In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is operant conditioning. Operant conditioning relates to the way actions are affected by stimuli from the environment. The concept was developed by B.F. Skinner in the 1930’s, and builds on Pavlov’s classical conditioning experiments in which dogs were observed […]
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Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves by psychologist Jesse Bering attempts to make sense of the complex phenomenon of suicide. It approaches the issue from a variety of different angles, including psychological, biological, spiritual, and evolutionary. The author admits that he takes an intellectualized, scientific perspective to try to gain a broader understanding. The book presents both
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Yes, that’s right, I’m guilty—I’m a ghoster. Ghosting is socially frowned upon, although it happens quite a bit. A LiveScience article cites research in which about 25% of participants had been ghosted, and 20% had ghosted someone else. It’s often talked about with regards to romantic relationships, but it may be even more common in
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The disturbing documentary God Knows Where I Am tells the story of Linda Bishop, and her death after being released from a state psychiatric hospital. The film includes readings from Linda’s journal, and commentary from people who knew her, including her sister and her daughter. Their words powerfully captured the pain and frustration of a
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is neuro-linguistic programming. Every so often, I read something that refers to neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). I really had no idea what it was, so I thought it was worth taking a closer look. The site nlp.com likens NLP to
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is assertiveness. Wikipedia explains that assertiveness can be seen as falling in between passive communication styles and aggressive styles. Assertiveness training is a type of behavioural therapy developed in the 1960s that includes increasing awareness of one’s own
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s terms are trauma vs. PTSD. I wanted to take a look at the difference between experiencing trauma and having PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). Personally, I believe that I have experienced trauma, but I don’t meet the criteria for PTSD. So is
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s terms are hope and hopelessness. Wikipedia defines hope as “an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one’s life or the world at large.” Psychologist Charles
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A few months ago, I decided to go ahead and book an overseas vacation. I hoped that it would give me something to look forward to, and that it would help to finally put a dent in the anhedonia and apathy that have been such a challenging part of my depression. I decided to go
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In Living with Vaginismus: Dealing with the World’s Most Painful Pleasure, Victoria Johnston provides a comprehensive overview of this pelvic pain condition. She opens up about her own personal experience to raise awareness about an issue that most people either don’t know about and/or aren’t comfortable talking about. Vaginismus involves the involuntary contraction of pelvic
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