Brain Storm by Shelley Kolton shares her experience discovering as an adult that she’d experienced childhood abuse and developed dissociative identity disorder, as well as the work she did on integration and healing. The book’s introduction was written by feminist activist Robin Morgan. She wrote that this book affirms that DID is a feminist issue. […]
Book Review: Brain Storm Read More »
Crying can be a sign of joy, sadness, or frustration. Crying in public isn’t generally considered socially acceptable, and may be interpreted as a weakness. But are there any benefits from it? Well, maybe. Who cries, and when? Crying in response to pain is common until adolescence, but adults don’t usually cry for that reason.
Is Crying Good For You? Read More »
We all have trillions of microbes living in our intestines. This microbiome, which develops in infancy, plays a major role in our digestion, but there’s growing evidence that it affects more than just our digestive system. This collection of critters weighs about 2 kg and includes bacteria, fungi, and viruses. There is no “normal” microbiome
Does the Gut Microbiome Affect Mental Health? Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is rational emotive behaviour therapy. Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) was developed in the 1950s by psychologist Albert Ellis, and it’s an early form of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). A fundamental belief is that people are usually not
What Is… Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy Read More »
The Anxiety Book for Trans People by Freiya Benson aims to support trans and other non-cis identities in dealing with anxiety. Benson has previously published Trans Love, an anthology of trans and non-binary voices. The book focuses on experiences of anxiety, and in particular anxiety related to having non-cis identities, rather specifically on anxiety disorders.
Book Review: The Anxiety Book for Trans People Read More »
Do you make judgments when things are going well? If you do, that can stir up meta-feelings. Like metacognition is thinking about thinking, meta-feeling is feelings about feelings. Mental illness, or even a lot of stress, can mean extended periods of time feeling rather yucky. Periods of feeling good, or at least better in a
Meta-Feelings: How Do You Feel About Feeling Good? Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week, we’ll look at the difference between innate and acquired characteristics. While intuitively it would seem reasonable that there are some capacities or abilities that are innate and some that are learned, there’s fundamental disagreement within the academic community over
What Is… an Innate vs. Acquired Characteristic Read More »
For some people, fear can have a significant influence on the choice they make. In this post, I wanted to discuss how much of a role fear plays in our own decision-making process. Looking back, I don’t think fear was a big factor in most of my decisions. If I wanted to do something, I
How Big a Role Has Fear Played in Your Decisions? Read More »
I first heard of the Open Dialogue approach in the book My Beautiful Psychosis by Emma Goude. It’s an alternative way of managing psychosis, and I wanted to explore it further. What Open Dialogue is Open Dialogue was first conceived in the Western Lapland province of Finland in the early 1980s. It emphasizes listening with
The Open Dialogue Approach to Psychosis Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) falls within the DSM-5‘s cluster C of anxious/fearful personality disorders. It’s characterized by intense feelings of inadequacy and fear of social rejection, and avoidance is relied upon as a coping
What Is… Avoidant Personality Disorder Read More »
