Why bad things happen to good people

take full responsibility

Consider the set of all the things that happen to you. A lot of them you have no control over. You didn’t choose to be born. Some you have full control over. You chose to read this article. And then there are others you have partial control over. You can be good to someone in …

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Why you suddenly remember childhood trauma

memories of childhood trauma

When you experience a traumatic event, your mind perceives great danger and goes into survival mode. When your mind is in survival mode, your senses sharpen, and you enter into this super-learner mode, trying to understand your current situation as much as possible. The mind tries to learn as much as possible about a traumatic …

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The psychology behind name-calling

woman name-called

Name-calling or labeling is calling someone by degrading and demeaning names. The goal of name-calling is to hurt someone and make them look bad. It can occur in any relationship but is particularly damaging in a romantic relationship. A few incidences of name-calling here and there are forgivable, but if it happens repeatedly, it’s verbal …

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Enmeshment in romantic relationships

enmeshed partners

In healthy romantic relationships, there’s a balance of closeness and distance. Each partner retains their own identity while also identifying with the relationship to some degree. This interdependence helps partners meet some of their needs themselves, and some are met by their partners. When there’s too much closeness in the relationship, the dynamic becomes unhealthy. …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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Why you’re annoyed when someone talks too much

talking too much

Annoyance is a negative emotion that tells us we should avoid a particular situation, activity, or person. Annoyance is a weak signal of pain that can turn into full-blown anger if the thing annoying us doesn’t stop or go away. Avoiding people, things, and activities that annoy us brings relief, fulfilling the purpose of annoyance. …

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Failing a polygraph when telling the truth

polygraph

A polygraph or a lie detector test is a device that supposedly detects lies. ‘Poly’ means ‘many’, and ‘graph’ means ‘to write or record’. The device has many sensors that record a person’s physiological responses, such as: A marked increase in the above measures indicates sympathetic nervous system arousal, a more technical term for stress …

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