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Psychology Today

@psychologytoday.com
2.1K followers 52 following 789 posts

Insight about everybody's favorite subject: Ourselves.

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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 1h
Exhausted by intrusive memories? Shift your focus from fighting the bad to growing the good through the power of grateful mental visualization. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/grat...
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What Gardening Can Teach Us About Our Intrusive Memories
Exhausted by intrusive memories? Shift your focus from fighting the bad to growing the good through the power of grateful mental visualization.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 5h
Stop asking, "What’s your opinion?" Instead, try, "What advice would you give me?" And other small linguistic shifts that can build allies rather than critics. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/curi...
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The Magic Words That Will Get What You Deserve
2. Seek a chain of yeses.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 29/09/2026
Parents sometimes blame kids for their screen use. But the technology was designed to capture them. Here’s a better way to understand the problem. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/neur...
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Stop Blaming Kids for Technology Designed to Capture Them
We’ve blamed screens and content. The deeper problem may be the machinery behind them—and what it teaches developing brains about attention, reward, trust, and stress.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 29/09/2026
Some people may appreciate being deeply loved by someone without wanting to become their entire universe. Here are 4 reasons why more isn't always better when it comes to love. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-t...
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The Hidden Burden of Being Loved Too Much
Love may be essential to a flourishing life, but love is not all we need.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 28/09/2026
Who are you? If you're like most of us, answering that question is a lot trickier than it sounds. Here's why, and how to begin acting from authenticity instead of automatically performing roles. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/trau...
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The Identity Crisis So Many of Us Face
Often, identity is not who we are but how we learned to survive.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 28/09/2026
What would slow medicine look like in psychiatry? It might look like much more time—time to take a full history, think creatively, and exercise diagnostic humility. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind...
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Slow Medicine in a Fast System
After my fourth suicide attempt, doctors found a brain infection—then siloed it from my psychiatric care. The correct diagnosis wouldn't come for four more years.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 27/09/2026
When everything seems empty or hollow, it’s easy to assume it’s a philosophical crisis. But sometimes it’s not nihilism—it’s anhedonia, a core symptom of depression that makes it hard to feel meaning at all. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/home...
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Are You a Nihilist or Anhedonic?
If you're feeling empty, you might relate to nihilism, the philosophy that life is meaningless. However, it's easy to confuse nihilism with anhedonia, a core symptom of depression.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 27/09/2026
Many young men are struggling mightily today, but it's not entirely clear what's behind it or the best ways to help. The results of a major new survey may get to the heart of both challenges. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-...
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The Context of the Crisis Facing Young Men
Young men are straining to find their footing because the institutional pathways that once guided the transition to adult roles have gone missing.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 26/09/2026
You've probably experienced this truism: The harder you fight unwanted thoughts, the louder they get. There's a proven, if counterintuitive, solution. Get out of the way and let yourself heal. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxi...
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Stop Fighting Unwanted Thoughts
You don't stop unwanted thoughts by trying to stomp them out. Healing is not a subtraction. You do not get better by removing the bad. You heal by building something else.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 26/09/2026
What if our imperfections are not something to avoid but to embrace? Here’s how our flaws actually make us beautiful and uniquely ourselves. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
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The Beauty of Being All of You
Discover how honoring your authentic self can transform your perceived imperfections into your greatest strength.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 25/09/2026
How one therapist’s dog, Monty, changes the feel of his therapy room—and why it often helps his patients. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dept...
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The Role of a Therapy Dog in Private Practice
My therapy dog doesn't keep score, doesn't have an agenda, and doesn't feel any urgency for anyone to change. Seven years in, I still have plenty more to learn from him.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 25/09/2026
Most happiness frameworks explain the past but don’t clearly predict the future. The “four-pairs” theory can help us understand what really provides lasting happiness. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cell...
