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MPR News with Angela Davis
Angela Davis and Nikhil Kumaran

Why we feel connected to celebrities we’ve never met

Women posing for a photo
Ashley Myhre (left) licensed marriage and family therapist and owner of POW! Psychotherapy in Minneapolis, and Justine Mastin (right) therapist, owner and clinical director of Blue Box counseling in Minneapolis and co-author of “Starship Therapise: Using Therapeutic Fanfiction to Rewrite Your Life,” pose for a portrait in the Kling Public Media in St. Paul on Wednesday.
Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

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Parasocial relationships are the one-sided connections someone develops with a celebrity, fictional character or other prominent figure that they don’t know in real life.

In a changing world where social media influencers, YouTubers and podcast hosts feel like close friends, what are the implications of these one-sided relationships? What are the benefits? 

MPR News host Angela Davis talked with two psychotherapists about parasocial relationships about how these relationships develop, their psychological impact and what they mean for our real-world interactions. Are they harmless, or do they blur the lines between reality and fantasy in potentially troubling ways?

Guests:  

  • Ashley Myhre is a licensed marriage and family therapist who specializes in trauma, sexuality and relationships. She owns POW! Psychotherapy in Minneapolis and regularly writes, teaches and presents on mental health, fandom, clinical sexology and other wellness topics. 

  • Justine Mastin is a therapist, yogi, podcaster, educator, owner/clinical director of Blue Box counseling and co-author of “Starship Therapise: Using Therapeutic Fanfiction to Rewrite Your Life.”

    Two people posing for a photo
    MPR News host Angela Davis (left) talks with Ashley Myhre (center) licensed marriage and family therapist and owner of POW! Psychotherapy in Minneapolis, and Justine Mastin (right) therapist, owner/clinical director of Blue Box counseling in Minneapolis and co-author of “Starship Therapise: Using Therapeutic Fanfiction to Rewrite Your Life,” in an MPR News studio in St. Paul on Wednesday.
    Nikhil Kumaran | MPR News

Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.

 Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.