Books, Looks, and Lobotomies
Books, Looks, and Lobotomies is hosted by therapist and author Alegra Kastens, who blends clinical insight with her lived experience of mental illness and unrealistic beauty standards. Each episode is a conversational look at books across genres, with Kastens doing the reading so listeners can just tune in. The show mixes literary discussion with candid talk about anxiety, body image, and pop culture. It invites listeners—whom she calls Lobotomommies—to join the gab.
Episodes
Bisexuality 101 with Haley Jakobson
Bisexuals, this is for you! For us! Your resident bicon Haley Jakobson, whose debut novel OLD ENOUGH was described by Vogue as being "full of winsome bisexual chaos," joins Books, Looks, and Lobotomies to talk all things bisexuality: what it is and isn't.This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, affordable, and convenient OCD therapy. Schedule a free 15-minute ca
The Neurobiology of OCD with Neuroscientist Uma Chatterjee
Neuroscientist Uma Chaterjee joins us to discuss OCD and the brain! If you are wanting to know more about your brain and body as they relate to mental health symptoms, this is the episode for you.This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, affordable, and convenient OCD therapy. Schedule a free 15-minute call today at https://learn.nocd.com/alegrakastensFollow Alegra on Instag
Your Unconscious Is Showing with Dr. Courtney Tracy
Did you know that your unconscious accounts for 95% of your behaviors, thoughts, and emotions? That our consciousness accounts for 5%? In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Courtney Tracy teaches us how to better consciously manage the unconscious through her three-part unconscious model and 12 steps of consciousness. Every single human could benefit from this book!Run, don’t walk, to get it. Purchase
The Right Relationship is Inevitable w/ Lily Womble
Lily Womble, an intersectional feminist dating coach and former top matchmaker, talks her revolutionary book Thank You, More Please: A Feminist Guide To Breaking Dumb Dating Rules and Finding Love. Lily addresses the impact of the patriarchy on dating while teaching you how to joyfully attract the relationship of your dreams. 10/10, no notes!This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effec
OCD and Substance Use Disorders (w/ Dr. Patrick B. McGrath)
Dr. Patrick B. McGrath, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with over 20 years of OCD treatment experience, joins Alegra to talk about the intersection of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). It’s an important conversation and one that is not had enough given the prevalence of these co-occurring conditions. Studies have shown that about 25% of people with OCD also li
Chelsea Bieker's "Madwoman"
Trigger warning: domestic violenceChelsea Bieker joins Books, Looks, and Lobotomies to discuss her national bestselling novel, Madwoman, a Book of the Month club pick the New York Times calls “brilliant in its depiction of the long shadows cast by domestic violence.” Chelsea talks the realities of domestic violence, motherhood, intergenerational trauma, survival, motherloss, and her flourishing cr
The Intersection of OCD and Eating Disorders
OCD can look a lot like an eating disorder, making it difficult for clinicians to make a differential diagnosis. In this episode, Alegra shares her lived and clinical experience with OCD and Eating Disorders to debunk myths, discuss the intersection of this co-morbidity, and more.This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, affordable, and convenient OCD therapy. Schedule a free 1
Breaking Book Tok with Emma Noyes
Emma Noyes talks How To Hide In Plain Sight, the first mainstream fiction book to cover POCD (!!!), breaking Book Tok, self-publishing, and finding her real life Manuel who loves her not despite her OCD but because of her beautiful mind. Emma’s works have been published in over a dozen languages and include Guy’s Girl, How to Hide in Plain Sight, The Sunken City series, and The Soul of Shadow seri
OCD Is An Earthquake In The Brain with Stephen Smith
Stephen Smith, co-founder of the teletherapy platform NOCD, joins us to share his lived experience with OCD (sexual obsessions, relationship obsessions, and more) that fueled him to create a a virtual therapy platform specializing in the treatment of OCD. Like many, Stephen did months of general talk therapy with a therapist who didn’t understand OCD, which made his OCD worse. It wasn’t until he f
Healing from CPTSD with Stephanie Foo
Stephanie Foo, author of the New York Times bestseller What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma, brought CPTSD to the forefront of mental health care. She joins us to talk about her healing journey, what CPTSD recovery means to her, emotional flashbacks, the painstaking search for a therapist, “the dread”, and more.
This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective,
Brain on Fire with Susannah Cahalan
Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire, joins the Lobotomommies today! She talks the doctor who saved her life, the importance of holistic mental health care, physiological causes of mental health conditions, and more. As the 217th person to be diagnosed with anti-NDMA receptor autoimmune encephalitis, naturally escaping the psych ward or death, Susannah has made i
Surviving Suicide with Chrissie Hodges
In part two of this discussion, Chrissie opens up about her suicide attempt that led to her hospitalization and OCD diagnosis. She also shares her OCD treatment experience utilizing Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) and recovery journey.
This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, affordable, and convenient OCD therapy. Schedule a free 15-minute call today at https://lear
Sexual Orientation OCD with Chrissie Hodges
Peer support specialist and OCD advocate Chrissie Hodges joins Books, Looks, and Lobotomies to talk about her memoir Pure OCD: The Invisible Side of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In part one of this discussion, Chrissie shares her journey with emetophobia and sexual orientation OCD that nearly ended her life.
This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers effective, affordable, and convenie
OCD and Mental Compulsions
On this week’s episode of Books, Looks, and Lobotomies, licensed therapist and OCD specialist Alegra Kastens talks Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and mental compulsions. She provides information about specific mental compulsions, how Exposure & Response Prevention (ERP) works with mental compulsions, stopping mental compulsions, and whether or not mental compulsions can be automatic or i
Amanda Montell's "The Age of Magical Overthinking"
Welcome back, Lobotomommies! This week, Alegra chats with Amanda Montell (Wordslut, Cultish, Sounds Like A Cult Podcast) about her latest book, The Age of Magical Overthinking. While discussing the cognitive biases that run wild through our brains, Alegra and Amanda also get deep about past relationships and "overpacking" their lives.
This podcast is made possible by NOCD. NOCD offers e
Sylvia Plath's "The Bell Jar"
In the first episode of her new podcast, Alegra reads "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath; a semi-autobiographical novel that covers all of this podcast's talking points: books, gender issues and feminism, and mental health. Alegra dissects the book, pausing to give personal anecdotes from her life, while also breaking down some of the backstory of the novel itself. With the Madonna Wh*re Complex, high
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