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What Happiness Frameworks Keep Getting Wrong
Freud tells you why. CBT tells you how. Buddhism tells you to let go. But none, one expert argues, tell you whether what you’re doing right now will make you happier later.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 24/09/2026
Mirror neurons are thought to be a source of our empathy. They fire when we experience an emotion, such as love or disgust, and when we observe someone else expressing the same emotion. Here’s what else they can do. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
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How My Brain Reflects Yours
What are mirror neurons and how do they impact the way we move through our daily lives? Just like bodily movement, emotional states are also observable by the brain.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 24/09/2026
New CDC data found cannabis in nearly half of adolescent overdose deaths, which could signal that teens are taking multiple substances at once. Here’s what families need to know. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/addi...
psychologytoday.com
Cannabis and Fentanyl in Adolescent Overdose Deaths
CDC found cannabis in nearly half of adolescent overdose deaths. It may signal polysubstance risk and should prompt family talks about fentanyl and naloxone.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 23/09/2026
Good communication is clear, focused, and doesn't trigger anger or defensiveness. Learning these skills can help you make the most of any conversation. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixi...
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6 Essential Communication Skills You Need to Learn
Good communication is clear, focused, and doesn't trigger anger or defensiveness. Here are six foundational skills to make the most of conversations.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 23/09/2026
Research reveals that ‘recreational fear’—things like roller coasters or haunted houses—can create powerful bonds. Here’s how to apply that to your own relationship. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-...
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How to Build Romance Through Shared Excitement
How first date chills or thrills can cultivate chemistry—quickly.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 22/09/2026
Difficult people are virtually impossible to please. The real breakthrough often comes when you stop trying to change them and start changing how you respond to the dynamic. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/posi...
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How to Handle Difficult Bosses, Employees, and People
Have you ever run into a family member, boss, or employee who seem impossible to please? They may fall into the category of "difficult people." It's a complex personality trait.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 22/09/2026
Some people move through life convinced everyone else received a map they somehow missed. But their search for the person who “figured it out” can become a way of avoiding the harder truth that every path involves uncertainty and trade-offs. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what...
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The Fantasy That Someone Else Has the Secret to Your Life
Why some people search for themselves in others.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 21/09/2026
Loneliness is a global public health issue. "If we genuinely want to feel connected again, it’ll take more than intelligent machines. It’ll take us showing up for each other." www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/rais...
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Welcome to the Loneliness Economy
In an age of digital overload and emotional void, loneliness has become profitable. The loneliness economy offers solutions, but are they helping or making us feel more alone?
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 20/09/2026
“Recovery, at its deepest, is the work of becoming known again by someone patient enough to look past what the illness did and remember who you were before it spoke in your voice.” www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind...
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Healing Means Coming Home to Oneself
Personal Perspective: Lithium steadied my brain's circuits. But what brought me home was a mother who kept showing up, attuned to the man beneath the illness.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 20/09/2026
The authentic person is not merely true to their own feelings but also seeks to contribute to something greater than themselves. Here’s how that makes such a difference in our day-to-day lives. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/phil...
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Why Looking Inward Won’t Make You Authentic
Genuine authenticity is not achieved through self-absorbed introspection but by transcending the ego in the present moment to anchor oneself in community, active love, and the divine.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 19/09/2026
From dialing down intense emotions like stress and anger to seeing your goals achieved, imagery can make a real difference in your life. Here are some ways to tap into its power. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unde...
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4 Ways to Use Imagery to Become More Successful
What are simple ways we can tap into our innate capacity for the use of imagery, which can help us move toward the futures we imagine for ourselves?
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 19/09/2026
Many people would rather be happy than unhappy—and yet they’re not. A new study outlines how this can go awry and 5 steps to achieve genuine happiness. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulf...
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5 Key Steps to Overcoming the Happiness Paradox
Most people would rather be happy than unhappy. A new study outlines where this process can go awry and the five steps to follow to set things right.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 18/09/2026
When it comes to our health, avoiding conflict may matter less than having a partner who truly supports us. Here’s what the research says. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happ...
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The Silent Toll: A Peaceful Relationship Isn’t Always Ideal
A new study of nearly 8,000 adults suggests that when it comes to our health, avoiding conflict may matter less than having a partner who truly supports us.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 18/09/2026
Relationships thrive when partners feel truly seen and not taken for granted. Here's how loving words and compliments can help. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-...
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What a Few Compliments Can Do for a Romance
Partners rarely tire of praise, especially for their style.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 17/09/2026
There’s no “right” answer to whether you should have kids—because both paths come with meaning and regret. The better question might be: Can you accept the trade-offs that come with either choice? www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mate...
