Misdirect Hit
Deciding whom to blame for a problem you can’t get a handle on is easy if you follow your instincts, but instincts should also tell you that a decision made based on intuition instead of thought is...
View ArticleMeh-xpectations
When people judge success or failure by the ensuing level of happiness, good guys blame themselves for things they don’t control and bad guys blame everyone else for their own mistakes. Instead of...
View ArticleBreak A History
Everyone will tell you that there are valuable lessons to learn from bad experiences, but unfortunately, there are some valueless lessons as well if you misinterpret your misfortune. For example, some...
View ArticleSnappy Endings
Unless you’re living in a Nora Ephron movie, breaking up is a painful ordeal, often for the dumper as much as the dumpee; while initiating the break doesn’t have same level of shock and betrayal as...
View ArticleControlling Disinterest
As anyone who’s loved someone crazy or addicted knows—or really, anyone who’s watched any non-duck or -storage related programming on A&E—some addicted and/or mentally ill people take too much...
View ArticlePride Effects
For people who suffer from mental (or almost any serious) illness, finding the right course of treatment is a lot like dating; the goal is to find a match that’s steady, provides what you need (even if...
View ArticleColor Me Obsessed
To paraphrase Keyser Soze in “The Usual Suspects,” the greatest trick mental illness pulls is convincing the sick person it doesn’t exist. Either through making you feel perpetually insecure or...
View ArticleTrust Fun
When someone doesn’t trust you, you’re left to wonder if they have a point, or if you shouldn’t trust them or their opinions in the first place. What helps you decide where to place your doubt and how...
View ArticleAssholes D’Amour
While sappier-types, producers of Lifetime movies, and Twi-hards would disagree, love and sex are, at their core, evolutionary tools that trick us into commitment; as the relationship progresses and...
View ArticleA Less Perfect Union
Between the scary finality of a legally binding union and the hysteria and excess that go into most modern weddings, marriage often creates a vortex of expectations, chaos and terrible bridesmaid’s...
View ArticleForce Feel
From “I can’t make you me,” to “You can’t hurry love,” to “You can’t force the funk,” pop music has done a good job of informing the public that you can’t push someone to fall for you if the don’t want...
View ArticleRejective Measures
When you feel misunderstood or criticized by someone you really need a good relationship with and aren’t a hypnotist, warlock, or mob boss, you probably feel like you lack the power (or powers, or...
View ArticleEmotion Denied
Whether you feel so strongly that you can’t figure out where your emotions are trying to take you or so rejected that you can’t let your feelings take you anywhere, you know the name of the website so...
View ArticleFamily Canning
Some families are horrible to live with because, although everyone means well, their individual suffering and sensitivity make them act badly, while, with other families, a rejection-sensitive...
View ArticleThe Fiscal Tiff
There are plenty of things that money can’t buy, but when you don’t have any money, you’d gladly sell any number of those things for some food, rent, or pride. Whether economic desperation destroys a...
View ArticleGall in the Family
When a close family member acts like a jerk, punishing them often seems to offer the offended relative the double benefit of getting to express anger and discourage the wrong-doer from pulling the same...
View ArticleCatcher In The Lie
People who knowingly distort the truth seem to deserve more blame than those who truly believe what their mind makes up, but when you’re close to a liar, the issue isn’t who deserves more blame, but...
View ArticleClash of the Frightened
The difference between conversation and confrontation is much more than those middle syllables; conversations exchange information, and confrontations either resolve or create issues, which is why most...
View ArticleSelf-Critical Condition
Compulsive self-criticism and sensitivity to criticism are often innate traits, like a bad sense of direction, or a lactose intolerance. Whether someone excoriates themselves undeservedly or resists...
View ArticleHelp Review
From Mama Rose to your average scary hockey dad, pushy parents who steamroll their kids into living out their own dreams are seen as monsters who seldom inspire real motivation. Pushing a relatively...
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