What Actually Heals? A Son's Search for Understanding

Was Freud Wrong About Religion?

In this episode, the host shares highlights from Scott Richards’ forthcoming memoir, Dissent from Freud: My Lifelong Search for the Soul of Psychology. Through the story of Richards’ formative encounter with Dr. Allen Bergin, listeners hear how one classroom lecture helped spark a lifelong commitment to integrating spirituality into mainstream psychology and psychotherapy. Future episodes in this series will feature memoir-based reflections, research findings, case examples, clinical guidelines, and self-help recommendations for the public.

Why Psychology Turned Against Religion—and Who Challenged It

An episode exploring how mainstream psychology came to view religion with suspicion, and how Allen E. Bergin challenged that bias by bringing religious values and spirituality into the center of psychotherapy. We also look at P. Scott Richards’ collaboration with Bergin and the research, books, and clinical insights that helped make spiritually integrated care more credible, practical, and humane.

What Actually Heals? A Son's Search for Understanding

A reflective solo episode in which David explores what he learned from Scott Richards’s memoir: the childhood shock of discovering his father’s depression, the long road of recovery, and the role that faith, spirituality, counseling, and medication played in helping him endure and heal. Along the way, the episode also connects Scott’s story to the mission of the Bridges Institute and its work to advance spiritually integrated psychotherapy.