Dr. David Burns

Hello, David, and welcome to all of our listeners around the country and throughout the world and the galaxy. This is the Feeling Good podcast, and it's episode 417. We have two special guests, Matt May, who's a frequent visitor to our podcast. Hi, Matt.

And we have a repeat guest, Manuel Sierra, who is a child and adolescent psychiatrist currently living in Idaho. He did his fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and he did his residency with Matt at Stanford. And one special thing about Manuel that many people don't know is that he grew up with David and Tom.

And we have a repeat guest, Manuel Sierra, who is a child and adolescent psychiatrist currently living in Idaho. He did his fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and he did his residency with Matt at Stanford. And one special thing about Manuel that many people don't know is that he grew up with David and Tom.

Together they wrestled bears and mountain lions, which I'm sure we'll hear more about in the podcast.

Together they wrestled bears and mountain lions, which I'm sure we'll hear more about in the podcast.

Yeah, we actually, what we didn't mention was that we spent a couple of years in Hong Kong, too. You know, when we were like six. And we had to go to the zoo there to wrestle animals.

Yeah, we actually, what we didn't mention was that we spent a couple of years in Hong Kong, too. You know, when we were like six. And we had to go to the zoo there to wrestle animals.

Wow, that's awesome. I love that. And you just said the name of our podcast, the topic of our podcast today is on bullying.

Wow, that's awesome. I love that. And you just said the name of our podcast, the topic of our podcast today is on bullying.

It's on brand, yeah. It's not a funny topic, a very serious and horrible topic, but one that I think is really needed. We're lucky to have you, Manuel, and Matt, to give us a little of the inside scoop on the best way to think about bullying and to change the way you think if you're being bullied, which is probably half of what we'll talk about. And then the other half would be...

It's on brand, yeah. It's not a funny topic, a very serious and horrible topic, but one that I think is really needed. We're lucky to have you, Manuel, and Matt, to give us a little of the inside scoop on the best way to think about bullying and to change the way you think if you're being bullied, which is probably half of what we'll talk about. And then the other half would be...

what to say, how to use the five secrets of effective communication or whatever verbal strategies to respond to the bully. So you've got your inner dialogue, which is the way you're thinking about yourself, the messages you're giving yourself if you're being bullied, and then the outer dialogue is what you're going to say to the other person.

what to say, how to use the five secrets of effective communication or whatever verbal strategies to respond to the bully. So you've got your inner dialogue, which is the way you're thinking about yourself, the messages you're giving yourself if you're being bullied, and then the outer dialogue is what you're going to say to the other person.

And Matt and Manuel have some fantastic answers to those two questions.

And Matt and Manuel have some fantastic answers to those two questions.

Well, could you just start off by explaining what you mean by bullying?

Well, could you just start off by explaining what you mean by bullying?

Well, I have one question. I won't be saying a lot in this episode because I don't have a lot of knowledge. You guys do, except where I can contribute is on the messages we give ourselves to make ourselves miserable. But what I wanted to ask about is, to me, I've pretty much always viewed human nature as having a duality

Well, I have one question. I won't be saying a lot in this episode because I don't have a lot of knowledge. You guys do, except where I can contribute is on the messages we give ourselves to make ourselves miserable. But what I wanted to ask about is, to me, I've pretty much always viewed human nature as having a duality

of a positive, joyous, loving side to human nature and an inherently dark, sadistic, hurtful side of human behavior, and that they're both absolutely inherent things. in human nature uh you know a lot of people the pope recently made the statement that human beings are inherently good and and you know to me that sounded like a lot of non-nonsense a lot of silly overly idealistic thinking