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We live in a culture full of quick hacks, viral reels, and endless online advice about love and relationships. But let’s be honest—most of it doesn’t stick. It feels good in the moment but rarely transforms the way we actually live, love, and connect.

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Eddie Eccker, licensed marriage and family therapist, husband of 20 years, and guide for the messy middle of life, pushes past the noi...

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In this episode of The Voyage Cast Top Three, Eddie breaks down the stories shaping mental health care in America — where headlines, codes, and cash collide.

• Why federal prosecutors dropped charges against AMA whistleblower Dr. Eithan Haim, and what his case reveals about silencing dissent.
• How the hidden CPT Editorial Panel — stacked with insurance executives — decides which therapy and psychiatric treatments “coun...

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What do the Founding Fathers have to do with your marriage? More than you might think.

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Eddie Eccker takes wisdom from Madison, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton—and shows how their words about duty, ambition, and friendship speak directly into modern relationships.

Marriage isn’t about two perfect people. It’s about two imperfect humans drafting their own constituti...

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The Voyage Cast | Top 3 Mental Health News

For decades, we’ve been told that psychology and self-improvement alone are enough. But what if resilience — real healing, real flourishing — requires something more?

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Ed breaks down the top three stories in mental health and why they matter for your life:

🧠 The Neuroscience of Spirituality

Research from Lisa Miller (Columbia University) and An...

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Do your emotions ever feel like the ultimate truth? In this episode of The Voyage Cast, host Eddie Eccker, LMFT, unpacks why our feelings are powerful signals, but terrible dictators. Drawing on years of clinical experience, Ed explores how emotional reasoning shapes marriages, friendships, and even our culture online.

You’ll hear:

• Why emotions matter—but don’t always equal reality.
• How couples get stuck in the “purs...

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In this episode of The Voyage Cast Top Three, Eddie Eccker unpacks three powerful stories shaping the future of mental health:

1. Meta’s AI scandal — How Facebook’s chatbots crossed the line into dangerous intimacy with children and vulnerable adults, and why loneliness makes simulated connection so risky.
2. AI and grief — The surreal case of Patricia Oliver speaking with an AI recreation of her son, Parkland victim Joaq...

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Why do so many couples stay stuck in the same painful patterns—even when they say they want change? In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Ed unpacks the hidden force called secondary gain: the subtle rewards we get from staying in dysfunction.

From avoiding conflict by scrolling on your phone, to blaming your partner so you never have to look in the mirror, to clinging to comfort, finances, or social image—the payoffs of...

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The Voyage Cast Top Three

In today’s Top Three:

• Illinois becomes the first state to mandate mental health screenings for all students — but with Big Pharma fingerprints on the test, is this protecting kids or feeding a system that overdiagnoses and overmedicates?
• Two cancer drugs show shocking potential in reversing Alzheimer’s in mice — could hope for memory restoration finally be on the horizon, and what does that ...

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Resentment & Release, Part 3: Living Beyond the Offense — Practical Steps to Reclaim Your Story

In this final installment of the Resentment & Release series, we turn from understanding and forgiveness to the hardest part, actually moving forward. Resentment may have shaped your story, but it doesn’t have to define it.

We’ll explore:

• Why living beyond an offense is more than “forgiving and forgetting”
• The psych...

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Forgiveness is often misunderstood—and for many, it can feel impossible. In Part 2 of Resentment & Release, we explore why letting go can feel like losing control, why grief and anger are valid parts of healing, and why forgiveness is never about excusing harm or staying in unsafe situations.

This episode features the extraordinary real-life story of Mary Johnson, a Minneapolis mother whose only son was murdered. A...

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Part 1 of 3: The Prison We Build — Understanding Resentment

What if the thing keeping you stuck isn’t what they did, but what you’re still carrying?

In this powerful first episode of The Voyage Cast, host Eddie Eccker unpacks the quiet captivity of resentment, how it forms, why it lingers, and what it’s secretly costing you. This isn’t just about anger. It’s about identity, pain loops, and the emotional armor we wear wh...

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Why do so many women struggle with feeling “not enough”? In this episode, Ed explores the often unseen but powerful influence of the father-daughter relationship—how a father’s presence, absence, or emotional availability can shape a daughter’s self-worth, attachment style, and even her view of God.

We unpack the psychology of the father wound, what the research says about a father’s influence on daughters, and how thi...

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In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Eddie sits down with licensed marriage and family therapist Dupre’ Rouse, LMFT — author of Kingz & Queenz, Army veteran, trauma specialist, and founder of the Belief Center for Family Therapy.

Together, they unpack the deeper emotional patterns that sabotage relationships and explore how individuals and couples can heal through vulnerability, emotional safety, and practical tools...

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When Love Feels Like a Threat: Healing Anxious Attachment

What if the ache you feel in love isn’t insecurity, but a survival response?

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Eddie unpacks the painful reality of anxious attachment: when love feels more like holding your breath than exhaling. From the spiral of “Do they still care?” to the deep nervous system wiring behind your need for reassurance, this conversation peels b...

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In this episode of The Voyage Cast, host and therapist Eddie Eccker explores how the need to be “right” in your relationship might be quietly sabotaging your connection. If you’ve ever walked away from an argument feeling victorious but emotionally distant, this one’s for you. Eddie unpacks how our obsession with being right often stems from deeper fears—like being misunderstood, blamed, or unseen—and how those fears ...

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You don’t need a weekend retreat or a five-hour heart-to-heart to reconnect with your partner. Sometimes, all it takes is six seconds of presence. In this episode, Eddie unpacks the surprising power of two tiny but transformative rituals—the 6-second kiss and the 20-second hug.

Backed by research from Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Paul Zak, and rooted in lived relational wisdom, this conversation explores how intentional to...

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Your Relational Memory Sucks! The Peak-End Rule & Love

Are you remembering your relationship accurately, or just holding onto the emotional high and the painful goodbye?

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, host Eddie Eccker unpacks how our brains actually remember love, heartbreak, and everything in between. Drawing on powerful research from Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman and memory e...

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Anxiety doesn’t just hijack your thoughts—it takes over your body. In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Eddie Eccker breaks down what grounding really is, why it works (spoiler: it’s neuroscience, not just self-help), and how to start using it right now to stop panic in its tracks.

You’ll learn:

• What grounding is and how it helps regulate anxiety and trauma
• The science behind why your nervous system flips into panic m...

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Why Did We Stop Talking?

Episode Description:

It didn’t end in a fight.

There was no explosion.

Just less.

Less laughter. Less eye contact. Less reaching across the bed—until eventually, there was silence.

In this episode of The Voyage Cast, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Eddie Eccker explores the quiet unraveling of modern relationships and how communication often dies, not with chaos, but with emotional fatigue an...