What Psychology Research Says about Why We Like Getting Scared – Illustrated
The interest in “scary stuff” is not a new phenomenon, but our culture’s love for scary content – proven through the enduring popularity of true …
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How to Tell A Friend or Partner About Your Past Trauma
In a culture where “vulnerability” can sometimes feel like relational currency, it’s easy to fall into a trap of telling someone about our trauma stories …
Flourishing through Suffering: The Myth of the Archetypal Biography
Most of the “life stories” we encounter through fiction, movies, and summary biographies (i.e. wikipedia) follow narrative development that isn’t really accurate. In real life, …
Not Knowing Everything Your Kid Does Online Is A Good Thing
There is an enormous amount of pressure on parents to keep tabs on everything their teen does – especially online. But a little bit of …
How We Give Language to Traumatic Events Changes How We Heal
For a while now, the terminology of both “victim” and “survivor” has sat uneasily with me. Both terms center the traumatic experience as part of …
7 Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs) that Shape Adult Health and Resiliency – Illustrated
JUMP TO: VIEW THE ILLUSTRATIONS | DOWNLOAD THE PDF | TAKE THE QUIZ In 2019, researchers at Johns Hopkins University published results of the first …
Ritual as a Part of Mental Health Self Care
Ritual doesn’t have to be religious, weird, or woo-woo. Think of ritual as a way to give your brain sensory (sight, touch, sound, smell, etc) …
How Childhood Emotional Neglect Feeds Adult Chronic Shame
Children who grow up in families where emotional needs are not validated and met often develop a deep sense of shame for having needs. Over …
Unsolicited Information on Everyone’s Least Favorite Form of Communication
Below is sketchnote that highlights some interesting research on the psychology behind the behavior of sending unsolicited images of what is colloquially referred to as …
Body Trust and Food Security – Intuitive Eating Doodle Series
New Resource: Emotion Behavior Wheel Intuitive Eating is an approach to eating that can help heal the relationship between food and our bodies, and to …
Jung Sketchnotes: Dreams, Puella Archetype, and The Shadow
On Jung’s “The Shadow” Lots of us work hard to avoid having to stop and look too closely at what one of the fathers of …
Research Backed Ways to Use Art to Improve the Effectiveness of Studying
We know that using different parts of our brain to study (like writing, listening/reciting, and using play to create mnemonics) helps boost retention, but new …
Normal Trauma Response vs PTSD: Interpreting the Research
When brains experience trauma, they struggle to cope with it. It’s normal – and part of the healing process – to have flashbacks, nightmares, or …
Gottman’s 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Illustrated Handout
Dr. John Gottman spent 40 years researching marital stability and theorized these “4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” but it only took me a few hours …
Emotions Exist in the Body
When the answer to “What am I feeling?” is “I don’t know,” change the question to “What do I notice about my body right now?” …