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Is There an Answer to the Question, "Do I Start a Family?"
Personal Perspective: Many women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s are currently asking themselves if they should have kids. But the answer is more complex than they think.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 17/09/2026
Handedness is actually a continuum between being 100% left-handed and 100% right-handed. A recent study reveals the percentage of people who land at each end. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
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How Rare Is It to Be 100 Percent Left-Handed?
Handedness is actually a continuum between being 100% left-handed and 100% right-handed. A recent study reveals the percentage of people who land at each end.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 16/09/2026
Change can feel nearly impossible sometimes. The people who manage it all seem to experience the same thing: the costs of staying the same outweigh the benefits. Here’s how you can use that to your own advantage. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your...
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What Gets People to Change?
People who overcome addiction without any treatment nearly all describe the same turning point. Here's how you can apply what they did to go from knowing to doing in 10 minutes.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 16/09/2026
Dogs have a remarkable capacity for human language, and many are able to recognize and respond to dozens of unique words or phrases. But are dogs limited to the language they grew up with, or can they be taught more than one? www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cani...
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Can Dogs Become Bilingual?
In North America around 85 million people live in bilingual households. It is possible to easily train their dogs to respond to basic commands in more than one language.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 15/09/2026
It is possible for adults with a schizophrenia diagnosis to lead fulfilling lives—and parenting strategies and support can go a long way towards helping make that happen. This is how. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/livi...
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How to Parent an Adult Child With Schizophrenia
A daughter shares her father's strategies for parenting an adult child living with a psychotic disorder.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 15/09/2026
How can jurors hear the same evidence yet reach different conclusions about insanity? Research suggests the answer may lie within the jurors themselves. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/so-s...
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Why the Same Evidence Splits an Insanity-Defense Jury
Why do jurors hear the same evidence of psychosis yet reach different conclusions about insanity? Research suggests the answer may lie within the jurors themselves.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 14/09/2026
High-quality listening does more than improve communication—it builds trust, psychological safety, and real connection at work and beyond. Over time, those moments of feeling heard can quietly deepen relationships. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
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Can Listening Move You to Love?
When someone truly listens, something shifts. Research shows high-quality listening can move both speakers and listeners, sometimes all the way to love.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 14/09/2026
Optimism isn't wishful thinking. It's a skill you build through small, intentional actions every day. This is how. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
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Move Over Positive Thinking: Here Comes Resilient Optimism
In a world of stress and uncertainty, the book ‘Resilient Optimism’ offers a science-backed roadmap for building hope through small, intentional actions—not wishful thinking.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 13/09/2026
Parents often fear that a child who hears voices may be unstable, but the phenomenon is actually relatively common, and not necessarily a sign of mental illness. Here's why. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/real...
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Why Do Children Hear Voices?
There are multiple reasons children hear voices, and not all of them are worrying.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 13/09/2026
Living well requires intention. We need to question apparent constraints, create more options, and develop habits that ensure our choices reflect the lives we want. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life...
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3 Lessons for Life, Well Lived
Living intentionally requires questioning apparent constraints, creating more options, and developing habits that ensure our choices reflect the lives we want.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 12/09/2026
AI therapy will never misunderstand you, get impatient, or ask anything of you in return. That frictionlessness may feel good but ultimately prevent you from healing. From @patrickwkelly www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind...
psychologytoday.com
Pretend Empathy Is Now a Product
Sherry Turkle calls what AI therapy offers "pretend empathy." Millions find it helpful. That's what makes it so hard to argue with, and so important too.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 12/09/2026
When it comes to healing from trauma—and being “over it”—there’s no universal deadline. It depends on the person, the trauma, and the journey they’ve had to navigate. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invi...
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When Should We Be Over Our Trauma?
How long is too long to be affected by trauma? Survivors are often told they should be over it—or that it wasn’t “real” trauma. But is getting over it realistic?
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 11/09/2026
"People who are doing well for themselves financially, who have comfortable, easy lives, must have obtained them unethically." Find out why some people need to believe success is immoral. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what...
