calls Medical Trauma Brain. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jun 12
47 min
Introducing How To!: “How To Take Psychedelics for Your Mental Health with Dr. Will Van Derveer”
This week we’re sharing a special episode from our friends at How To!, the 2026 Ambie Award-nominated “Best Personal Growth Podcast” that’s back with a new host and new topics to fuel your curiosity. Each week on How To!, award-winning journalist Mike Pesca tackles a listener’s question – on topics ranging from travel and finance to health and relationships – with help from world-class experts who actually know what they're talking about. Think of it as eavesdropping on someone else's therapy session, without the co-pay or awkward silence. And today, we’re sharing their recent episode “How To Take Psychedelics for Your Mental Health” where Mike interviews psychiatrist Dr. Will Van der Veer, a psychedelic researcher, and Myq Kaplan who has taken psychedelics for his mental health and other reasons. I love this episode because you get to hear a bunch of personal experiences of medical psychedelics and learn more about this emerging treatment for mental health conditions. And for more interviews like this, make sure to follow How To! on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And tell them we sent you.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Jun 9
44 min
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