Dr. Gary Bell's Absurd Psychology

Living with a Depressed Partner

05 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There is a great deal of information available about depression. But when you live with a depressed person, it can be painfully difficult. Anti-depr...

The Effects of Childhood Abandonment

29 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When children are raised with chronic loss, without the psychological or physical protection they need—and certainly deserve—it is most natural fo...

Finding your "Soul Mate"

22 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Relationship scientist Raymond Knee coined the terms "destiny beliefs" and "growth beliefs" to describe an individual's general approach to seeking ...

Raising Special Needs Children: Herding Squirrels

15 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

For anyone whose life revolves around caregiving, including the parents of special-needs children, there are inherent risks that can jeopardize both t...

Delusional People: Sold on Their Own Story

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Delusional disorder, previously called paranoid disorder, is a type of serious mental illness — called a "psychosis"— in which a person cannot tel...

Living Through Dark Times

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Covid-19 pandemic led to a prolonged exposure to stress. As a consequence, researchers showed an increased interest in measuring social and commun...

The Need for Power and Control

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There is a downside to being in control when it involves trying to control other people, because other people don't want to be controlled by you any m...

The Inner Child: Aggression, Tantrums and Trauma

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Destructive behavior takes various forms: from subtle self-sabotage and self-defeating patterns to passive hostility to severe self-destructive symp...

A Life of Regret

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Regret is a negative emotion that occurs when a person believes his or her past actions or behaviors, if changed, may have achieved a better outcom...

Trust: Our Deepest Need

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Being vulnerable with each other can also be a mutual endeavor, and it doesn't just involve revealing parts of yourself. It can also involve a joint e...

Psychopath Stalkers

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Stalking is defined as repeated and unwanted attention, harassment, contact, or any other behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a r...

Bonding Through Laughter

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Humor, the capacity to express or perceive what's funny, is both a source of entertainment and a means of coping with difficult or awkward situations ...

Gender Identity: Mind My Pronouns

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Gender is related to but distinctly different from sex; it is rooted in culture, not biology. The APA (2012) defines gender as the attitudes, feeling...

Marrying a Divorcee

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A divorcee is not a supernatural being who needs to be kept at bay and never considered for marriage. Nevertheless, there are a few problems in marryi...

The Resentful Vigina: Sexual Warfare

28 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

t has become increasingly clear to me that at the basis of most divorces are problems of sexual connection. Two people may think that they are fight...

Toxic Family Members

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some lucky people are born into families they adore spending time with—their loving mutual bonds make holidays and multi-generational vacations a...

Healing a Broken Heart

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's normal for us to need time to ruminate and go over a romantic break-up in minute detail when we feel like we were the one who was dumped. Break-u...

Mangina: The Death of the Male

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For as long as America has been a country, the straight white American man has been king of the hill. But as society changes and culture evolves, the ...

The Cost of Loneliness

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Loneliness is often defined as the distressing feeling generated by a lack of meaningful, intimate, and reciprocal interactions. One might describe it...

Why People Delay Happiness

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There are two paths we can take in any given situation: one is the path of avoiding pain in the moment, and the other is the more difficult path of de...

How Do Know I Am Depressed

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is more than simply feeling sad, experiencing grief, or being super drained of energy. Those feelings are totally vali...

Emerging from Narcissistic Parents

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to narcissism, there is a spectrum of severity. While many people have narcissistic traits, some people have personalities that are hig...

Can This Marriage Be Saved?

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every marriage has its ups and downs. But if you're reading this, chances are yours has been down for a while now. Maybe you've been dealing with an i...

Get It Up: Erectile Dysfunction

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Psychological factors are responsible for about 10%-20% of all cases of erectile dysfunction, or ED. It is often a secondary reaction to an underlying...

The Meaning of Life

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We should start by saying that there is no meaning in life outside of that which we can find by ourselves as a species. There isn't any kind of object...

Same Argument: Year AfterYear

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Have you ever noticed how we often argue about the same things over and over again? How pointless, isn't it? Nothing is ever accomplished by hashing o...

STUPID: Our New Standard of Intelligence

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects in psychology, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes intelligence...

Impatient Crazy-Makers

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We've all been impatient—and we've all made rash decisions when impatience got the better of us. We've left lines that were barely moving, only to g...

Where Is Your Will?

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Modern psychologists often use the word volition in preference to "Will". Volition is the cognitive process by which an individual decides on and comm...

Cancel Culture

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Just about every week we see the same story. Someone takes a jittery smartphone video of a white person caught in the act of doing something that's la...

Transhuman: Human 2.0

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Transhumanism] promotes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and evaluating the opportunities for enhancing the human condition and the huma...

Relearning Adult Friendship

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Children often make friends seamlessly; the settings in which they spend time, such as school, camp, and sports teams, naturally spur fast friendships...

