The confessions of Irvin Yalom
In an age of AI bots delivering therapy by algorithm, we risk losing the intrusive intimacy of real psychotherapy.
ByPsychology
The myth of the teenager
Adolescents suffer from an image problem. Matilda Gosling’s Teenagers: The Evidence Base looks at the facts to dispel unhelpful stereotypes.
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Notes on the ineffable
How the psychologist and philosopher William James defined “mystical” experience.
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A surprise cash infusion has the feel of a religious experience
I am relieved of the incessant, humiliating nag of being broke for the rest of the month.
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In praise of herd mentality
The best crowds are joyful expressions of democracy and belonging. So why do we fear them so much?
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How to survive the age of anger
In Josh Cohen’s All the Rage, a psychoanalyst offers a path through the divisive world of online grievance and populist…
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Thought experiment 3: The Gettier Problem
How the American philosopher Edmund Gettier’s argument complicates our understanding of what constitutes knowledge.
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Neuroscientist Charan Ranganath: “People have this illusion that personality is static. It’s not true”
The author of Why We Remember on memory, identity formation and “digital amnesia”.
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The curse of climate brain
Global warming is not only destroying our environment; it is altering the way we think and act – for the…
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How Big Tech rewired childhood
Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation shows how smartphones have damaged the teenage mind – and urges us to fight back.
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Sam Carr Q&A: “We die and are reborn many times”
The psychologist on Jung, Michael Jordan, and what Knight Rider tells us about life’s journey.
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A magic mushroom trip in Amsterdam triggers a revelation
“This isn’t traumatic,” I think smugly, as laughter gives way to visions. Perhaps I have no demons to confront?
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How to escape the self-help trap
Vincent Deary’s exhilarating new book mixes science, philosophy and memoir to argue that self-acceptance is our best defence against the…
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I’m a child psychiatrist – the NHS crisis feels dangerous for those I work with
Long waiting times and cuts to community services have drastically reduced mental health support for young people.
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Carol Gilligan: why I changed my mind on the gender binary
The psychologist was a feminist icon for her work on how gender shapes our morality. But now, in her eighties,…
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Silicon Valley wants to mess with your head
Tech bros are turning consciousness into a political battleground.
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Elaine Kasket’s Q&A: “I used to believe my job was immune to automation”
The psychologist on Sea State by Tabitha Lasley, Andrew Yang and regulating Big Tech.
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Say no to Instagram therapists
Pop therapy promises solutions to problems that might not even exist.
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Clancy Martin: “The best medicine for suicide is to talk about it ”
The Canadian novelist reflects on his life-saving philosophy.
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Pathologies of a president
A new book revisits Freud’s analysis of Woodrow Wilson to ask: how much do leaders’ psychologies shape our politics?
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