Exploring the forces that shape the human psyche
A healthy relationship is one where partners can be together without losing themselves. They can spend quality time with each other and also find time for themselves. A healthy relationship is one where both partners add to each other’s happiness. The key feature of healthy relationships is interdependence. Interdependence is depending on each other. The …
Some people come into our lives and go like nothing happened. Some, when they go, leave a deep void in us. They leave behind an emptiness in us. The closer our relationship with someone, the more it hurts when that relationship ends. The more we miss them when they go. But why does it happen? …
Jealousy, like other social emotions such as guilt, embarrassment, and shame, is a complex emotion. People get jealous differently, to varying degrees, and respond to it in a variety of ways.1 Researchers have defined jealousy in numerous ways. I like to keep things simple. Long story short, jealousy is triggered by two situations: When someone …
A crucial milestone in psychological development is developing a stable sense of self. People struggle with creating an identity in their teenage and typically achieve identity formation in young adulthood. Successful identity achievement helps a person clearly define who they are. When you’re clear about who you are- your beliefs, values, interests, and opinions, you …
The famous psychologist Erik Erikson came up with the stages of psychosocial development. The gist of his theory is that as we progress through life, from the day we’re born to the day we die, we go through some developmental stages. There’s a challenge to overcome in each of these stages, a conflict to resolve. …
Projecting onto someone means projecting your own traits onto someone. People tend to project their negative traits onto others, so they don’t have to accept responsibility for them. It’s an ego defense and blame-shifting mechanism that can be conscious or unconscious. Projection and trauma Conscious projection is a form of manipulation. You know you’re hiding …
Projection in psychology means projecting your own mental states and traits onto others- traits that they don’t possess. Just as a movie projector projects moving images from a reel onto a screen, people project what’s going in their minds (reel) onto others (screen). The screen itself is blank. Projection is of two types: A) Positive …
Why do we stop caring? The answer to that question lies in the understanding of why we care. When we care about something, we give our attention, energy, time, and interest to it. Why? To get something in return. After all, attention, energy, time, and interest are all precious resources. We don’t want to squander …
When you enter a new relationship, it’s natural to desire to be close to your partner. You’re in the ‘getting to know each other’ phase. The closer you are to each other, the better you get to know each other. Eventually, when both partners are satisfied with each other, things settle down a bit. You …
Relationships are complicated. If you think quantum mechanics is complex, wait till you get into a relationship. When two minds collide and enter into a relationship, all sorts of chain reactions get triggered. It’s not just two minds colliding; it’s a collision of intentions, perceptions, misperceptions, assumptions, interpretations, misinterpretations, and behaviors. A mish-mash of these …