Saving Relationships in a Polarized World: Bill Doherty on Citizen Therapists & Political Healing (281)

Therapist Uncensored Podcast

Sue Marriott LCSW, CGP & Ann Kelley PhD

Social Sciences, Society & Culture, Science, Relationships, Education, Self-improvement

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dr. Ann Kelley sits down with Dr. Bill Doherty to explore the idea of “Citizen Therapists” and how therapists — and all of us — can help bridge divides in a polarized world. Together, they dive into discernment counseling for couples on the brink of divorce, the groundbreaking work of Braver Angels in fostering dialogue across political differences, and the skills we all need for hard but healing conversations. This conversation highlights the power of curiosity, respectful boundaries, and understanding - whether in our closest relationships or across society. View the full shownotes at TherapistUncensored.com/TU

Transcript

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0:00.0	Learning about language. Now, I'm kind of role-taking therapists and maybe listening to this.
0:06.2	Who could say, why should I bother? You know, I understand. Not everybody has to be doing what I'm doing here, okay?
0:12.3	But I'm just offering this as a way to think about how therapists, good therapists are language artists.
0:20.3	We know how to phrase things and frame things.
0:23.6	We know how to listen for the language system of our client and then adapt there.
0:27.6	I mean, we are good at it.
0:29.6	Our work is a conversational art form.
0:33.6	If you choose to, you can apply that in the public domain as well, if you choose to.
0:40.3	Welcome to Therapist Uncensored. Building on decades of professional experience, this podcast tackles
0:47.3	neurobiology, modern attachment, and more, in an honest way that's helpful in healing humans.
0:53.3	Your session begins now with Dr. Anne Kelly and Sue Marriott.
1:03.2	Hey everyone.
1:04.4	Welcome back to Therapist and Cinsured.
1:06.0	I'm Anne Kelly.
1:07.6	And today I'm super excited to share a conversation that I have with our guest today that I feel like feels more urgent than ever.
1:14.8	So I met our guest, Bill Doherty, at last year's psychotherapy network conference.
1:20.3	I attended a panel.
1:21.8	It was really challenging, but super inspirational.
1:25.6	It was with Esther Perel and Monica Guzman and Bill about bridging
1:30.3	divides, and they were exploring how polarization shows up both in therapy and relationships as well
1:35.8	as society. And I then attended one of Bill's workshops, watching couples that are polar
1:43.2	opposite on the political spectrum actually get a
	...

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