The Need for Control and Power

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

People often equate freedom with having a lot of control over things. We think we would rather be the boss who has control over other employees than t...

The Problem with Procrastinators

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators chronically avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. Procrastination ...

Polyamorus vs. Polygamy

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many people confuse polyamory, polygamy, polygyny, and polyandry — and this confusion is unsurprising, considering that those terms are new to most ...

Trapped in Your Life

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many people feel trapped by aspects of their life: trapped in an unhappy relationship, at an unfulfilling job, or generally unhappy with their life de...

Female Psychopaths

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Many female psychopaths seek to destroy others however they can. A female psychopath may undermine your self-esteem using innuendo, or bully you a...

Psychology of Your Neighborhood Socialist

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The field of psychology is a big capitalist business, whether it is helping capitalists with advertising, finding new consumers, selling self-help boo...

Caring for a Narcissistic Parent

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Often, narcissistic parents perceive the independence of their child as a threat. What distinguishes the narcissistic parent is a pervasive tendency t...

Critical Race Theory: A Critical Analysis

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Critical race theory (CRT), initially created as a body of legal theory, is an organizing framework useful in understanding human behavior and social ...

Obessesive Compulsive Disorder: Ritual and Repeat

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder in which people experience unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, images, or sensations (...

Autistic Spectrum Disorder: Life on the Spectrum

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that involves impairments in social interaction and communication, challenges with sensory...

Self-Sabotage: What have I done to myself?

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Behavior is said to be self-sabotaging when it creates problems in daily life and interferes with long-standing goals. The most common self-sabotagin...

Living with Rage

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Irritation, frustration, anger, rage: these are all forms of anger. And they are feelings first. But when a person's rage becomes behavior even before...

Miracles: Do you Believe?

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Belief in miracles is widespread. According to recent surveys 72% of people in the USA and 59% of people in the UK believe that miracles take plac...

Stop Being Defensive and Grow Up

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Defense mechanisms are rooted in Freud's theory of personality. According to his model, the mind has three dueling forces: the id (unconscious and p...

Pornography Addiction

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Pornography use is a widespread means of dealing with one's sexual drives. More than 90 percent of young men report watching porn videos with som...

Psychology of the Apocalypse

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why, then, do we find the basic narrative so appealing? What is the underlying psychology behind apocalyptic prophecies, both religious and secular? T...

Teenagers and Their Parents

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Adolescence is the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood that occurs between ages 13 and 19. The physical and psychological changes that ta...

Dysthymic Depression: Eeyore in COVID

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Persistent depressive disorder, known as dysthymia or low-grade depression, is less severe than major depression but more chronic. It occurs twice as...

Stroke: Who Am I Now

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of your brain is interrupted or reduced, preventing brain tissue from getting oxygen and nutrients. Brai...

Managing Panic

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

People with panic disorder often experience negative thoughts with self-defeating beliefs. This is especially the case during a panic attack when y...

The Impact of Divorce on Children

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As a marriage dissolves, some parents find themselves asking questions like, "Should we stay together for the kids?" Other parents find divorce is th...

Reincarnation: An Interview with Dr. Walter Semkiw (M.D.)

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the mysteries puzzling human mind since the origin of mankind is the concept of "reincarnation" which literally means "to take on the flesh aga...

How Much FEAR Guides My Life

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Fear and anxiety may not be anyone's favorite emotions, but these powerful sensations go a long way in keeping us safe. If the dog down the street bit...

Imposter Syndrome

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Impostor syndrome (IS) refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. While this definition...

Escaping COIVD-19 Imprisonment

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

To say that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the world would be an understatement. In less than a year since the virus emerged ...

Divorce: Coping

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For those who do wind up divorced, there seems to be a magic number for when. No matter where in the world you're from or in what culture you've been ...

Responding to Oppression

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "oppression" as "the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control." However, this does not mean that t...

What Makes Marriage Work

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

If you are worried about the future of your marriage or relationship, you have plenty of company. There's no denying that this is a frightening time...

Existential Despair

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Existential angst not only derives from the human inability to think, feel, and act in the world or experience a love for life, but also from the fea...

Comfort Eating

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How to stop eating emotionally? Emotional eating (sometimes called stress eating or comfort eating) is difficult to control partly because we have ...

Facing Burnout

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and often physical exhaustion brought on by prolonged or repeated stress. Though it's most often caused by p...

Past Lives Therapy

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Regression therapy is an approach to treatment that focuses on resolving significant past events believed to be interfering with a person's present...

Betrayal: The Cut Runs Deep

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Human beings need to trust. Trust allays anxiety, helps lift depression, and makes it possible to consistently invest interest and enjoyment in one a...

Miscarriage: Hope to Devastation and Healing

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A miscarriage is a real loss that can affect you physically, emotionally, and spiritually. But those who haven't experienced a miscarriage may not u...

