Hanan Parvez 
Have you ever wondered why the same situation affects different people differently? For instance, you may be able to handle rejection well, but your friend may get depressed and lose sleep over it. While humans have many genetically programmed universal behaviors, it’s not just our genes that program us. The environment in which we’re raised
If you’re in a relationship with an anxiously attached partner, you’re probably overwhelmed by them. You love them, but at times, you feel confused by their behaviors. Someone with an anxious attachment, also called the Anxious Preoccupied (AP) attachment style, strongly needs love and connection. All humans need love and connection, but for APs, this
Most people know what ‘introvert’ and ‘extrovert’ means. Some know what ambivert means, but very few people have encountered the term ‘omnivert’. Both ‘omnivert’ and ‘ambivert’ have the Latin root vertere in them, which means ‘to turn’; ambi means ‘both’, and omni means ‘all’. So, ambiverts literally turn both ways. They have both introverted and
When faced with a life-threatening situation, an organism generates the following trauma responses: In certain traumatic situations, fight and flight are not the appropriate responses. Neither is freeze. These are the situations where the organism will display a fawn response. The fawn response to trauma is when someone behaves submissively towards an aggressor, communicating: “I’m
The following main traits characterize psychopathy: Selfishness and power-hungriness are the predominant traits of psychopaths.1 They do what they want without any regard for the consequences of their actions. Not all psychopaths are violent, but because they don’t feel the pain of others, they’re likely to be.2 You can think of psychopathy as being on
An avoidant attachment style person’s survival or self-protection need overpowers their need for love and connection. This makes it seem like they don’t want relationships at all. But they do because they’re humans, after all. It’s just that there’s a more potent opposing force preventing them from meeting their connection needs. They fear opening up
A narcissist is someone who’s self-centered, lacks empathy, seeks validation, and has fantasies of power and success. We all have narcissistic traits to some extent, but someone with a full-blown Narcissistic Personality Disorder makes life difficult for themselves and those around them. At the root of narcissism is low self-esteem. A narcissist tries to overcompensate
Our interactions with primary caregivers form our attachment styles in early childhood. Our attachment style, or how we attach ourselves to our parents, also tends to be how we attach to our romantic partners. There are four attachment styles: Anxious attachment style, also known as Anxious Preoccupied (AP) attachment style, is when a person has
A compliment is like a greeting. When you greet someone, you acknowledge their existence and expect them to do the same. You communicate that you value them and want them to value you, too. The same reciprocity lies underneath the dynamics of compliments. When someone compliments you, they’re giving you a status boost. They’re raising
A trauma bond is an emotional bond that gets formed between an abuser and their victim. An abusive relationship will rarely be 100% abusive. Usually, there’s a mix of abuse and positive bonding in an overall abusive relationship. This keeps the victim stuck in the trauma bond, hoping to get the next fix of positive