Shyness is a sense of awkwardness or apprehension that some people consistently feel when approaching or being approached by others. Shyness is a response to fear, and research suggests that although there is a neurobiology o...
Everyone has an idea of what passion means, but when we start talking with others about our understanding, it often turns out that different people mean different things when they say “passion”. Most people would agree that p...
When we take the time to celebrate love and the people who are meaningful to us. Love — which could be defined as a field of resonating, often oscillating, and sometimes synchronous energy — is more than just a biological imp...
Clearly, most of our daily decisions are not earth-shattering, but you can imagine how paralysis in the decision-making process would render us virtually incapacitated every day if we let it. We are called upon to be courageo...
Experts suggest that the negative feelings and experiences associated with prolonged isolation will come for us all. Humans are social creatures—yes, all of us. While the coronavirus pandemic is an extreme, largely unpreceden...
Sleep paralysis can be a terrifying experience that is surprisingly common. It can involve the inability to move, auditory and visual hallucinations, a strong sense of presence, difficulty breathing, sensations of movement, a...
Are you anxious or are you depressed? In the world of mental health care, where exact diagnosis dictates treatment, anxiety and depression are regarded as two distinct disorders. But in the world of real people, many suffer f...
Though our need to connect is innate, many of us frequently feel alone. Even some people who are surrounded by others throughout the day—or are in a long-lasting marriage—still experience a deep and pervasive loneliness. Feel...
In anticipation of an never-seen-before birth crisis after October 2020, a whole new set of zombies are about to inherit the earth. Robin LaCross is an absolute expert in birth control, women's health and the host of Holistic...
When a health problem like Ebola or coronavirus comes from abroad, we have poor information about it than we do about health problems in this country. Often foreign places have poorer surveillance capability, so they just gat...
One thing is certain about coincidence. The phenomenon fascinates believers and skeptics alike. It's a porthole into one of the most interesting philosophical questions we can ask: Are the events of our lives ultimately objec...
The awareness of death is the downside of human intelligence. Life must end for all living beings, but only humans may grasp its existential meaning. Intellectually we may acknowledge our mortality, but deep down, we deny it....
Despite popular opinion, anger issues aren't only of the loud/screaming/throwing things variety. Sometimes the signs are a lot more subtle, and may even go mostly unnoticed. Recognizing them, however, can mean saving your rel...
Ghosting means suddenly discontinuing all contact with another person to end a relationship. Ghosting can be failing to respond to a text exchange with someone you’ve never met, cutting off contact with someone you’ve dated a...
We all live a constant battle of pride vs humility, which is really just a war against two half’s of the same person. It’s you verses you. You are the only opponent against your inner greatness—against your humility. A person...
Each of us tries to erect a boundary around the parts of ourself we want to keep private, or at least shielded from those with whom we’re not intimate. Some people are more vigilant about raising those firewalls than others, ...
Although we might use the term in a different way in our everyday life (e.g., “Hey, he’s really got an attitude!”), social psychologists reserve the term attitude to refer to our relatively enduring evaluation of something, w...
No matter what their reasons or how they approach the question, agnostics and atheists are fundamentally different, but also non-exclusive. Many people who adopt the label of agnostic simultaneously reject the label of atheis...
Political uncertainty can be challenging, regardless of your beliefs or where you might fall on the political spectrum. For many Americans, the transition of power and the rapid speed of change may cause stress and anxiety ab...
Pornography, often colloquially referred to as porn, is any sexually explicit material—written, visual, or otherwise—that is intended to sexually arouse. While pornography has existed in some form for millennia, today it’s mo...
The ancient Greek philosophers were pretty much obsessed with the idea of a good life. Their whole way of life was organized around ideas about what makes a human life “good” or “noble” or “worthwhile.” While others pursued c...
We’re constantly taking in information about our social world, and this can involve judging people. These judgments can be super quick and automatic. Some research has even shown that we can form pretty accurate impressions o...
Borderline personality disorder is a chronic condition that may include mood instability, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and high rates of self-injury and suicidal behavior. Borderline personality disorder (BPD)...
The brains of children raised in violent families resemble the brains of soldiers exposed to combat, psychologists say. They're primed to perceive threat and anticipate pain, adaptations that may be helpful in abusive environ...