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Why Some People Need to Believe Success Is Immoral
When life lacks stable pathways to meaning, people may rely on existence itself as a basis for worth. This can reshape how others are judged and how moral positions are formed.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 11/09/2026
A new study shows most people feel both excited and uneasy about artificial intelligence. That tension may actually be useful—it can push us to slow down, ask better questions, and engage with AI more deliberately. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/harn...
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Why Anthropic's Questions Are as Revealing as the Answers
The new Anthropic study shows that most people are both excited and scared when it comes to AI. Here's why that's good.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 10/09/2026
Compassion helps us recognize the basic human frailty we all share, while contempt pushes us toward isolation and disdain. In close relationships, understanding a partner’s hurt often matters more than proving who has the facts. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/ange...
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How to Increase Compassion and Lower Contempt in Relationships
When we introduce facts in an argument, the subtext is that our partners have no right to be hurt or, worse, there’s something wrong with them for being hurt.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 10/09/2026
Socioeconomic conditions have some of the strongest links to brain development, according to new research. Here’s what to know. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/addi...
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Study Finds Poverty Changes Children's Brains
ABCD’s first decade found that some brain differences precede substance use, while others may follow it—and revealed poverty’s powerful influence on development.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 09/09/2026
New research finds that eating patterns in adolescence are linked to knowledge and flexible reasoning, reports @IsabelleBrocas www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/biol...
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What Might Food Have to Do With the Teenage Brain?
What connects adolescent eating patterns to memory and reasoning? A small pathway deep in the brain may offer an intriguing clue.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 09/09/2026
Many people have a guilty pleasure. While it’s not dangerous or illegal, it is something that they would be embarrassed to get caught doing—and that’s part of the fun, according to new research. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/stor...
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In Defense of Your Guilty Pleasures
The things you'd never admit to enjoying—those little guilty pleasures—might be doing more for you psychologically than you realize.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 08/09/2026
People are generally quick to see a doctor for chest pain or other worrying physical symptoms, but when it comes to mental health issues, they're often reluctant to seek help. This is why—and what we can do to change that. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shri...
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The Profession That Everyone Needs But Nobody Wants
Countless people need mental health care, yet few are willing to seek it, and major practical barriers to accessing competent care persist.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 08/09/2026
Women have a long history of having their health and mental health concerns dismissed or misinterpreted—sometimes to devastating results. We need to change that, and it starts with asking the right questions. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invi...
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Why the Lindsay Clancy Trial Is Triggering for Many Women
Why does the Lindsay Clancy case feel so unsettling for so many women? It may tap into a familiar fear: knowing something is wrong and wondering whether anyone is listening.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 07/09/2026
We tend to believe that other people are more confident and skilled at adulting than we are. And we're usually wrong. This is why. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-p...
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5 Myths About Adulting You Probably Believe
Adulting has a hidden curriculum, and learning it is always messy.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 07/09/2026
Many couples that would rather be apart decide to stay together for the sake of their children, but growing up in a chronically tense household brings its own set of risks for kids. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/syst...
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Is Staying Together for the Kids Actually Good for the Kids?
Many parents stay together for the kids. But what happens when children grow up surrounded by chronic tension instead of emotional safety?
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 06/09/2026
Do you tend to miss—or ignore—red flags when you’re dating someone new? Test your knowledge of relationship red flags by taking our quiz: www.psychologytoday.com/us/quizzes/r...
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Can You Spot Red Flags In A Relationship? Take the Test
We can overlook relationship warning signs. Subtle feelings of discomfort are important indicators of problems ahead. Test your understanding of these important signals.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 06/09/2026
Cognitive empathy allows us to understand others' perspectives without absorbing their emotions. We can then respond with compassion and wisdom without losing ourselves in the process. Here's how it works. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/thre...
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Don't Drown in Empathy
Discover why understanding others’ perspectives—without absorbing their pain—can transform your relationships, boost resilience, and prevent burnout.
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Psychology Today @psychologytoday.com · 05/09/2026
A partner who loves you deeply understands that their caring behaviors may sometimes feel irritating and unwelcome. But research shows that we should still appreciate them. Here's why. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/soci...
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2 "Annoying" Habits That Show How Much a Partner Loves You
2. Pushing you to do what you don't think you want to.
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