10 Ways to Fight Loneliness While Sheltering at Home

With 95 percent of Americans ordered to shelter in place, many of us have found ourselves trudging through new levels of loneliness. It’s a strange paradox that one of the most globally impactful events in our lifetime, rather than bring us together, could force us to be our most isolated. Yet, here we are, taking…

 

Death Anxiety and the Coronavirus

The ultimate tragedy of the human condition is our awareness of our inevitable mortality. Each person is born with a death sentence. The developing child initially discovers the traumatic reality that their parents will die and later that they themselves will eventually die. This reality is too terrifying to tolerate, so the child must resort…

 

The Hidden Powers of Gratitude

Laughter has long been hailed the best medicine, but a growing body of research is showing gratitude to be a major player in the path to a happy and healthy existence. Scientific findings have revealed that when we make a habit of focusing on and appreciating the positive parts of life, we can enhance our overall well-being….

 

How Do Adverse Childhood Events Impact Us?

In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti, a physician from Kaiser Permanente was running an obesity clinic through the Department of Preventive Medicine. After several years, much to Felitti’s puzzlement, more than half of the people participating had dropped out despite successfully losing weight. Determined to find out why, Felitti eventually stumbled upon a troubling finding:…

 

Making Sense of Your Life to Empower Your Future

What could be more important and empowering than making sense of your story? Research demonstrates that creating a coherent narrative of your early life frees you to be the author of your future. When we fail to make sense of the past, we are often trapped in it, reliving old hurts over and over again….

 

Insight into the Violent Mind

The World Health Assembly recently declared that violence has become a major and growing public health problem internationally.  Studies have shown that violence — an extreme expression of aggression toward others — and suicide — an extreme manifestation of aggression directed against the self, overlap to a certain extent. Researchers have long attempted to better…

 

An Overview of Separation Theory

Separation Theory integrates psychoanalytic and existential systems of thought by showing how early interpersonal pain, and separation anxiety and later death anxiety lead to the development of powerful psychological defenses. These defenses attempt to cope with and minimize painful experiences and emotions suffered in one’s developmental years but later predispose limitations and maladaptation in adult…

 

The Origin of Polarization, Prejudice, and Warfare

One of the most significant contributions of my theoretical approach, Separation Theory, is that it offers an understanding of the core dynamics underlying human aggression. It explains how people’s defensive nature and dependency on fantasy bonds polarize them against others with different customs and beliefs. In a similar vein, Schneider’s (2013) concept of “psychological polarization” describes the elevation of one…

 

6 Major Influences that Stop You from Becoming Your True Self

Each individual faces a struggle against powerful odds to retain a unique selfhood and personal identity.

 

The Inner Voice in Self-Destructive Behavior and Suicide

The prediction and prevention of suicide are complex and challenging; however, these are not impossible goals.