Episodes

In psychology, temptation is a motivational conflict where an immediate, short-term reward clashes with a long-term goal or value. It triggers a struggle between the brain's emotional reward centers and logical self-control systems. Tune in and learn all about temptation and how to work through it!

In pop psychology, as well as everyday conversation, people often toss around phrases like “I just want to feel safe” or “Being numb helps me cope.” But as research and clinical observation show, emotional safety and emotional numbness are distinct psychological states, and confusing the two can slow your growth, isolate you from support, and leave you stuck in patterns that feel safe but aren’t. Tune in and learn how so many people live this way without even recognizing it!

Doomscrolling is the compulsive habit of endlessly reading negative or scary news online. It happens because our brains are wired to look for danger to stay safe. Phone apps use random rewards—like a slot machine—to keep us swiping for more. Tune in and learn all about doomscrolling and its effects on our lives!

Psychologically, stubbornness is a defense mechanism rooted in anxiety, a desire to protect one's ego, and a need for control. It often stems from an inability to tolerate the discomfort of being wrong, leading people to rigidly stick to familiar habits rather than risk the unknown. Tune in and learn how to deal with these kind of people in your life!

Insight in psychotherapy is defined many ways, but most experts agree it is a new way of understanding your experience which resonates emotionally. It is not a thought, but a discovery that reverberates in your bones. When a dawning insight is then put into words, it can revise our self-narratives (beliefs). It’s important to recognize that insight is not merely an intellectual exercise. If you are simply using your mind to analyze yourself or rework a familiar story, this may be interesting, bu...

Recognizing how resentment can act as a psychological safeguard offers a profound perspective on trauma recovery. Resentment is an intricate emotion, often lying beneath the surface, yet it can greatly influence our mental health and relationships. Unlike the more familiar emotions of joy, fear, or anger, resentment tends to be more subtle, quietly shaping our inner experiences. Its hidden nature and potential impact on our well-being make it crucial to understand and address. Tune in and learn ...

As parents, we want ALL of our children to grow up healthy, happy and to live a fulfilled, productive life—no matter their gender. This is a difficult enough task to accomplish in today’s complex world. In a society with many, often conflicting, messages on what it means to be a strong, successful, beautiful woman, raising a girl to be strong, competent and engaged can feel like a daunting task. Hearing your I’m Stumped questions, we want to offer you insights and approaches that might make this...

Popularity boils down to a mix of likability, visibility, and emotional intelligence. Rather than just being loud or having "clout," truly popular people consistently make others feel valued, possess high empathy, and exhibit confident, magnetic personalities. Tune in and learn all bout wht draws people to you!

What is human nature? This is a question that has perplexed philosophers and psychologists throughout the ages. Are people essentially socially constructive and altruistic or are they destructive and selfish in nature? Tune in and learn all about what it is to be human!

The psychology of marriage centers on the shift from survival-based unions to models of self-actualization. Historically, marriage was an economic and political institution. Today, partners view each other as sources of emotional fulfillment, which introduces higher expectations and greater psychological pressures on relationships. Tune in and learn how marriage has worked historically and how expectations have evolved!

Entitlement is an enduring personality trait, characterized by the belief that one deserves preferences and resources that others do not. Like boundaries, we recognize entitlement chiefly by its effect on us: envy, anger, and frustration. "Why do they think they deserve it any more than I do?" we wonder. And then, "Is it them, or is it just me?" Tune in and learn how to recognize and deal with entitled people!

There are some things that are so awful they really can derail people. And there are some people who are so fragile they are more easily derailed. But there’s a whole lot of people — most of us — who need to get on with our life and take responsibility for what we do with it. Staying stuck in the victim role completely undermines that process. Tune in and learn how peole acquire victim mentality and operate with it!

