Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America by Barbara Ehrenreich was recommended by a fellow writer on Medium.com who, like me, has chronic treatment-resistant depression. The book looks at how expectations of positive thinking, with no room for anything else, are actually harming our society. The author doesn’t use the term toxic positivity, but she’s […]
Book Review: Bright-Sided Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is defense mechanisms. The concept of defense mechanisms was originally proposed by Sigmund Freud. They’re strategies that are used unconsciously in order to protect the ego when faced with uncomfortable feelings. Freud identified a number of defense mechanisms, as
What is… a Defense Mechanism Read More »
The world likes to get judgy when it comes to medications, particularly those that are viewed as addictive or otherwise “bad” in some way. The judginess grows exponentially when it comes to medication use in pregnancy. Obviously, it’s a problem if a medication has a negative effect on a developing fetus. However, in the real
Psychiatric Medication Use in Pregnancy Read More »
The More Or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care by Anna Borges is an A-Z listing of a wide variety of different self-care strategies. The book is visually appealing, with illustrations and an easy-to-read layout. Parts of the book are targeted specifically at people with mental illness, but it would still be relevant to people who
Book Review: The More or Less Definitive Guide to Self-Care Read More »
In this emerging blogger post, Kacha of Food.for.Thoughts, Life and its ways writes about the experience of loneliness. ‘We are born alone and we will die alone’, I have to tell it like it is. It is difficult to bear but a burden shared is half a burden. On the other hand we are in
If You Suffer from Loneliness, You’re Not Alone (Guest Post) Read More »
A couple of people commented on a recent post about my take on reiki. Essentially, their question was: is reiki bullshit? Ask and ye shall receive. What is it? First, what exactly is reiki? The International Center for Reiki Training (ICRT) says that reiki “is based on the idea that an unseen ‘life force energy’ flows
Is Reiki Legit or Bullshit? Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is the just world fallacy. The just world fallacy, also known as the just world hypothesis, is a common type of cognitive bias – a shortcut that the mind unconsciously takes when considering the world around us. Do you
What Is… the Just World Fallacy Read More »
Not long ago, a photo was forwarded to Time.com from a 2001 yearbook of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who was a teacher at the time, dressed in an Aladdin costume that included brownface/blackface makeup. It caused quite a stir, with some people criticizing him as being racist. Since it’s Halloween, it seems like a
Halloween, Blackface, and Cultural Appropriation Read More »
I have an issue with pseudoscience masquerading as science. Whether these ideas have any associated value or not isn’t my concern. My problem is when science-like concepts are used to trick people into believing that an idea is something that it isn’t. My current rant is about dopamine fasting. I recently heard about this from
The Dopamine Fasting Myth Read More »
They may not be politically correct, but terms like “psycho killers” and “psychotic killers” get tossed around rather freely. Sometimes people will assume that to do horrific things people must have a mental illness. But is that accurate? It’s not, but that kind of misconception may originate from a few different mistaken assumptions. Psychosis One
Are “Psycho Killers” Psychotic? Read More »
