HUMAN NATURE
What Your Therapist Wishes You Knew but Probably Won’t Tell You
You can spend a year in therapy and barely change.
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A closer look at
being human.
Curiosity, evidence, and a little humor. Thoughtful writing about the mind and the lives we actually lead.
Read the featured articleTHE JOURNAL / 01
Most Popular
Selected articles from the OREA collection.
RELATIONSHIPS
Why It’s So Hard to Leave a Narcissist: The Psychology of Letting Go
There is a moment that many people describe with incredible similarity, even though they have never met one another. They find themselves standing in the kitchen…
RELATIONSHIPS
Can a Narcissist Ever Change? How Do We Know?
For many people, this question comes only after everything else they have told themselves has stopped making sense.
HUMAN NATURE
Psychopath vs. Sociopath: What We Get Wrong About Both
There are few psychological terms more casually misused than psychopath and sociopath. They appear everywhere from crime documentaries to dating advice videos, often…
THE JOURNAL / 02
Current Events in Psychology
Research, emerging questions, and ideas shaping how we understand the mind.
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
Freud Used Cocaine. His Wife Counted the Wine Bottles. And He Was Explaining the Rest of Us.
In June 1899, Martha Freud counted the bottles of Marsala wine in her home and put them away. She wasn’t taking inventory for a dinner party. She was concerned about…
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
You Only Use 10% of Your Brain? Some Days It Feels That Way.
You’re on your knees, looking under the couch for your phone. There’s a dusty pretzel down there, enough dog hair to build another dog, and no phone. “Hang on, I…
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
Can a Fear Change in 24 Hours? What Memory Reconsolidation Could Mean for Phobias and PTSD
The spider is behind glass. You’ve checked. It cannot get out, and you have absolutely no intention of getting in. Still, your heart is racing, your palms are…
THE JOURNAL / 03
New Articles
Recent articles from OREA, with the original writing, images, and sources.
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
Freud Used Cocaine. His Wife Counted the Wine Bottles. And He Was Explaining the Rest of Us.
In June 1899, Martha Freud counted the bottles of Marsala wine in her home and put them away. She wasn’t taking inventory for a dinner party. She was concerned about…
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
You Only Use 10% of Your Brain? Some Days It Feels That Way.
You’re on your knees, looking under the couch for your phone. There’s a dusty pretzel down there, enough dog hair to build another dog, and no phone. “Hang on, I…
PSYCHOLOGY NOW
Can a Fear Change in 24 Hours? What Memory Reconsolidation Could Mean for Phobias and PTSD
The spider is behind glass. You’ve checked. It cannot get out, and you have absolutely no intention of getting in. Still, your heart is racing, your palms are…
HUMAN NATURE
What Your Therapist Wishes You Knew but Probably Won’t Tell You
You can spend a year in therapy and barely change.
RELATIONSHIPS
The Hidden Psychology of People Pleasing
At 4:47 on Friday afternoon, your phone lights up.
HUMAN NATURE
Are You Having Fun, or Just Glad You Have Plans?
At 6:42 on Friday evening, you are standing in your bedroom wearing one shoe and wondering whether you hate your friends.
RELATIONSHIPS
The Person Who “Hates Drama” Is Often Surrounded by It
“I hate drama.”
RELATIONSHIPS
Do They Love You — or What You Do for Them?
Being needed can feel almost identical to being loved until you stop being useful.
HUMAN NATURE
What If Autism Enhances More Than We Can See?
Ask whether he is hungry, and he may not answer. Ask where it hurts, what he wants or why he is crying, and no words arrive. Then sit him at a piano and listen as he…