Psychology Today
@psychologytoday.com
Insight about everybody's favorite subject: Ourselves.
We may have been looking at happiness wrong all along. It may not be the ultimate goal to pursue, but rather a byproduct of how we lead our lives. This is why.
December 17, 2025 at 9:52 PM
We may have been looking at happiness wrong all along. It may not be the ultimate goal to pursue, but rather a byproduct of how we lead our lives. This is why.
When people feel like they matter, they flourish. But when they feel insignificant, disconnection, disengagement, anxiety, and depression often follow. Here's what can be done about it. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
Why So Many People Feel Like They Don’t Matter
Research on our growing "mattering deficit" and what could help.
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December 17, 2025 at 5:21 PM
When people feel like they matter, they flourish. But when they feel insignificant, disconnection, disengagement, anxiety, and depression often follow. Here's what can be done about it. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
A person who becomes scapegoated and excluded by their family typically assumes it's their own fault, but there's almost always something else going on. Here's what everyone should understand. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/chil...
Why a Family Would Ever Exclude One of Their Own
The differences being rejected may actually be strengths.
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December 16, 2025 at 9:52 PM
A person who becomes scapegoated and excluded by their family typically assumes it's their own fault, but there's almost always something else going on. Here's what everyone should understand. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/chil...
When it comes to maintaining mental health, what we avoid is as important as what we actually do. The most mentally healthy people you know understand this and steer clear of these 5 behaviors.
December 16, 2025 at 5:21 PM
When it comes to maintaining mental health, what we avoid is as important as what we actually do. The most mentally healthy people you know understand this and steer clear of these 5 behaviors.
Many couples believe spontaneous sex is the only valid way to connect, but new research shows that when partners plan sex, it leads to increased desire and more sex overall. This is why. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/make...
Why Planning Sex Just Might Make It Hotter
The takeaway: Anticipation is sexy.
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December 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Many couples believe spontaneous sex is the only valid way to connect, but new research shows that when partners plan sex, it leads to increased desire and more sex overall. This is why. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/make...
When trauma occurs—especially in childhood, when we don’t have the language or support to process it—it can linger in the body in painful and debilitating ways. Here's how to start healing. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invi...
Your Body Remembers Trauma, Even Decades Later
Trauma memories can stay stored in our body, even long after we thought the trauma had passed.
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December 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
When trauma occurs—especially in childhood, when we don’t have the language or support to process it—it can linger in the body in painful and debilitating ways. Here's how to start healing. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invi...
"Kids who spend time in three-dimensional environments have rich connections between their frontal lobes and other parts of their brains. Kids who spend hours consuming digital content don’t." www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
How Living in a Digital World Changes Kids' Brains
Science can now show what frustrated parents and teachers have observed: Today’s children and adolescents spend too much time in digital environments, and it changes their brains.
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December 14, 2025 at 9:52 PM
"Kids who spend time in three-dimensional environments have rich connections between their frontal lobes and other parts of their brains. Kids who spend hours consuming digital content don’t." www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-...
It’s never too late to learn new skills, such as playing an instrument, and starting in old age may have major benefits. Here are 8 guidelines to help you make the most of the experience.
The Principles of Learning Any Complex Skill
Music is a promising tool for improving cognition and promoting well-being.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM
It’s never too late to learn new skills, such as playing an instrument, and starting in old age may have major benefits. Here are 8 guidelines to help you make the most of the experience.
Many people assume empathy is too soft, too subjective, or too deeply personal to quantify. Here's why that's wrong.
Empathy Isn’t Unmeasurable: Here’s How Psychologists Do It
Empathy can be measured accurately when we match the measurement method to the specific aspect of empathy we want to understand.
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December 13, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Many people assume empathy is too soft, too subjective, or too deeply personal to quantify. Here's why that's wrong.
When you're living with chronic illness and pain, but you look fine to the outside world, it often feels like there's an extra burden on you to "prove" that you're sick. Here's how to let that go.
How Invisible Chronic Illness Adds an Extra Burden to Life
Personal Perspective: I live with the extra burden of looking healthy. I’m one among millions of people who live every day with sickness and or pain that is invisible.
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December 13, 2025 at 5:21 PM
When you're living with chronic illness and pain, but you look fine to the outside world, it often feels like there's an extra burden on you to "prove" that you're sick. Here's how to let that go.
Sexual satisfaction typically declines in long-term relationships, but that doesn't mean it has to. Research points to 4 ways partners can keep re-igniting their spark and maintain it.
4 Ways Satisfied Couples Keep Their Passion Alive
4. They don't get hung up on how often they have sex.
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December 12, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Sexual satisfaction typically declines in long-term relationships, but that doesn't mean it has to. Research points to 4 ways partners can keep re-igniting their spark and maintain it.
Bon vivants are those individuals who turn ordinary life into something richer, more flavorful, more worth being alive for. Here are 7 ways to follow their example and optimize your enjoyment.
How to Become a Bon Vivant
Small luxuries, mindful savoring, and everyday beauty can transform ordinary life into something deliciously worth living.
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December 12, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Bon vivants are those individuals who turn ordinary life into something richer, more flavorful, more worth being alive for. Here are 7 ways to follow their example and optimize your enjoyment.
When your partner loves without expectation, they don’t place demands or issue ultimatums. They love you without exception. Here's what that looks like in action.
3 Signs That Your Partner Loves You Unconditionally
Three ways to tell if your partner can love you through thick and thin.
