humanity
Mental health is a fundamental right; the future of humanity depends on it.
The Year She Forgot How to Be Around People
Emma had been alone for 347 days when she realized she'd forgotten how to have a conversation. It wasn't intentional isolation. It started with the pandemic—everyone retreated into their separate spaces, and Emma's one-bedroom apartment became the entire universe. Then her remote job eliminated the casual water cooler chats. Her best friend moved across the country. Her weekly book club dissolved. One by one, the threads connecting her to other humans frayed and snapped. And Emma told herself she was fine. She had video calls sometimes. She texted people. She scrolled through social media seeing everyone else's lives. She wasn't truly alone. But when her neighbor knocked on her door to ask about a package delivery, Emma opened her mouth to respond and the words came out wrong. Stilted. Like she'd forgotten the rhythm of human speech. "I... yes. The package. It's... I haven't..." She couldn't form a complete sentence. Her neighbor looked at her with concern, and Emma felt a wave of panic. What was happening to her? After he left, Emma sat on her couch and tried to remember the last real conversation she'd had. Not a transactional exchange with a delivery person or a scripted work call, but an actual spontaneous human interaction. She couldn't remember. And when she tried to imagine having one now, her brain short-circuited. The social scripts she'd once known automatically—how to read facial expressions, when to laugh, how to know when it was her turn to talk—felt like a foreign language she'd once been fluent in but had somehow forgotten. Emma wasn't just lonely anymore. Loneliness had physically changed her brain. And she had no idea how to change it back.
By Ameer Moaviaabout a month ago in Psyche
The Psychology of Emotional Neglect
Sophie was eight years old when she stopped crying. Not because she stopped hurting. But because she'd finally learned what her parents had been teaching her all along: her pain was an inconvenience they didn't want to deal with. She'd fallen off her bike that afternoon, scraped her knee badly enough that blood soaked through her jeans. She'd run inside, tears streaming, looking for comfort. Her mother was on a work call. She'd glanced at Sophie, held up one finger—wait—and continued talking. Sophie stood there, bleeding and crying, while her mother discussed quarterly projections as if her daughter wasn't falling apart three feet away. After twenty minutes, her mother finally hung up. "What happened?" "I fell. It really hurts." Her mother barely looked at the wound. "You're fine. Go clean it up. I have another call in five minutes." Sophie went to the bathroom alone. Cleaned the wound alone. Bandaged it alone. And something inside her went quiet. My pain doesn't matter. My needs are a burden. If I want to be loved, I need to stop needing things. She didn't think those words consciously. She was eight. But her nervous system absorbed the lesson completely: To be acceptable, I must need nothing. By the time Sophie was ten, she'd perfected the art of emotional self-sufficiency. She stopped running to her parents when she was hurt, scared, or sad. Stopped sharing her excitement because they seemed annoyed by her enthusiasm. Stopped asking for help because they were always too busy. She became the "easy child." The one who didn't cause problems. The one who took care of herself. Her parents praised this. "Sophie is so independent," they'd tell relatives. "She never needs anything from us." They said it like it was a good thing. Like self-sufficiency at ten years old was maturity instead of survival. What they didn't see—what they never asked about—was the little girl inside who'd learned that her emotional needs were unwelcome. Who'd concluded that love was conditional on not requiring emotional support. Who'd started building walls around her heart to protect herself from the pain of reaching out and being ignored. Sophie wasn't independent. She was neglected. And she'd learned to call it strength.
By Ameer Moaviaabout a month ago in Psyche
Why Some People Feel Alone Even in Relationships
Lena woke up next to her husband of seven years and felt like a stranger was sleeping beside her. Not because Tom had changed. But because somewhere between the wedding and this Tuesday morning, they'd stopped being two people who knew each other and become two people who lived in the same house.
By Ameer Moaviaabout a month ago in Psyche
In This Dimly Lit Room Full of Emptiness
Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead. ― Charles Bukowski Nights are hard sometimes when my kids aren’t here. It’s not a loneliness, especially in the sense that I want someone here. Or want someone period. It’s a tiredness. I’m tired. Mentally and emotionally. Existentially.
By Jeff Bartonabout a month ago in Psyche
Why Somatic Healing Techniques Trump Traditional Self Help
When the body feels and becomes safe - that is when pain and trauma starts to transmute. Talk therapy, combined with listing down the pros and cons of aiding in decision making, no matter the magnitude, is all well and good; yet such self-help and healing techniques do not reach the somatic and sticky bits, right up to the fascia. In no way, shape or form are these techniques being discounted and brushed aside; however for deep healing from caretaking, people pleasing, co-dependencies and addictions (all in the name of unresolved trauma - whether acquired through childhood and/or adulthood); being stuck in the head is a significant disservice to you, and to all of us. (Yes, we are all connected at the end of the day, even if you live in the Northern Hemisphere).
By Justine Crowleyabout a month ago in Psyche
The Digital Divide: How Access to Technology Is Redefining Social Inequality
Introduction: The Promise of Technology vs. the Reality of Access In the 21st century, technology promises to bring people together, bridge distances, open doors to opportunity, and enable us to be more connected, better-informed lives. But while technology has really transformed much of modern life, the reality is that access to the digital machinery and the web remains unequal, creating a broad gap between those who are connected and those who are not. The "digital divide" is not an issue of technology—it is social, and it most heavily impacts marginalized populations and widens existing disparities.
By The Chaos Cabinetabout a month ago in Psyche
Watch Out Wednesdays - Christmas Eve Edition. Content Warning.
Merry Christmas to everyone! Let's look at some things to watch out for today on Christmas Eve. 1. Be observant. Today, some people are rushing around to grab last-day gifts before Christmas. Get a kick out of the ones that are running around frantically in a store. These people are procrastinators. Take the time to observe what you are doing so that you will not become a procrastinator like the rest of the mediocre masses that surround you on a daily basis.
By Adrian Holmanabout a month ago in Psyche
Child Abuse Can Happen Anywhere. Content Warning.
Do you have what it takes to stand up and help a child who is being abused? Do you know how to do it? Who to call? The ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline 800–422–4453 is available 24 hours a day here in the US.
By Elizabeth Woodsabout a month ago in Psyche
