Dr. Gary Bell's Absurd Psychology

We’re constantly taking in information about our social world, and this can involve judging people. These judgments can be super quick and automatic. Some research has even shown that we can form pretty accurate impressions of people in just a few seconds.Tune in for a deep dive on why we judge and how to stop.

Borderline personality disorder is a chronic condition that may include mood instability, difficulty with interpersonal relationships, and high rates of self-injury and suicidal behavior. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and an individual's sense of identity.

The brains of children raised in violent families resemble the brains of soldiers exposed to combat, psychologists say. They're primed to perceive threat and anticipate pain, adaptations that may be helpful in abusive environments but produce long-term problems with stress and anxiety. Tune in and learn about the impact of abuse and how to heal!

When daylight hours start to decrease and it gets colder outside many people may find themselves experiencing symptoms resembling depression. For some the symptoms are relatively brief. Tempers may seem shorter for parents stuck inside with cranky or sick children and an increased sense of lethargy is not uncommon on a dreary winter day. For others, however, these symptoms can be quite disabling.

One of the biggest relationship challenges that people struggle with is emotional flooding. It’s something that happens to everyone sometimes, and if you don’t know how to respond to it, it can escalate conflict and create disconnection. Fortunately, many of the steps you can take to resolve it are pretty simple. Not necessarily easy, but simple. Think back on a time when you were surprised by bad news. Maybe your partner told you that they wanted to break up. Maybe you got fired from a job. Maybe you got word that a loved one was in the hospital. Try to recall how that felt. Did you feel a rush of adrenaline in your body? Did your face get warm? Did you hear a ringing in your ears? Or maybe your pulse quickened and your breath got shallow. On an emotional level, perhaps you felt waves of anxiety or panic or rage. In that moment, your body was saturated with adrenaline and emotion. That’s flooding.Tune in and learn how to close the dam!

Adversity is a fact of life. Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes. Resilience is not some magical quality; it takes real mental work to transcend hardship. But even after misfortune, resilient people are able to change course and move toward achieving their goals. There's growing evidence that the the elements of resilience can be cultivated. Resilience is about getting through pain and disappointment without letting them crush your spirit. While it isn't always easy, research continues to uncover what resilient people do as they persist after missteps, accidents, and trauma. Tune in and learn how to take on resilience as a part of you!

Although memories seem to be a solid, straightforward sum of who people are, strong evidence suggests that memories are actually quite complex, subject to change, and often unreliable. Memories can be reconstructed as people age and also as their worldview changes. They can falsely recall childhood events, and through effective suggestion, can even create new false memories. They can be tricked into remembering events that never happened, or change the details of things that really did happen. Tune in and learn how false memories and manipulation operates in our lives!

You may have a pretty good idea about what it is you’re attracted to: hair color, eye color, height, smell… Smell? Believe it or not, your subconscious has quite the strong opinion when it comes to finding others attractive. From the depths of the human brain, here are 10 fascinating facts about the psychology of attraction. Tune in and learn how attraction operates!

Stupidity is in all of us. However, the degrees of stupid varies. . We are influenced by various cognitive biases that we are not aware of. The music we are listening to influences our opinion of the wine we drink, the weight of the spoon influences how creamy we find the yoghurt and our moral assessment of strangers depends on what movie we have just watched. Tune in for a wild ride examine stupid and it can run parts of our lives!

Bipolar disorders, or manic-depressive illness, is a group of disorders characterized by the presence of pronounced high-energy phases known as manic episodes. Typically, unusual shifts in mood and energy manifest in increased activity levels and impair ability to function. The impairment created by bipolar disorder can be severe and can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. Tune in a learn about this complex disorder!