Boys learn at a very young age from their parents and others around them about expected behaviors based on their gender. These societal norms are described as masculinity ideologies. Masculinity ideology refers to the traditional and socially constructed definitions about the cultural norms and expectations regarding appropriate male behavior. Tune in and learn how to guide your son into manhood!

While need for human connection appears to be innate, the ability to form healthy, loving relationships is learned. Some evidence suggests that the ability to form a stable relationship starts to form in infancy, in a child's earliest experiences with a caregiver who reliably meets the infant's needs for food, care, warmth, protection, stimulation, and social contact. Tune in and find out what makes relationships deepen and grow!

The adverse experiences encapsulated by Complex Trauma typically begin in early childhood, are longstanding or recurrent, and are inflicted by others. Most often they are perpetrated within a person’s formative attachment relationships. Sometimes they are compounded by patterns of risk and dysfunction afflicting generations of families. Frequently, they intersect with structural and institutional forms of violence and oppression that beset certain peoples and communities, particularly those hold...

Relationships thrive on emotional and physical connections, and one of the most intriguing aspects of romantic bonds in the concept of a "turn on." But what does it really mean to be "turned on" in a relationship? Is it purely physical, or does it go deeper? Tune in and learn all about relationship turn ons!

For many, religion provides an important sense of meaning, belonging, and community, which can contribute positively to mental health and well-being. Some psychological research has associated religious practices with positive mental health outcomes and high scores on scales assessing self-esteem, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope. Tune in and learn how religion can be weaponized and influence people's belief in God.

Brain fog is a type of cognitive dysfunction characterized by poor memory, difficulty focusing, confusion, and mental fatigue. People who experience brain fog often describe their thinking as sluggish or “fuzzy” and report that they find it challenging to form coherent thoughts or translate those thoughts into words. For this reason, persistent brain fog can be a significant obstacle to academic and workplace success, as well as interfering with other aspects of day-to-day functioning. Tune and ...

•Does your child procrastinate, forgets homework, resists chores or seems to “check out” during lessons? It is easy and tempting to label them lazy when this happens but decades of psychological research show that “lazy” is usually the wrong diagnosis. What looks like unwillingness is more often a symptom: an immature or overwhelmed executive system, sleep deprivation, low perceived control, task-avoidance driven by fear of failure or neurodevelopmental differences such as ADHD or sluggish cogni...

•Existential angst not only derives from the human inability to think, feel, and act in the world or experience a love for life, but also from the fear of the possibility of nonexistence and/or death. It can be lonely, isolating, and outright terrifying if one’s very existence is in question. Tune in and learn all about Existential Angst and how it effects you!

Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators chronically avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. Procrastination tends to reflect a person’s struggles with self-control. For habitual procrastinators, who represent approximately 20 percent of the population, "I don't feel like it" comes to take precedence over their goals or responsibilities, setting them on a downward spiral of negative emotions that further deters future effort. Tune in and learn how procras...

Assassination often involves a complex interplay of psychological factors. Perpetrators may become fixated on a particular target due to a sense of grievance or perceived injustice. These feelings may be exacerbated by social or political influences. The planning and execution of an assassination can also provide a sense of power and control to the perpetrator, appealing to their desire for significance or influence. These factors, along with others, contribute to the intricate psychology of ass...

Denial is a defense mechanism in which an individual refuses to recognize or acknowledge objective facts or experiences. It’s an unconscious process that serves to protect the person from discomfort or anxiety. For example, a loved one may insist that she doesn’t have a problem with alcohol, despite the fact that it interferes with work and family life. Or a loyal employee may refuse to see signs that his boss is stealing from the company. Tune in and learn all about denial and how to heal it!

Repression is a defense mechanism in which people push difficult or unacceptable thoughts out of conscious awareness. Repressed memories were a cornerstone of Freud’s psychoanalytic framework. He believed that people repressed memories that were too difficult to confront, particularly traumatic memories, and expelled them from conscious thought. Tune in and learn how repressed emotions can run your life and how to prevent them!