Episodes

When it comes to narcissism, there is a spectrum of severity. While many people have narcissistic traits, some people have personalities that are highly narcissistic. Others have full blown narcissistic personality disorder. It’s well known that narcissistic exposure can damage an adult badly enough. But the traumatizing effects of being raised by a narcissist leaves psychic scars which drive many into therapy later in life. These scars can be thought of as common traits of children with narciss...

Every marriage has its ups and downs. But if you're reading this, chances are yours has been down for a while now. Maybe you’ve been dealing with an intensely stressful situation like a job change, a new baby, or having to care for an aging parent. Or maybe you’re arguing over money, or someone cheated, or your sex life has gone kaput. There are lots of different scenarios that have the potential to send a relationship into a downward spiral. When a marriage starts to falter, one thing’s for sur...

Psychological factors are responsible for about 10%-20% of all cases of erectile dysfunction, or ED. It is often a secondary reaction to an underlying physical cause. In some cases, the psychological effects of ED may stem from childhood abuse or sexual trauma. However, the most common psychological causes of ED include: Stress: Stress can be job-related, money-related, or the result of marital problems, among other factors. Tune in and learn how to deal with ED!

We should start by saying that there is no meaning in life outside of that which we can find by ourselves as a species. There isn’t any kind of objective meaning written in the stars, in a holy book or in sequences of DNA. What seems to prompt people to complain that life lacks meaning are particular varieties of unhappiness. Let’s consider some central examples:– You’re in a relationship, but the intensity you experienced at the start has long gone. You don’t seem to talk about anything importa...

Have you ever noticed how we often argue about the same things over and over again? How pointless, isn’t it? Nothing is ever accomplished by hashing over these identical and repetitive points. No one convinces anyone else, and both parties remain entrenched behind their emotions and the arguments that cover them. So what if we simply skipped the subject, let the provocation ( which it usually is) go by and talked about something else, something more positive? Of course this is easy to suggest an...

While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects in psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes intelligence. Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general ability. Others believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes, skills, and talents. Intelligence has been a controversial topic throughout psychology's history. Despite the substantial interest in the subject, there is still considerable disagreement about what compo...

We’ve all been impatient—and we’ve all made rash decisions when impatience got the better of us. We’ve left lines that were barely moving, only to get into an even slower line. We’ve taken the pizza out of the oven two minutes early because we just couldn’t wait. Or we’ve blown up a perfectly good relationship because we weren’t sure where it was going, and couldn’t stand the uncertainty. On the other hand, we’ve also been overly patient at times, sticking with projects, jobs, or relationships l...

Modern psychologists often use the word volition in preference to “Will”. Volition is the cognitive process by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action. It is defined as purposive striving, and is one of the primary human psychological functions (the others being affection [affect or feeling], motivation [goals and expectations] and cognition [thinking]). Volitional processes can be applied consciously, and they can be automatized as habits over time. Most mode...

Just about every week we see the same story. Someone takes a jittery smartphone video of a white person caught in the act of doing something that's labeled racist. An army of online commentators mobilizes. The video goes viral. And the person in the video is publicly shamed, often losing a job or being ostracized by the community. His or her name becomes a hashtag for hate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, no other social phenomenon has been as widely writte about, discussed, and argued over as can...

Transhumanism] promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the human organism opened up by the advancement of technology. Attention is given to both present technologies, like genetic engineering and information technology, and anticipated future ones, such as molecular nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. The enhancement options being discussed include radical extension of human health-span, eradication of...

Children often make friends seamlessly; the settings in which they spend time, such as school, camp, and sports teams, naturally spur fast friendships. It can be harder to make new friends without those built-in mechanisms as an adult, but there are still plenty of ways to create new, enduring relationships. Adult friendships don’t happen automatically—they require intention, time, and effort. Take initiative by researching a local running group or inviting a coworker to coffee. Throughout the p...

People often equate freedom with having a lot of control over things. We think we would rather be the boss who has control over other employees than the subordinate or follower who is under the control of the boss. Psychologists reinforce the idea that control is a good thing. Research on locus of control indicates that people with an internal locus of control (people who believe they are in control of the rewards they receive in life) are psychologically healthier and more successful than peopl...

