You may needlessly constrain yourself because of past trauma-based programming that forced you to adapt to adverse circumstances that are no longer present.
In general, an enraged partner doesn’t need your agreement; what they require is to be taken seriously, feel understood, and have you empathize with their distress.
A certain longing is universal and leads us to feel disconnected from others, but it all started when—mostly unconsciously—we felt obliged to disconnect from parts of ourselves.
There are at least five things you can do to assist your emotionally distraught partner to feel that you’re compassionately and lovingly connected to them.
In contrast to both projection and autism, theory of mind is about ascribing to others mental states that diverge from ours, to more accurately explain and predict their behavior.
Part 3: Dreams may not make coherent sense, but they can allude to certain unresolved conflictual feelings—not only from the present but, more subtly, from the past as well.
Dreams typically offer tantalizing messages from your unconscious—but symbolically. So how do you link them to present-day emotions, as well as unresolved issues from your past?
Virtually all defenses relate to ways you felt deprived in the past—often, a caretaker's inability to provide sufficient guidance, understanding, and support.
Virtually all defenses relate to ways in the past you felt deprived—typically from your caretakers’ inability to provide you with sufficient guidance, understanding, and support.
People with BPD were taught by their parents’ unreliability, neglect, and criticism, not to trust others. And this frequently leads to highly conflicted adult relationships.
With couples, insisting on your (subjective) point of view—particularly when it differs significantly from your partner’s—only leads to a battle neither of you can win.
President Joe Biden: “Failure at some point in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable.” It's an inspiring quote but also controversial.
The encouraging statement in this post’s title—too often overblown and unrealistically optimistic—makes achieving something exceptional seem commonplace.
TV commercials are rife with ads offering glib reassurances to anyone doubting whether a product or service can actually do the wondrous things so enthusiastically promised.
You want to always act in accord with your ethical standards. But do you ever fantasize traveling back to times when you behaved impulsively or selfishly?
To correctly identify someone’s psychological state, we need to emotionally share it and cognitively classify it. And here, compassion works a lot better than empathy.
It’s worth exploring how employing “always” and “never” in highly provocative situations may be inevitable—impossible to totally uproot. How should you respond to them?
Whether you feel like it or not, tackling something right away that needs to get done is generally the wisest thing to do—and there are so many reasons why.
This blog is mostly about helping readers develop deeper insights into themselves and others. Aiming to be as practical as possible—and adopting a non-blaming, non-shaming perspective toward our various foibles—it suggests ways in which we may become more aware, more contented, and happier, individuals. The therapist and writer's posts have over 44 million views.
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