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Lucy Foulkes

Psychologist and author, London

Lucy Foulkes is a psychologist and honorary lecturer at University College London. A former associate editor at Aeon+Psyche, she is the author of Losing Our Minds (2021). She lives in London.

See Lucy Foulkes’s profile on Aeon

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Written by Lucy Foulkes

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Communication and language

guide

How to have more meaningful conversations

Be brave enough to share, kind enough to listen, and you can escape the shallows of small talk to dive deep with another

by Lucy Foulkes

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Depression

guide

How to engage with life when you feel down

Withdrawing from activities you enjoy is both a product and cause of low mood. Break the cycle with behavioural activation

by Lucy Foulkes

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Violence and aggression

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Ever taken pleasure in another’s pain? That’s ‘everyday sadism’

It’s not just killers who are sadistic. To counteract the suffering caused by everyday sadism, recognise how common it is

by Lucy Foulkes

Edited by Lucy Foulkes

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Love

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Digital entanglement is changing the nature of breakups

We interviewed people about their breakups to find out how matters were complicated by being technologically intertwined

by Elise van den Hoven

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Love

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Your partner’s infidelity needn’t be a relationship catastrophe

Infidelity needn’t end a relationship: many people have affairs for reasons that have nothing to do with their partner

by Dylan Selterman

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Anxiety

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Set yourself free by developing a growth mindset toward anxiety

Everyone feels anxious in moments of not knowing. It’s your beliefs about anxiety that influence what you do next

by Hans Schroder

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Worry and rumination

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Worry is an unhelpful friend and a shoddy fortune-teller

Worry is emotionally distressing, messes with our thinking, and makes us miss out on the things that matter. Dump it fast

by Lucas LaFreniere

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Dissociation and detachment

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When reality slips through your fingers: in search of dissociation

Pinning down the slippery strangeness of dissociation is like grappling with a bar of soap, but it badly needs a definition

by Emma Černis

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Emotions

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There’s something in my eye: why we happy-cry and what it does for us

Happy tears are often neglected in emotion research. But there are many types, and they have an important function

by Janis Zickfeld

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Addiction

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If you think you’ve got a porn addiction, you probably haven’t

People with addictions see relationships, health and careers fall apart. Most people who watch porn don’t meet this definition

by Joshua Grubbs

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Parenting and families

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It should be OK for parents to express regret about having children

Regret is common to all humans. So it’s no surprise that some parents regret having children: it shouldn’t be a taboo topic

by Jenna Abetz & Julia Moore

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Difficult emotions

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How to calm your inner storm

When your emotions become too painful and overwhelming, regain control using skills from dialectical behaviour therapy

by Sheri Van Dijk

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Difficult emotions

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You can train yourself to find disgusting things less gross

Disgust protects you, but it can also keep you at arm’s length from others. You can learn to lessen disgust’s false alarms

by Shiu Wong

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Pain

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Solving chronic pain via the kitchen, not the medicine cabinet

While medicine still struggles with the mystery of chronic pain, simple dietary changes can bring much-needed relief

by Rowena Field

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Shame and guilt

guide

How to save yourself another pointless guilt trip

Just because you feel guilty doesn’t mean you’ve done something wrong. Relax the rules you live by and set yourself free

by Aziz Gazipura