Reading Time: 6 minutes When I was a teen, I happened on an article by a guy explaining his fetish for having girls kick him in the nuts. When he was a teenager chumming around with friends by the local 7-11, he’d insulted a girl who promptly kneed him in the groin. He was in agony, yes—but it also […]
Psychology
Secular writers explore human behavior through the lens of psychology.
Posted inPsychology
How to help the grieving
Reading Time: 4 minutes This entire column, not just this entry, contains a content warning. I will be writing about suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress, and other serious topics. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to someone you trust, establish care with a therapist, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255), or go to your nearest emergency […]
Posted inPsychology
With social media, agreement gets addictive
Reading Time: 9 minutes In the same way that religion hijacks the evolution of our minds, social media hijacks the evolution of group psychology.
Posted inPsychology
The dangerous and the commonplace: Despair and sadness after suicide
Reading Time: 4 minutes This entire column, not just this entry, contains a content warning. I will be writing about suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress, and other serious topics. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to someone you trust, establish care with a therapist, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255), or go to your nearest emergency […]
Posted inDeep Dive
Life isn’t fair, so why should sports be?
Reading Time: 5 minutes To help us cope with life’s inevitable setbacks and injustices, we have developed certain aphoristic tidbits. Displayed often on bumper stickers and t-shirts, these include such sayings as, “It is what it is,” or the French version, “C’est la vie.” It also includes the PG-13 rendering of another, “Stuff Happens” (seen on bumper stickers as […]
Posted inSex & Gender
Sex work isn’t always about sex
Reading Time: 4 minutes When I was 25, my friend and I went to New Orleans for a working vacation, and found ourselves in a fairly new club on the famous Bourbon Street. It was an old building that began its life as a brothel. You’re shocked, I’m sure. It had a window that faced the street where the […]
Posted inPsychology
Against doomism
Reading Time: 4 minutes Doom-laden scenarios get the most attention, but slow, bumpy progress toward a better world has always been more likely.
Posted inPsychology
When the elephant in the room sits on your chest: Guilt after suicide
Reading Time: 5 minutes This entire column, not just this entry, contains a content warning. I will be writing about suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress, and other serious topics. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to someone you trust, establish care with a therapist, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255), or go to your nearest emergency […]
Posted inPsychology
Sports are for losers: On unavoidable suffering and learning to flourish
Reading Time: 5 minutes The recent Olympic Games, the ensuing NCAA March Madness Tournaments, and all other competitions produce an exorbitant amount of one category of athlete: losers. All told, the 2022 Winter Olympic Games alone sent home more than 2,000 losers. Sports and competition itself is a uniquely unforgiving institution. It’s designed so a large majority of participants lose […]
Posted inPsychology
Welcome to the world’s worst club: Coping in suicide’s immediate aftermath
Reading Time: 7 minutes This entire column, not just this entry, contains a content warning. I will be writing about suicide, depression, post-traumatic stress, and other serious topics. If you are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to someone you trust, establish care with a therapist, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255), or go to your nearest emergency […]