New Insights Into Feeling Socially Anxious

Anosognosia in right hemisphere stroke offers one of the models to understand insight impairment. The loss of a representation of the “body schema of the mind” may underlie a lack of insight into mental conditions. Assessment of “lack of insight” may benefit from a broader perspective of impairments...

Some people seem to make poor life choices, a problem identified in new research as a “faulty compass.”. The four causes of a faulty compass can be traced to deficits in emotional memories. By understanding the causes of your own poor choices, you can set off on a more...

Findings from a new research study report that people declined in conscientiousness and agreeableness after adversity. Across multiple studies, most researchers found individuals’ personality traits remained stable over time after adversity. Researchers should discuss findings that challenge post-traumatic growth to release individuals from any pressure they may feel to...

People who are more anxious try to give some of their anxiety to those who are less anxious. Anxiety tends to be polarized into rigid gender roles in heterosexual couples. Some men try to "solve" their female partner's anxiety in order to avoid feeling negative emotions themselves. Accepting more of...

Tinnitus can have a significant impact on someone's life and mental health. Feeling a sense of loss, of silence and control, is common for chronic tinnitus sufferers. Part of managing tinnitus is to learn how to accept it, rather than struggle against it. It engulfs when the house is quiet....

When a loved one engages in behavior that is scary or dangerous, it's natural to urgently want them to stop. Even if a behavior is destructive, it can still serve a purpose for an individual, leading them to feel ambivalent about stopping. Instead of accusing a loved one of being...

Back in 2015, an essay went viral that described 36 questions used in a psychology experiment that brought people emotionally close (or to quote the article, made them “fall in love”). Even now, I still see articles come out that portray these specific questions—as they are used in new studies—as nearly magical keys to meaningful emotional connection.

New research develops a machine learning algorithm to predict whether a psychology study will replicate or not. This machine learning algorithm uses word choices in psychology papers, not other key information, to make predictions. The algorithm has low accuracy overall (68%) and is based on existing replications that don't cover...

Interacting with natural environments improves emotional states and cognitive functioning. The more immersive and uninterrupted the experience in nature, the more likely you will benefit from it. You can still benefit from short, non-immersive nature exposure, but eliminating distractions and choosing places you like is crucial. Are you one of...

A dangerous idea has become commonplace: that someone not in our presence can have as much claim on our attention as the person we are actually with. We feel the buzzing and we instinctively grab for the phone to see who's texting. While taking a look and maybe typing a quick response, we mutter an apology or gesture that this will only take a second. Sure, we get right back to the conversation at hand; it's just that it's now normal for both parties to accept what has been forfeited.

When John Alcock published the first edition of his animal behavior textbook in 1975, an evolutionary perspective on behavior was not typical. Besides his influential textbook, Alcock wrote many other inspiring and insightful books about nature, evolution, and behavior. Alcock recently passed away at age 80. When I was a...

Consciously crossing thresholds of life changes can help us develop ourselves more fully. Helping clients face thresholds is a crucial aspect of our work. Reviewing how we've crossed thresholds in our own lives helps us develop skill with threshold work. A threshold is "the door sill, the point of entering,”...

Affective forecasting, or the process of predicting how one will feel at a future point in time, is often involved in decisions. Predictions about happiness and other emotions are often inaccurate. While happiness is an important factor in decision-making, it's also important to learn how to make one's predictions stronger.

When zero-gen daters are exposed to a novel romantic situation, they could freeze. ‎. Any breach of the social script could lead to social exclusion. How to relate to people is a delicate dynamic that frustrates many zero-gen daters.‎. Mohammed is a pseudonym of a zero-gen dater through ‎whom I...

Therapy vs. medications for depression can feel like an either-or proposition. There are pros and cons to each that are worth knowing. For some people, both together create the best synergy. "I'm thinking about starting therapy but maybe an antidepressant would be faster and easier. Which one should I pick?"

Anxiety is a common part of childhood grief as children feel their world is less sturdy and that other losses could happen. Anxiety in children may manifest as physical symptoms including headaches, stomachaches, and more frequent visits to the school nurse. Allowing children to feel the difficult feelings with their...

If you have a child who is a big reactor, connection and co-regulation require a whole different set of tools. Being a "gentle" parent doesn't mean that your child is going to make you feel like you are being gentle. There is no gentle parenting without clear limits and boundaries.

Research suggests that people naturally attribute personality traits to inanimate entities, a process known as anthropomorphizing. People readily anthropomorphize corporations and tend to judge them along dimensions of warmth and competence. Perceptions of a company's warmth ultimately come down to its ability to demonstrate good intentions for the customer’s well-being....

Reducing work pressures can have unexpected consequences, creating expectations about using the new time well. Thinking about how much can get done on days off can create pre-existing, self-imposed pressure. Expectations aren't always easy to manage. They lead to "shoulds," which then lead to guilt and low-level agitation. A while...

A bullsh*tter is someone who shares information with little regard for the accuracy of what is being shared. ChatGPT is constrained to sharing information that it can curate from various sources to which it has access. ChatGPT is unaware of the accuracy of its own conclusions. ChatGPT represents a more...