Toxic Security: Feeling Safe vs Being Safe
Feeling Full In 2016 premier medical journal, the Lancet, reported that obesity had become a bigger global problem than malnutrition. There are now more obese people than underfed people. Hunger, the great scourge of humankind, is on its way out. Malnutrition has been a problem for humans for as long as humans have existed. Malnutrition […]
The PLAY System: Experimentation, Joy and Preparation for a Social Life
This article is the seventh and final in my series in my series on the late Dr Jaak Panksepp’s model of the neurological origins of human and animal emotions. Follow these links or earlier articles on the CARE, FEAR, RAGE, SEEKING , LUST and GRIEF Systems. Children of this age (age 6) have games […]
Digital Disembodiment: Part 3
A recent study of 10,000 young adolescents (average age 12) found that bullying increases the incidence of suicidal thoughts. Sadly, old news. This tragic effect of bullying has been known for years. However, the same study found that cyberbullying led to a significantly greater risk of suicidal thoughts than regular plain old in-person bullying. […]
Digital Disembodiment: Part 2
A recent study of 10,000 young adolescents (average age 12) found that bullying increases the incidence of suicidal thoughts. Sadly, old news. This tragic effect of bullying has been known for years. However, the same study found that cyberbullying led to a significantly greater risk of suicidal thoughts than regular plain old in-person bullying. […]
Digital Disembodiment: Part 1
A recent study of 10,000 young adolescents (average age 12) found that bullying increases the incidence of suicidal thoughts. Sadly, old news. This tragic effect of bullying has been known for years. However, the same study found that cyberbullying led to a significantly greater risk of suicidal thoughts than regular plain old in-person bullying. […]
Phone Use vs Phonocentrism
The written word doesn’t know to whom it should speak and to whom it should not. And when it is faulted and attacked unfairly, it always needs its father’s support; alone, it can neither defend itself nor come to its own support. Socrates, as described in Plato’s Phaedrus I was recently listening to the […]
The GRIEF System: Sadness, Loneliness and the Loss of Attachment
This article is the sixth in my series in my series on the late Dr Jaak Panksepp’s model of the neurological origins of human and animal emotions. Follow these links or earlier articles on the CARE, FEAR, RAGE, SEEKING and LUST Systems. “Some days I wake up and feel normal, then I remember and […]
How many Psychological Disorders are there?
The latest edition of the psychologist bible was released in March. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association is the most influential document in worldwide mental health. It is released about every 10-15 years, and a revised edition is released every 5-8 years. The March edition, the DSM-V-TR, is […]
Relationship Time and Space: The BC and AD Eras
Gavin was stuck. “Nothing ever changes between us! Chrissy and I can’t talk without detonating a massive fight. So, most of the time we just tend not to talk”. There was a simmering, unspoken tension between Gavin and his wife Chrissy. But whenever one of them raised a touchy topic, sparks would fly. I […]
Anger Management: Perspective-Taking as a Cure
“He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that.” John Stuart Mill “I’m allergic to idiots!” Danny had been mandated by his government-body employer to seek treatment for his anger. “I know I have to let go of anger, but some people just don’t deserve to be treated politely!”. […]
The LUST System: The Evolution of Love from Lust?
Sex on the Mind: Is Lust an Emotion? Is horny an emotion? I was taught, somewhere in my now ancient adventures through the university system, that lust is a basic physiological drive like hunger and thirst. Lust is needed for the species to survive, the thinking went, it’s physical need! But lust is a most […]
The CARE System: The Source of Security?
This is the fourth in my series on the late Dr Jaak Panksepp’s model of the neurological origins of human and animal emotions. Follow these links or earlier articles on the FEAR, RAGE and SEEKING Systems. A Heritage of Nurturance The word mammal is derived from the Latin for breast. The defining characteristic of […]
Man’s Search for Money/Man’s Search for Meaning
“See, money doesn’t just buy you a better life — better food, better cars, better p***y — it also makes you a better person. You can give generously to the church, or political party of your choice. Save the f****n’ spotted owl with money.” Jordan Belfort in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street “Suffering ceases […]
The New Normal: Mental Health in the Age of Isolation
I promised myself I wouldn’t write about Covid anymore, but anyway… A group of British researchers, led by PhD candidate Emma Sorenson, asked 17,000 school students about their subjective wellbeing during the first UK lockdown in early 2020. The researchers found that about 1/3 of the 8-18-year-olds reported that their mental wellbeing had improved […]
Happy Valentine’s Day: The Dark Attachment
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. John 4:16 All you need is love. The Beatles Sami* was confused. “We’ve broken up before but always find our way back together, it’s like we’ve got this destructive cosmic glue that brings us back together”. Her […]
Fragility: That which does not Kill me Makes me Weaker
Researchers from Texas A&M University School of Public Health surveyed over 1,000 Texans about their recent exposure to disasters (natural and man-made) and their overall mental health (as assessed by a 12-question survey). They discovered that people who experienced two or more disasters within the last five years of the survey had poorer mental health […]
Nothing to Fear Except Fear Itself: The FEAR System
This is the third in my series on the late Dr Jaak Panksepp’s model of the neurological origins of human and animal emotions. Follow these links or earlier articles on the RAGE and SEEKING Systems. Born Afraid We all know the feeling of being afraid. This subjective unpleasant feeling is usually associated with the […]
Happy New Year! Best of 2021
Here we are again, another year over, a new one just about to begun (to mangle John Lennon). I usually use my end-of-year-post to rate my favourite articles of the year just gone. Self-indulgent – yes. But hopefully helps readers to pick out the wheat from the chaff. (Not that any of my material is […]
