What is spiritual bypassing? Many people use spirituality to avoid difficult feelings and problems. They meditate to push away anger, take refuge in yoga to avoid confrontations, or try to attract abundance with manifestation techniques instead of addressing their financial problems. This is called spiritual bypassing. Psychotherapist John Welwood noted in the 1980s that spirituality … Read more
What is transgender? Transgender (often abbreviated to trans) is a term for people whose gender identity does not match the sex assigned to them at birth. This can mean that someone identifies as a gender other than their birth sex, or as a gender outside the binary classification of male and female. Transgender people may … Read more
The history of psychiatry is a fascinating story of progress, setbacks and changes in the way we understand and treat mental health. From the earliest ideas about mental illness to modern treatments, psychiatry has come a long way. In this timeline, we discover the key moments that have shaped the development of the field. Early … Read more
What is autistic burnout? Autistic burnout is a state of extreme exhaustion common among people with autism. It is not an official medical term, but is increasingly recognized by researchers, caregivers and people with autism themselves. Such burnout results from prolonged stress and the pressure to adapt to an environment that does not suit them … Read more
When life is unpleasant or upsetting, people often use fantasy as a way to escape reality. Fantasy is one of the defense mechanisms or coping mechanisms the brain can use to escape reality. What is a defense mechanism? When you have difficult emotions or impulses you often look for ways to deal with these unwanted … Read more
Splitting is a defense mechanism in which you view something, someone, or yourself as “all good” or “all bad.” A person who splits sees the world in terms of black or white, all or nothing. It is an inability to integrate positives and negatives into one whole; often you alternately idealize and devalue something or … Read more
