Mental health
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How to tell if someone is hoarding – and provide effective help
For many, letting go of possessions is intensely stressful, even when the clutter puts them at risk. Here’s what you can do
by Michael A Tompkins
Memory and nostalgia
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Before it was ‘bittersweet’, nostalgia was seen as a parasite
Early modern ideas about nostalgia, infused with the elements of horror, invite us to think more deeply about human longing
by Jac Lewis
Compassion and empathy
guide
How to make someone feel seen and heard
Validation skills are not only useful for therapists. Learn them and you’ll improve your personal and work relationships
by Caroline Fleck
Drugs and psychedelics
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Psychedelics are philosophical tools for demolishing assumptions
By shaking up our sense of how things are, substances like LSD or psilocybin have the potential to promote deep learning
by David J Blacker
Trauma and PTSD
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Why it matters that trauma affects women and men differently
They are too often ignored, yet sex differences affect the kind of trauma people experience and the effect it has on them
by Klára Hanáková
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Virtues and vices
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Equanimity is not stillness – it is a mobility of the mind
To grasp the power of this lauded quality, think of it less as a mountain than as a flexible, even playful way of seeing
by Michael Uebel
Habits and routines
film
Mzia the elevator operator leaves her post for the first time in two decades
Directed by Madeline Leary
Neurodiversity
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Why we should think of neurodiversity like we do personality
It’s a mistake to frame autistic and ADHD traits as either deficits or mere differences. There’s another way to see them
by Joshua May
Change and self-development
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How to find inner peace like Saint Teresa of Ávila
The 16th-century ‘spiritual rock-star’ shows how seeing your soul as a castle can be a source of strength and consolation
by Skye C Cleary
Knowledge and reason
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There is knowledge in the land as well as in ourselves
Indigenous Australian knowledge systems understand what Descartes didn’t – the natural world has important things to tell us
by Andrew Kirkpatrick
Film
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Hollywood’s fixation on the wrong stories won’t help our world
Today’s global problems are caused by broken systems, but the studios still feed us a diet of movies focused on individuals
by Namir Khaliq
Trauma and PTSD
film
Sent to boarding school, a boy conjures up a friend to soothe his distress
A film by Tony Gammidge
Mind and brain
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Having epileptic seizures gave me newfound respect for the brain
Seizures are often described as both terrifying and enthralling. Mine gave me a wondrous new take on consciousness and agency
by Webb Wright
Addiction
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My great-grandfather poisoned drinkers during Prohibition
In a grim irony, his descendants – my grandmother and mother – struggled with drink. Here’s what I’d tell him about addiction
by Rebecca Lester
Love
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It’s possible to become wiser in who you entrust with your love
Love is not merely irrational – there’s a sense in which it’s also based on reason, which means we can get better at it
by Joel Van Fossen
Mind and brain
film
After a life-altering diagnosis, Case crafts a loving message to his future self
A film by Case Jernigan
Conflict and conflict resolution
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Does national humiliation explain why wars break out?
For a nation, humiliation isn’t just a feeling – it’s a story. Understanding this can help countries move beyond aggression
by Raamy Majeed