Ep. 469 Revenge Addiction: What You Need to Know with James Kimmel Jr., JD

Everyday Wellness with Cynthia Thurlow ™

Cynthia Thurlow

Alternative Health, Nutrition, Science, Life Sciences, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, I am delighted to connect with James Kimmel Jr., a Yale psychiatry lecturer, a lawyer, and the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. In our conversation, we explore the science of revenge, examining how it affects the brain and identifying risk factors that could contribute to extremes in revenge activity. James shares his journey from childhood to law and academia and offers his perspective on the intersection of justice, neuroscience, and human behavior. We talk about forgiveness, exploring how it reshapes the brain, counteracts revenge addiction, and serves as a tool for healing. We also cover specific interventions, including the non-justice system and the warning signs for extremes in addictive behaviors. This invaluable and insightful conversation with James Kimmel Jr. is an incredible resource for moms everywhere. IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN: How revenge impacts the brain How psychological harm can lead to revenge cravings The link between addiction and revenge-seeking Why some individuals are more at risk for revenge-seeking than others Some common forms of revenge-driven behavior What does a revenge attack look like? James shares how revenge motivated his choice to become a lawyer and how he came to do the work he does now The benefits of forgiveness as an antidote to revenge cravings How social media platforms exploit the addictive process of revenge-seeking Interventions and support systems for managing revenge addiction Connect with Cynthia Thurlow Follow on ⁠X⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠LinkedIn⁠ Check out Cynthia’s ⁠website⁠ Submit your questions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ Connect with James Kimmel Jr. On his⁠ website⁠ Buy a copy of James’ latest book,⁠ The Science of Revenge⁠ ⁠SavingCain.org⁠: Preventing Murd

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Everyday Wellness Podcast.
0:04.2	I'm your host, nurse practitioner, Cynthia Thurlow.
0:07.5	This podcast is designed to educate, empower, and inspire you to achieve your health and wellness goals.
0:13.9	My goal and intent is to provide you with the best content and conversations from leaders in the health and wellness industry each week and impact
0:22.1	over a million lives.
0:29.0	Today I had the honor of connecting with James Kimmel Jr. He's a Yale psychiatry lecturer,
0:35.5	lawyer, and the founder and co-director of the Yale
0:37.8	Collaborative for Motive Control Studies. Today we spoke about the impact of revenge and what
0:44.3	science says about how revenge impacts our brains, specific risk factors for extremes in
0:51.4	revenge activity, the brain disease model of revenge, and the specific anatomy and
0:57.7	physiology of this. We spoke about James's life story and how that is influenced his trajectory
1:03.8	from childhood to attorney to now lecture at Yale, the impact of the prefrontal cortex with aging, how social media fuels
1:14.0	revenge ideology, the importance of forgiveness, and what research suggests about the power of
1:19.9	forgiveness, what brain structures are involved in the impact of forgiveness itself, and why it is
1:26.8	the potent antidote for revenge and revenge addiction,
1:30.1	specific interventions, including the non-justice system, and last but not least,
1:35.4	warning signs to look for for extremes in addictive behaviors.
1:39.0	This is an invaluable conversation, particularly relevant, and one that I think will be an incredible
1:45.9	resource for moms everywhere.
1:51.6	I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. I found your book absolutely fascinating. And I think
1:57.1	it really speaks to the fact that I think revenge as a concept is really not poorly
2:01.5	or well understood.
	...

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