Current reporting, research and professional developments across Psychology, curated for psychologists and behavioral-health professionals.
This post is part of a series on adverse childhood experiences. Read the other parts here. Adopted or foster children come with challenging experiences. All have been separated from their biological parents. Many had…
There have been many different pathways to developing psychotropic drugs. None, perhaps, have differed as much as the discovery of haloperidol, which exemplifies the role of creative intuition, and the development of…
Your sleep pattern could influence how vulnerable you are to certain mental health problems.
Updated August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods The recent heartbreaking news of two brothers lost to suicide in Adelaide, South Australia, is every family’s worst nightmare. As a psychologist who has spent over two…
In an episode of his podcast, Travis Kelce stated that he and his wife Taylor Swift have never had a fight. George Clooney has made the same claim about him and his wife, Amal. Is this a level of perfect coupledom that…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Davia Sills This post is part 2 in a series. Read part 1 here. Pleasure goes beyond simply having orgasms. It’s about curiosity, connection, and caring about your partner’s experience…
Attraction in a relationship is a measure of intensity. That is, how strongly two people are drawn to each other, how quickly the connection forms, and how much energy the relationship generates in its early months. What…
Probability is the branch of mathematics that measures the likelihood of an event occurring. In this entry, we examine how you can use probability statistics to free or freeze yourself. One way of looking at probability…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Davia Sills Active in our addictions, our worlds often shrink. We prune people from our lives who question our use. We remove ourselves from events and activities that once brought us…
Carol looked up at me on our virtual call and said, "Hold on, you want me to do what?" I gently further encouraged her by repeating my prompt. She then wrote each number in the left column first. That's right, I'm…
A key question this column seeks to ask is what psychiatry lost when we traded the talking cure for the prescription pad. I learned the answer as a patient. After a manic psychotic episode, I was committed to a state…
Is using AI making your work faster, and your days a little emptier, at the same time? Is it limiting your creative outlets? Taking away chances to solve problems with a teammate? Leaving you feeling, if you're honest…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Davia Sills Co-authored by Jessica Murphy, Kodie Curran, Hannah Feeney, and Michael Hogan. Educational inequity is one of the most persistent problems in modern schooling, and rural…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Davia Sills Just as the human body is physiologically incapable of enduring in a physical vacuum deprived of oxygen and basic biological nourishment, it appears that the human psyche…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Tyler Woods For 35 years, I taught a course called "Psychology and Law" in a small college town in Wisconsin. Every year I asked my students the same question: Where are the high crime…
We now have unprecedented access to so much information. Thanks to social media, digital news platforms, and various safety phone apps, we find out that a high school classmate lost his battle with cancer, but that…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Davia Sills Many people would reflexively use words like “toxic” or “unpleasant” to describe a neighborhood with an active gossip network, but I believe that this attitude is…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan The psychology of aesthetics is the study of how a viewer interacts with artworks. It is naturally more focused on the response of the perceiver, and less on the object…
Posted August 5, 2026 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer Ph.D. Postpartum psychosis can be understood as the most extreme expression of a nervous system that has become trapped in an unresolved, escalating threat state during…
Psychology says people who like to do charity every now and then aren't always seeking praise or recognition. Their actions can come from empathy, personal values, emotional responses, social ...
Child mental health services are supposed to change lives. So why don’t we measure whether they actually do?
Psychology says people who plan everything in life meticulously aren't always organized or in control. Detailed planning can sometimes be linked to anxiety, perfectionism and fear of uncertainty.
Psychology says emotionally mature people do not always forgive quickly because meaningful forgiveness requires more than simply saying the words.
Psychology says people who fear being "too much" often develop this belief after experiences that taught them to suppress or question their emotional needs.
Posted August 4, 2026 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer Ph.D. In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about the experience of telling your partner that he’s hurt you only to be blindsided by his anger and defensiveness. I…
Psychology says staying home on weekends isn't antisocial. It may reflect healthy self-care, emotional recovery, stress management, and a personality that values balance over constant socializing.
Fear extinction and its persistence depend on epigenetic modifications, which can be potentiated by histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis). Butyrate (NaBu), a short-chain fatty acid and endogenous HDACi, promotes…
The spread of dis/misinformation represents a pressing challenge for contemporary society. Addressing this phenomenon requires digital tools as well as an understanding of the mechanisms that enable it. Among the…
Adolescence represents a developmental phase marked by profound and rapidly shifting emotional states. While some adolescents exhibit pronounced, day-to-day mood variability, others remain comparatively stable. Although…
A recent study investigated the relationship between childhood trauma and attention to emotions as a function of type and severity of maltreatment in a sample of women. It was found that high levels of physical and…
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