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December 11, 2025 at 9:52 PM
When your partner loves without expectation, they don’t place demands or issue ultimatums. They love you without exception. Here's what that looks like in action.
The "mind after midnight" theory suggests that being awake after midnight could lead to emotional dysregulation, poorer decision-making, and greater impulsivity. Are you at risk?
What Happens to the Mind After Midnight
Night owls may face risks when they're up between midnight and 5 a.m.
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December 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
The "mind after midnight" theory suggests that being awake after midnight could lead to emotional dysregulation, poorer decision-making, and greater impulsivity. Are you at risk?
It's easy to find yourself trapped in a relentless cycle of anxious thoughts and second-guessing. Shifting your focus to the body instead of the mind can help you break free.
The Easiest Way to Stop Anxious Overthinking
What if the easiest way to quiet your racing mind isn’t thinking your way out, but moving your way out?
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December 10, 2025 at 9:52 PM
It's easy to find yourself trapped in a relentless cycle of anxious thoughts and second-guessing. Shifting your focus to the body instead of the mind can help you break free.
Burnout isn't about how much grit or willpower someone has. It is a mismatch between human needs and workplace demands. Here's what can be done about it.
4 Ways to Break the Burnout Cycle (That Go Beyond Self-Care)
Burnout is not about grit or willpower. It is a mismatch between human needs and workplace demands. Realistic changes can make work feel possible again.
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December 10, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Burnout isn't about how much grit or willpower someone has. It is a mismatch between human needs and workplace demands. Here's what can be done about it.
Many of us live with the mental and emotional strain of holding conflicting truths about ourselves and our world. Here's why this cognitive dissonance can be so harmful—and what we can do about it.
The Hidden Psychology of Cognitive Dissonance
How one therapist overcame formative experiences of cognitive dissonance, and how she now supports others to do the same.
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December 9, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Many of us live with the mental and emotional strain of holding conflicting truths about ourselves and our world. Here's why this cognitive dissonance can be so harmful—and what we can do about it.
Everyone speaks in 2 streams: the words we say and the needs that hide beneath them. Here's how to use "need talk" as a powerful tool for persuasion and influence.
Your Words Reveal More Than You Think
We all broadcast our needs through tone, phrasing, and pacing. Learn to hear the signals beneath the words, build deeper connections, and understand your own patterns more clearly.
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December 9, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Everyone speaks in 2 streams: the words we say and the needs that hide beneath them. Here's how to use "need talk" as a powerful tool for persuasion and influence.
Forgiveness can be a key to living well, but offering it before you've healed, or to someone who hasn't taken accountability, can silence vital emotions and leave you unprotected. There's a better path.
5 Reasons Forgiveness Is Not a Good Way to Heal
2. Glossing over hurt does not make use of it.
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December 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Forgiveness can be a key to living well, but offering it before you've healed, or to someone who hasn't taken accountability, can silence vital emotions and leave you unprotected. There's a better path.
Neuroscience explains why our thoughts seem more dangerous after midnight—and Stoic wisdom offers a simple practice to reclaim calm and control.
Stop Overthinking at 3 a.m. With This Ancient Hack
The "dichotomy of control” eases panic and restores calm.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 8, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Neuroscience explains why our thoughts seem more dangerous after midnight—and Stoic wisdom offers a simple practice to reclaim calm and control.
In relationships where a woman is responsible for a male partner's social life, she can be said to be "mankeeping." It can be an emotional burden, but some experts see an even darker side.
"My Better Half": The Crisis of Men's Dependence on Their Partners
Some partners may take advantage of their social power.
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December 7, 2025 at 9:52 PM
In relationships where a woman is responsible for a male partner's social life, she can be said to be "mankeeping." It can be an emotional burden, but some experts see an even darker side.
Understanding the difference between trauma and emotional wounds can lighten your story and make healing far more accessible than you might think. This is how.
Why Calling Everything Trauma Makes Healing Harder
Understanding the difference between trauma and emotional wounds can lighten your story and make healing far more accessible than you think.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Understanding the difference between trauma and emotional wounds can lighten your story and make healing far more accessible than you might think. This is how.
Sexual satisfaction typically declines in long-term relationships, but that doesn't mean it has to. Research points to 4 ways partners can keep re-igniting their spark and maintain it.
4 Ways Satisfied Couples Keep Their Passion Alive
4. They don't get hung up on how often they have sex.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Sexual satisfaction typically declines in long-term relationships, but that doesn't mean it has to. Research points to 4 ways partners can keep re-igniting their spark and maintain it.
Is it our thoughts that cause our depressed feelings, or is it the other way around? Here's what the science shows—and how it opens exciting new doors for mental health treatment.
What Causes Depression? New Research Confirms Ancient Wisdom
Findings using a new AI-enabled mental health app suggest that reducing negative thoughts lowers negative feelings, supporting CBT and potentially offering quick depression relief.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 6, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Is it our thoughts that cause our depressed feelings, or is it the other way around? Here's what the science shows—and how it opens exciting new doors for mental health treatment.
It’s never too late to learn new skills, such as playing an instrument, and starting in old age may have major benefits. Here are 8 guidelines to help you make the most of the experience.
The Principles of Learning Any Complex Skill
Music is a promising tool for improving cognition and promoting well-being.
www.psychologytoday.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:52 PM
It’s never too late to learn new skills, such as playing an instrument, and starting in old age may have major benefits. Here are 8 guidelines to help you make the most of the experience.