Fear Me Out Psychotherapy Podcast Host Since 2021
Dana's Story! In my early school years, I coped with being a bully. I turned all of my pain & fear into aggression.
​
My school principal knew me quite well as the kid who fought constantly. When I was thirteen, I got in a severe fight with a schoolmate. After the fight, I was sitting in my bedroom nursing a badly swollen hand. For the first time in my life, I wondered about the person I had fought with. If my hand was damaged how much pain had I inflicted on the other boy? I felt very sad and remorseful that I had hurt another person in order to relieve my fear and pain. From that moment forward, I vowed never to fight again.
​
However, my fear and pain persisted along with a constant struggle with depression. The only solution I could come up with was self-medication. I started using drugs to cope and was high on marijuana for the next five years. Every day before, during and after school my friends and I got stoned.
When I was seventeen, my parents approached me with the idea that I might benefit from psychotherapy. This began a decade of self-discovery. I had no idea all of the trauma that I experienced as a young child could create so much anguish in my psyche. I came to understand the relationship between pain, fear, and aggression.
​
During the latter half of my teen years and my early twenties, I had many experiences with strangers telling me their life stories. I was often surprised that people would open up to me in such emotionally intimate ways.
The therapist I was working with encouraged me to become a clinical psychologist and helped me navigate the educational process. He gave me the understanding that I was destined to become a psychologist.
Dr. Dana Saperstein, PhD., host of the Fear Me Out Podcast, has been in private practice as a clinical psychologist in Santa Barbara, CA for more than 30 years. His unique approach will have you experiencing fear differently. Along with his studio guests, he engages in life conversations that most people are too uncomfortable to have.