PsyDactic

Can hooking your head up to a fancy battery (tDCS) cure depression?

In December 2025, the FDA authorized  the Flow F100, an innovative at-home wearable headset that utilizes transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to treat major depressive disorder. Unlike traditional pharmaceuticals that act systemically, this device targets the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with localized electricity to modulate neuronal excitability and address the asymmetry hypothesis of depression. While the Empower study that evaluated this technology demonstrated statistically significant improvements in response and remission rates, the FDA approved it with a moderate level of uncertainty regarding its true efficacy due to a clinically insignificant 2.3-point difference on the average improvement using the Hamilton scale and potential unblinding bias in the trial. By contrasting frequentist and Bayesian statistical frameworks, Dr. O'Leary encourages a skeptical but curious evaluation of whether this technology represents a genuine clinical breakthrough or a temporary trend in the long history of electrotherapy.Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to feedback@psydactic.com.References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

Game Theory for Parents and Other Humans with Kevin Zollman

PsyDactic welcomes The Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting co-author, Kevin Zollman who discusses game theory as the science of strategic thinking. We explore how mathematical models like the Prisoner’s Dilemma and mechanism design can be used to manage family dynamics by creating win-win solutions rather than competitive, zero-sum outcomes. The conversation highlights practical techniques such as "I cut, you pick" for fairness, the importance of making credible threats that parents are actually willing to execute, and ways to make honesty more profitable than lying through strategic questioning. While children may be impulsive and at times difficult to predict, applying game theory helps parents influence behavior by understanding their children's incentives and fostering a predictable environment built on reciprocity and trust.Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to feedback@psydactic.com.References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

Childhood Deficit Disorder and the Atrophy of American Childhood

Dr. O'Leary proposes Childhood Deficit Disorder as a way to conceptualize the rise in mental health issues among modern youth, exploring how systemic changes in culture and environment contribute. He contrasts the "free-range" parenting style prior to the 1980s, which fostered autonomy and resilience, with the modern trend of intensive, managerial parenting driven by economic anxiety and a "culture of fear" fueled by media. Dr. O'Leary explores how children's independent mobility has plummeted due to these shifts and in response to a built environment hostile to pedestrians, leading to a loss of key socialization spaces.  Digital media, including social media, both actively displaced healthy social spaces and filled the void created by anxious, fearful parenting, and poor urban design. Childhood Deficit Disorder (CDD) is a framework—not a clinical diagnosis—to describe the developmental consequences of chronic deprivation of autonomous play, independent movement, and connection to the physical world, often exacerbated by the "digital colonization of childhood."For references and a more in depth discussion: https://sciencebasedpsych.blogspot.com/2025/12/childhood-deficit-disorder-and-atrophy.htmlPlease leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to feedback@psydactic.com.References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

Clozapine - Beyond the Basics

Dr. O'Leary explores the history of clozapine, highlighting its initial revolutionary impact as the first atypical antipsychotic, followed by a ban on its use, followed by its re-emergences as a strictly monitored medication, and then culminating in new recommendations that greatly encourage its use. The discussion details the severe side effects that led to its initial discontinuation,  and then emphasizes other critical but often overlooked adverse effects, such as metabolic syndrome, sialorrhea, and especially severe gastrointestinal hypomotility, which can be life-threatening. Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to feedback@psydactic.com.References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

Therapeutic Ultrasound with Dr. Michael Canney PhD

This episode includes a fascinating interview with a researcher in ultrasound, Dr. Michael Canney who is an acoustics researcher the chief scientific officer at a French company named Carthera (https://carthera.eu/) and they make ultrasound devices that can disrupt the blood-brain barrier in order to let medicines into the brain that otherwise could only get through in very small amounts.We talk more broadly about the explosion of various applications of ultrasound beyond imaging, including things like tissue ablation (or basically cooking highly focussed loci of tissue inside your body), or cavitation (where ultrasound causes tiny bubbles to rapidly expand inside cells or vessels), and I end with a brief discussion of the potential of ultrasound for neuromodulation.Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to feedback@psydactic.com.References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.