Stressed Out

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Stress generally refers to two things: the psychological perception of pressure, on the one hand, and the body's response to it, on the other, which i...

Facing Death

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We all have to face it at some point; an event of such enormity that it can make everything else in our lives seem insignificant: death, the end of ou...

Emotional Reciprocity

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

One of the fundamental laws of social psychology is the reciprocity principle. When we pay back what we receive from others in social situations, we...

Toxic People

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are two types of people, those who contribute and those who detract. You must learn that the best way to build your career and your life is thro...

The Psychology of Cheating and Stealing

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A person who steals things that he already owns, can easily afford, or does not want or need can be baffling. Mental health professionals may think th...

States of Human Development and Those That Missed Them

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Developmental psychology is the branch of psychology that focuses on how people grow and change over the course of a lifetime. Those who specialize in...

Personality

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

From eccentric and introverted to boisterous and bold, the human personality is a complex and colorful thing. Personality refers to a person's distinc...

Serial Marriage and Incompatability

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you're like most people, you figure you'll get married once—maybe twice—in your entire life.However, if you're a serial monogamist (a person wh...

Drama People

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When we think of people being dramatic – or in this case, overly dramatic - we think of them making much of their appearance before others.  They e...

Toxic Guilt and Shame

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Although many people use the two words guilt and shame interchangeably, from a psychological perspective, they actually refer to different experience...

Being the Outsider

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Unfortunately, we're often taught that being an outsider is a "bad" thing, and no wonder — biologically we are made to stay within the safe confines...

What the XXXX is Systemic Racism?

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rabbi Abraham Heschel stated that "Racism is man's gravest threat to man – the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason." Racism is a system of pow...

Wisdom: The Opposite of Evil

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wisdom is one of those qualities that is difficult to define—because it encompasses so much—but which people generally recognize when they encount...

Psychology of Homeless

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As cities across America grapple with people living on the streets, homelessness is becoming impossible to ignore. More than half a million Americans ...

To Be Asexual

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The defining characteristic of asexuality is never feeling sexually attracted to anyone, but asexuals vary in other ways. Romantic attraction, for e...

The Power of Words

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Some of us are in the habit of using the same negative words over and over again out of habit. The problem is that the more we hear, read, or speak a ...

Eating Disorders: Death by Food

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Eating disorders are complex psycho-physiologic challenges that require much more than simple determination and a strong will to conquer. One of every...

Enneagrams: What is Your Type?

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Enneagram is a powerful tool for personal and collective transformation. Stemming from the Greek words ennea (nine) and grammos (a written symbol...

Depersonalization and Dissassociation: MIA

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the case of depersonalization, the individual may feel detached from his or her entire being (e.g., "I am no one," "I have no self"). He or she ma...

Conspiracy Psychology

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While humans seek solace in conspiracy theories, however, they rarely find it. For one thing, conspiratorial thinking can incite individuals to behave...

The Art of Persuasion

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

While persuasion is a science, it's also an art. If a person pushes too hard, he will risk being aggressive. If he nudges too lightly, he will get now...

Group Think: Irrational Minds

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to confor...

Problems with Authority

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people make irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to confor...

Toxic Masculinity Defined

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The term "toxic masculinity" has become ubiquitous over the past few years after lingering in obscurity for the better part of three decades. Coined b...

Co-Dependent: Emotional Caretaker or Manipulator

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

An emotional caretaker is someone who looks out for the feelings, needs and wants of an emotional manipulator. The caretaker defers to the manipulat...

RE-Starting Your Life

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Something isn't right. It could be the job, the place you live, the relationship you are in, or the hobbies that consume your time. Day in and day out...

Sex in Marriage: Keeping and Maintaining

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As with many things, husbands and wives differ on when or how often to have sex. Men rarely see impediments to love-making and most think it's a good...

Resentment in Relationships: The Endless Cost

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Resenting somebody isn't as simple as disliking them, or finding them annoying; it's a feeling that is actually related to the repetition of painful p...

Why Be Shy?

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Shyness is a sense of awkwardness or apprehension that some people consistently feel when approaching or being approached by others. Shyness is a resp...

Finding and Living Your Passion

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Everyone has an idea of what passion means, but when we start talking with others about our understanding, it often turns out that different people me...

What's LOVE Got To Do WIth It

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When we take the time to celebrate love and the people who are meaningful to us. Love — which could be defined as a field of resonating, often osci...

The Madness of Indecisiveness

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Clearly, most of our daily decisions are not earth-shattering, but you can imagine how paralysis in the decision-making process would render us virt...

Isolation and the Effects on the Mind

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Experts suggest that the negative feelings and experiences associated with prolonged isolation will come for us all. Humans are social creatures—yes...

Sleep Paralysis: Paranormal or Normal

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sleep paralysis can be a terrifying experience that is surprisingly common. It can involve the inability to move, auditory and visual hallucinations, ...