This what is… series, which runs every Friday, explores the meaning of a wide range of terms that come from the field of psychology and other related areas.  These are all researched posts with supporting references.

The topics that have previously been covered are:

• Amnesia
• Anosognosia
• Antisociality
• Assertiveness
• Attachment theory
• Attention
• Attribution theory
• Autonomy
• CBT for pain
• Codependency
• Cognitive bias
• Compassion
• Conformity
• Conversion disorder
• Conversion therapy (not a recognized form of psychotherapy)
• DARVO (in relation to sexual assault allegations)
• Diathesis-stress model to potentially explain causation of mental illness
• Exposure and response prevention
• Gaslighting
• Hope/hopelessness
• Hypnotherapy
• Insanity
• Invalidation
• Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation
• Judgementality
• Locus of control
• Love
• Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
• Melancholia
• Memory
• Motivational interviewing
• Munchausen by proxy (factitious disorder imposed on another)
• Myers-Briggs personality type
• Narcissism
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• Neuroticism
• Paranoia
• Perfectionism
• Personality trait vs. disorder
• Psychodynamic psychotherapy
• Psychomotor retardation
• Psychopathy
• Reality
• Recovery
• Resilience
• Safety behaviour (in CBT)
• Seasonal affective disorder
• Self-esteem
• Sex vs. gender
• Shame and guilt
• Stockholm syndrome (a form of trauma bonding)
• Transference & countertransference (in psychodynamic and psychoanalytic therapy)
• Trauma vs PTSD
• Type A personality
• Ultra rapid cycling (in bipolar disorder)
• Vulnerability