
Express Yourself: The Psychological Impact of Authentic Communication, Part 1
Free Speech, Cancel Culture, and the Mental Health Benefits of Speaking Up: Clinical psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael, author of “Can I Say That? Why Free Speech Matters and How to Use It Fearlessly,” frames free expression as a mental health and problem-solving issue amid rising polarization, self-censorship, and cancel culture. Carmichael says authentic speech deepens cognition, aids emotional regulation, and strengthens social support, while chronic suppression can lead to repression, denial, anxiety, depression, and resentment. She describes fear and professional risk after publicly opposing child masking during COVID and argues that labeling speech as “violence” distorts reality, though true threats and incitement differ from words. She distinguishes self-censorship from healthy restraint, offers the WAIT test (Want, Appropriate, Inoculate, Trust), and discusses groupthink, innovation, misinformation debates, time-place-manner limits, and examples from corporate and university settings.
More episodes from "Intelligent Medicine"



Don't miss an episode of “Intelligent Medicine” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.