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, and can set them on a downward spiral of negative emotions that further deter future effort. Procrastination also involve...

Many people confuse polyamory, polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry — and this confusion is unsurprising, considering that those terms are new to most of us! While these are all different relationship styles that involve more than two people, there are some key differences between them. In short, polyamory is the act of having intimate relationships with more than one person at the same time. A polyamorous person might have or might be open to having multiple romantic partners. Polygamy, on the oth...

Many people feel trapped by aspects of their life: trapped in an unhappy relationship, at an unfulfilling job, or generally unhappy with their life despite their basic needs being met. The quest for the American dream has left them wanting, and more so, they are tied to ideas that are not providing happiness. Tune in a learn how to free yourself from your internal prison!

Many female psychopaths seek to destroy others however they can. A female psychopath may undermine your self-esteem using innuendo, or bully you and turn friends and family against you by poisoning your reputation behind your back. There is no end to what she might do to shatter your life. Many female psychopaths are pathological liars who are more cunning and manipulative than male psychopaths. The female psychopath desires to be the center of attention and demands center stage. Listen closely ...

The field of psychology is a big capitalist business, whether it is helping capitalists with advertising, finding new consumers, selling self-help books to an anxious public, or helping psychiatrists or counselors make a living off of people’s misery. There are six schools of psychology – psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanistic psychology, cognitive psychology, physiological psychology and evolutionary psychology. While all these schools are different from each other, they all have in common the...

Often, narcissistic parents perceive the independence of their child as a threat. What distinguishes the narcissistic parent is a pervasive tendency to deny their child's independent selfhood. Biggest telltale signs of a narcissistic parent include emotional manipulation, lack of empathy, and neglect. Tune in a learn how to identify and deal with care-taking a narcissist parent!

Critical race theory (CRT), initially created as a body of legal theory, is an organizing framework useful in understanding human behavior and social processes relevant to racial group categorizations and racial stratification. Critical race theory examines the oppressive dynamics of society to inform individual, group, and social transformation. Rather than embracing a colorblind perspective, CRT places race at the center of the analysis and provides a critical perspective on how racial stratif...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder in which people experience unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, images, or sensations (obsessions) and engage in behaviors or mental acts (compulsions) in response. Often a person with OCD carries out the compulsions to temporarily eliminate or reduce the impact of obsessions, and not performing them causes distress. OCD varies in severity, but if left untreated, it can limit one's ability to function at work, school, or home. Tune in...

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that involves impairments in social interaction and communication, challenges with sensory processing, and repetitive behaviors. The term spectrum reflects the fact that symptoms vary across different individuals, ranging in type and severity. ASD is an umbrella diagnosis in the DSM-5, replacing the four pervasive developmental disorders described in the previous edition — autistic disorder, Asperger's syndrome, childhood disintegrative ...

Behavior is said to be self-sabotaging when it creates problems in daily life and interferes with long-standing goals. The most common self-sabotaging behaviors include procrastination, self-medication with drugs or alcohol, comfort eating, and forms of self-injury such as cutting. People aren't always aware that they are sabotaging themselves, and connecting a behavior to self-defeating consequences is no guarantee that a person will disengage from it. Still, it is possible to overcome almost a...

Irritation, frustration, anger, rage: these are all forms of anger. And they are feelings first. But when a person’s rage becomes behavior even before thought has a chance to plug in, it is usually because of one of two reasons: 1) it’s been repressed for a long time, and when someone drops the proverbial straw, it explodes; 2) it works for manipulative purposes. Either way it has something to do with maturity. I said at the end of the last blog that I’d talk about maturity, and so I am. Maturit...

Belief in miracles is widespread. According to recent surveys 72% of people in the USA and 59% of people in the UK believe that miracles take place. Why do so many people believe in miracles in the present age of advanced science and technology? Let us briefly consider three possible answers to this question. The first possible answer is simply that miracles actually do take place all the time. If they take place all the time it is not a surprise that many people witness them and believe in them...