The mind is usually good at handling pain. Pain is your mind and body’s way of alerting you that something’s gone wrong and needs fixing. Sometimes, however, the stress and pain become too much for the mind to handle. For example, the mind may shut down or dissociate when faced with severe trauma. We all …
Anhedonia comes from the Greek “an-“, meaning “not, without” and “hedone”, meaning “pleasure”. Hence, a person with anhedonia is without pleasure. Specifically, anhedonia is when a person no longer finds previously-pleasurable things and activities pleasurable. It is the main symptom of depression and is also present in other mental health conditions like: Anhedonia can occur …
Abuse is a pattern of behavior that causes harm. The harm may be physical, psychological, financial, or legal. Physical, financial, or legal damage is easy to identify. Psychological or emotional abuse often happens under the radar. I’ve previously created an emotional abuse test that you can use to see if you’re being abused in a …
I was recently reading some YouTube comments on a video about two men arguing with a salesperson. The first man was very aggressive in his speech and body language. The second man’s body language was more relaxed. The first man was talking at the salesman while the second one was talking with the salesman. A …
Hypomania (hypo = under; mania = madness) is when a person experiences abnormally high energy levels. The state is less severe than mania, where a person experiences such high energy levels that they engage in reckless and harmful behavior. Mania and hypomania are symptoms of bipolar disorder, but a person can experience hypomania without suffering …
Addiction is simply a repetitive bad habit. Bad habits tend to be repetitive because they release dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain that makes us want to engage in certain activities more and more. It achieves that by giving us pleasure when we indulge in a bad habit. Dopamine is critical for survival …
Psychopathy and sociopathy both fall under the category of Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD). While some experts believe both terms mean the same thing, you’ll often find ‘ASPD’ and ‘sociopathy’ being used interchangeably. Someone with ASPD engages in anti-social behavior primarily for selfish gain. Psychopaths and sociopaths comprise a small part of the population (1-4%), and …
Anger is a normal emotion that we experience when we perceive that something has gone wrong in our life. That perception may be right or wrong, and that’s precisely what makes anger such a tricky emotion to manage. We get angry when we perceive that our rights have been violated, our boundaries have been crossed, …
The male hierarchy or the socio-sexual hierarchy is a way of categorizing heterosexual men in human society. Like many other animals, there’s a dominance hierarchy of males in humans. Both men and women are sensitive to cues of social status. Men’s value in society is primarily determined by their status, and vice versa- the value …
Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder in which a person experiences difficulty expressing themselves and navigating social interactions. The condition develops very early in life (2-3 years), but many people go undiagnosed because the symptoms can be confusing and sometimes overlap with normal behavior. 3 Main symptoms of autism ASD is …