Insight Therapy

Psychologically informed reflections on how we interact.

Dynamics of Disorder: How People (and Politics) Deteriorate

Psychological disorders gain power by insinuating themselves into the client’s world and sense of self posing as protectors. A similar dynamic may inflict the body politic.

Is Willpower the New Self-Esteem?

The concept of willpower embodies a common fantasy of laypeople and psychology researchers alike: discovering, and grabbing a hold of, the key to life success.

Basic Insights: Four Useful Psychological Truths

Understanding these simple psychological truths may help improve your understanding of self and world.

Telling the Story Numbers Can't

A science of the person cannot advance far by omitting, ignoring, or devaluing the voices of actual persons. A study of sexual health in women illustrates the value of qualitative research.

The Best Medicine: Gary Gulman’s "The Great Depresh"

Gary Gulman’s recent HBO special ‘The Great Depresh’ offers an insightful, sincere, poignant, and very funny look at Major Depression.

When I’m Old and Wise: Is Wisdom Related to Age?

An effort is underway in psychology to define "wisdom" in terms that can be measured, and to devise theories of wisdom that yield testable predictions.

Things That Matter: Three Useful Principles for Life

Three useful life principles: Knowledge matters. Context matters. Things are not what they seem.

The Psychology of Trump’s Preoccupation with Obama

Trump needs Obama extinguished like darkness needs light extinguished—in order to exist.

Psychological Flexibility: A Core Mental Health Asset

Multiple theorists have pegged psychological flexibility as one key to mental wellbeing.

Choosing Childcare: What Should Parents Look For?

For children to thrive, they need to be loved and taught well, not merely kept safe.

No Man’s Land: Where Are the Male Daycare Caregivers?

Daycare in the U.S. is a hodgepodge of arrangements varying in quality, size, and scope. Yet one unifying characteristic remains: Male caregivers are virtually absent.

Child Daycare: A Challenge to Which We Have Yet to Rise

Daycare is a part of life for most American children. Unfortunately, the current state of American daycare is far from optimal.

The Skin of Therapy: On Therapeutic Boundaries

The notion of boundaries is foundational to the practice of psychotherapy. Healthy boundaries work to prevent harm and facilitate progress.

New Technology Is "Deep Hacking" How We interact

New tech can "deep hack" our evolved psychology, delivering desired content without the original, organic process.

Are We Being Mindless About Mindfulness?

The business of mindfulness, its marketing and hype, have far outpaced the science.

When Men Attack: Why (and Which) Men Sexually Assault Women

Sexual violence against women is common. The perpetrators, almost exclusively, are men. Why do men sexually assault women?

Decision-Making for Sound Mental Health: 3 Useful Principles

These principles may help you make good decisions in the mental health space, and beyond.

ERP for OCD: A Brief Primer

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a difficult, yet treatable, psychological disorder.

Sexual Threesomes: Separating Fact from Fiction

The threesome resides between excitement and trepidation, between problem and solution, and between adventurousness and carelessness.

How Partners Really Decide on the First Time to Have Sex

The decision to have sex may be made by you. But what makes you?

Stereotype Accuracy: A Displeasing Truth

The prevailing sentiment which sees stereotypical thinking as faulty cognition and stereotypes themselves as patently inaccurate is wrong on both counts.

For Sound Mental Health, Ask Good Questions (Like These)

Life requires hard choices. Shakespeare’s "to be or not to be" is the most fundamental example. But once we have chosen to be, the challenge remains of how to be.