Relationships
The Repetition Compulsion
One of the most remarkable ideas in the history of psychoanalysis is to be found in Freud’s 1920 paper ‘Beyond…
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Behaviours
How to Weaken the Hold of Addiction
Many of us are prey to addictive behaviours which we know run contrary to our deeper interests but which we find ourselves entirely unable to desist from at key moments.
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Behaviours
Charles Darwin and the Descent of Man
It is completely understandable that we are often maddened by what might be called ‘normal’ humanity. In such moods the 19th century naturalist Charles Darwin has much to say to us.
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Behaviours
Straightforward vs. Complicated People
A basic distinction in humans is between those who are simple and straightforward to deal with – and those who are – as we tend to be reminded when we interact with them – repeatedly tricky or complicated to handle.
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Self-Knowledge
Why We Become Unable to Protect Ourselves
There are people who, in most walks of life, are extremely canny and highly able to look after themselves. They…
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Relationships
Beware Those We Fall in Love With
The word ‘madness’ tends to bring to mind distinctly lurid and macabre associations: psychiatric wards, staring eyes, murder weapons, hideous…
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Self-Knowledge
Mental Illness and Love
When we speculate on the causes of mental illness, we typically imagine some form of chemical imbalance or damage to…
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Relationships
Two Emotional Skills That Save Relationships
Behind every relationship that endures, we can identify two ingredients. Firstly, an ability to break bad news well. Successful lovers…
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Relationships
The Psychology of Ghosting
We won’t get too far in the dating world without stumbling upon the melancholy phenomenon known as ghosting: someone we…
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Self-Knowledge
The Importance of Feeling Our Feelings
It’s a curious fact of our psychology that some of our greatest upsets come from not allowing ourselves to register…
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Relationships
How to Make Someone Fall in Love With You
There is something distinctly spooky in the idea that there might be a set route to making one person fall…
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Relationships
How Only the End Reveals the Truth About Our Partners
A central idea in the psychology of breakups is that there’s a peculiar and paradoxical way in which we can’t…
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