9 Fawn responses to narcissistic abuse

fawn response

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 …

Read more

9 Trauma bond withdrawal symptoms

trauma bonded couple

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 …

Read more

You tell someone they hurt you, and they get mad

getting mad could be perception

In a healthy and ideal relationship, when you tell someone they hurt you, they own their mistake and apologize. Or they communicate openly and honestly to clear misunderstandings and reach common ground. But why do some people get mad when you tell them they hurt you? There can be many reasons behind this behavior: Your …

Read more

What does ‘love you’ mean? (vs. ‘I love you’)

love you text

Ever gotten a “love you” from your partner that left you wondering what it meant? What’s the difference between saying “I love you” and “love you”? ‘Love you’ and ‘I love you’ have the same literal meaning. The former is a shortened version of the latter. Both are used to express affection. However, omitting the …

Read more

10 Signs mania is ending

mania erazed

Mania is a psychological and behavioral state where a person experiences abnormally elevated energy levels. Mania, or manic episode, is usually talked about in the context of bipolar disorder, but it can also occur in other mental health conditions and independently. A toned-down version of mania, hypomania, can occur with or without bipolar disorder. Bipolar …

Read more

Why does life suck so much?

life sucks

What goes on in the mind of a person who says their life sucks?Does their life really suck, or are they being negative? There’s a lot to clarify in this article. Let’s begin. Let’s start with the basics. Like other organisms, humans have the core biological needs of survival and reproduction. Stated differently, humans want …

Read more

6 Signs of being addicted to a person

addicted woman

Addiction can be defined as experiencing a loss of control when doing an activity leading to repetitive engagement in that activity. When you’re addicted to something, you over-invest your resources (time and energy) into it because you can’t help it. We all know that people tend to get addicted to drugs, alcohol, food, shopping, gambling, …

Read more

Psychology of blocking and unblocking

confused blocking and unblocking

Humans are social species. Among the most profound human needs are the need to belong and feel included. Blocking someone on your phone is a modern form of social exclusion. It’s a way of communicating to the blocked person (blockee): “I don’t want you in my life. I don’t want anything to do with you.” …

Read more

‘Why don’t I feel like myself?’: 5 Reasons

woman not feeling like herself

I know exactly what it feels like to ‘not feel like yourself’. I’ve been in such situations so many times. You feel out of alignment. You feel something’s off. You can’t quite put a finger on what’s off. You say things like: “I don’t feel like myself lately.”“I don’t feel like myself anymore.” What’s going …

Read more

‘Why do I take things personally?’

taking things personally at work

We don’t take things personally. It just happens. I mean, we have little conscious control over it when it happens. Like many other thoughts and emotions, we can only deal with this psychological phenomenon post hoc. We can only manage it after it has happened. Why does it happen, though? We take things personally because …

Read more