Gillie is a qualified psychotherapist and counsellor with more than 30 years’ experience. She specialises in working with survivors of coercive, cultic or spiritual abuse, trauma including rape and sexual abuse, thought-reform (brainwashing) and undue influence. She works with former cult members, including those brought up in a cult (second and multi-generation) and those who joined or were recruited (first generation).

Gillie set up Hope Valley Counselling in 2006 after achieving her Masters in Gestalt Psychotherapy. Here she further developed her model for counselling former cult members and survivors of spiritual abuse and undue influence.

Further resources:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/spirituality-and-psychiatry/pathological-spirituality/0F993FFB842601BF7492EFB708EBA769

https://www.hopevalleycounselling.com/walking-free-workbook

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Check out The Thinking Mind Blog on Substack: https://thinkingmindblog.substack.com/p/psychedelics-technology-and-love

Give feedback here - thinkingmindpodcast@gmail.com Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Daniel Månsson is a clinical psychologist and co-founder of Flow Neuroscience, a medical device comapny which produces transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) headsets for depression.

Today we discuss:

• What may be happening neurologically in certain cases of depression
• Different research studies that have looked into the effectiveness of TDCS treatment for depression
• The ethical challenges of studying, producing and selling medical devices
• How these devices may complement psychological treatments like psychotherapy

Studies mentioned:

Transcranial direct current stimulation as an additional treatment to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in adults with major depressive disorder in Germany (DepressionDC): a triple-blind, randomised, sham-controlled, multicentre trial - The Lancet - https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00640-2/abstract

Home-based transcranial direct current stimulation treatment for major depressive disorder: a fully remote phase 2 randomized sham-controlled trial | Nature Medicine - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-03305-yHome-Use

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of a Major Depressive Episode: A Randomized Clinical Trial | Depressive Disorders | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2813623

Northamptonshire NHS study:

https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation?paperid=131358

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Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi with Dr. Anya Borissova. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training. Dr. Anya is a academic registrar psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley trust.

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Check out The Thinking Mind Blog on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-174371597

Give feedback here - thinkingmindpodcast@gmail.com Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Jared Moore is a computer science Ph.D. student at Stanford University. There he recently taught a course about AI called on How to Make a Moral Agent.

He has previously been lectured at the University of Washington School of Computer Science where he taught a class on the philosophy of AI.

He is the lead author of a research paper which came out in 2025 examining whether chat gpt and other LLMs could potentially replace mental health professionals safetly and effectively, which was featured in the New York Times.

Research paper referenced:

Should a large language model (LLM) be used as a therapist? - https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3715275.3732039

Interviewed by Dr. Alex Curmi. Dr. Alex is a consultant psychiatrist and a UKCP registered psychotherapist in-training.

Alex's new Guardian article:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/sep/21/how-modern-life-makes-us-sick-and-what-to-do-about-it

If you would like to invite Alex to speak at your organisation please email alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Speaking Enquiry" in the subject line.

Alex is not currently taking on new psychotherapy clients, if you are interested in working with Alex for focused behaviour change coaching , you can email - alexcurmitherapy@gmail.com with "Coaching" in the subject line.

Check out The Thinking Mind Blog on Substack: https://substack.com/home/post/p-174371597

Give feedback here - thinkingmindpodcast@gmail.com Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast

Give feedback here - thinkingmindpodcast@gmail.com Follow us here: Twitter @thinkingmindpod Instagram @thinkingmindpodcast