Psychologist: Mental Illness Is a Result of Intolerable Circumstances, Not Defective Genes (Video)

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Feb 27, 2016 The health professions make a grave mistake when they treat mental illnesses as “discrete brain conditions that are largely genetically determined and barely influenced by the slings and arrows of misfortune,” writes clinical psychologist and researcher Richard Bentall. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Wealthy, Too, Have Problems

Staff / Truthdig Oct 17, 2015 Money is a divide across which many people feel comfortable hurling scorn. But the rich suffer depression and loneliness too -- and for very real reasons, say their psychologists. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

64% of Psychology Experiments Fail Replication Test

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 31, 2015 An international team of experts found that of 100 studies published in top-ranking journals in 2008, the results of just 25 percent of social psychology experiments and half of cognitive studies could be replicated in independent trials. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

How Too Much Electronic Screen Time Is Making Kids ‘Moody, Crazy and Lazy’

Roisin Davis / Truthdig Aug 28, 2015 Excessive use of electronic devices by children can lead to serious physiological dysfunction, according to a child psychiatrist who argues for an "electronic fast." Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Your Boss Wants You to Be Happy. This Might Not Be a Good Thing.

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 12, 2015 In “The Happiness Industry,” English sociologist and economist William Davies examines the nefarious effects of the “science and measurement" practices that some bosses are using to influence their employees’ sense of happiness. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

‘Human Experimentation Was a Core Feature of the CIA Torture Program’

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Dec 18, 2014 If journalists and officials began talking about the tests that CIA psychologists conducted on suspected terrorists at U.S. black sites, would Americans demand the prosecution of those responsible? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Preferences for High Masculinity and Femininity May Be Peculiar to Modern Societies

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Dec 7, 2014 A new survey of 12 populations around the world challenges the commonly held assumption that human beings naturally prefer highly masculine men and highly feminine women. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Truthdigger of the Week: Paul Verhaeghe

BLANK Oct 6, 2014 The Belgian psychotherapist's new book considers the impact of 30 years of neoliberal economics on the development of personal identity and cultural character in the West. Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )

Melville, Capitalism and Slavery

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Aug 3, 2014 A new history of the events behind Herman Melville's 1855 novella "Benito Cereno" takes up the question of how slavery shaped the "psychic and imaginative" dimensions of contemporary capitalism, rather than merely the "social or financial" aspects. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Don’t Try to Cheer Me Up, Man

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 27, 2014 "Those with low self-esteem actually reject the so-called 'positive reframing,' or expressions of optimism and encouragement, most of us offer to them," Dr. Denise Marigold, the lead author of a study into the issue, told Today.com. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Why Boarding Schools Produce Bad Leaders

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Jun 14, 2014 Psychotherapist Nick Duffell spent 25 years treating boarding school graduates. He talks about how their upbringing in elite, authoritarian environments cut off from their families make them the poor public servants we observe in British politics today. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Biebermania

Bill Schorr, Cagle Cartoons Feb 2, 2014 Dig deeper