• A woman sticks out her tongue, a single “dopamine pill” resting on it. Her expression is desperate, tense with longing. The image captures the raw urge for a mood lift.

    Dopamine Addiction. Why the Click Myth Doesn’t Tell the Whole Story.

    Everyone talks about dopamine like it’s some secret drug hidden in your phone. One click, one like, one scroll, and boom—you’re hooked. Social media is supposed to be addictive, right? But here’s the truth: it’s not that simple. The idea that every little ping from your phone floods your brain with dopamine and keeps you…

  • A man lies exhausted at his desk with a notebook covering his head, surrounded by numerous crumpled drafts scattered across the workspace. The discarded pages suggest repeated attempts to revise and improve his work. The image illustrates the frustration, self-criticism, and relentless striving often associated with perfectionism.

    The perfectionist who couldn’t stop proving himself

    Daniel thought his relentless standards were the reason for his success. In therapy, he discovered they were also the source of much of his unhappiness. Daniel spent almost an hour rewriting an email. It wasn’t a particularly important email. Nobody’s job depended on it. No major decision would be made because of it. It was…

  • A single blue pencil lies on a plain surface, sharpened to an extreme point so thin it looks fragile and ready to break. The wood is neatly pared back, exposing a long, precise graphite tip that suggests control and constant correction. The image reflects perfectionism as pressure to refine something until it becomes almost unreasonably exact.

    Perfectionism isn’t about high standards. It’s about fear

    We tend to think of perfectionists as driven people with high standards. But psychologists have long argued that perfectionism is less about excellence and more about avoiding criticism, rejection and the fear of not being good enough. There was a time when describing yourself as a perfectionist sounded almost like a humblebrag. During job interviews,…

  • A young woman lies slumped across a desk surrounded by open books, notebooks, and scattered notes. Her posture suggests cognitive and emotional overload, with a sense of fatigue and inability to continue working. The cluttered scene visually represents overwhelm and attention fragmentation.

    “Everyone has ADHD these days”: what mental illness says about society

    There is a phrase that keeps resurfacing with increasing certainty: “everyone has ADHD these days.” It tends to appear in casual conversation, often with mild irritation and a sense that something has gone wrong. The implication is that a once-specific clinical diagnosis has somehow leaked into everyday life, becoming a catch-all explanation for distraction, procrastination…

  • A visual exploration of dissociation and emotional detachment. The blurred double exposure reflects the feeling of being disconnected from oneself while still functioning outwardly. Featured in When the Mind Steps Back: The Hidden Spectrum of Dissociation.

    When the Mind Steps Back: The Hidden Spectrum of Dissociation

    Most people only notice dissociation when it looks dramatic: missing chunks of time, blank spells, or describing the world as unreal. But that’s just the far end. In reality, dissociation runs through ordinary life in much smaller doses, usually unnoticed. It is less a rare condition and more a sliding scale of how much a…

  • Trauma-Informed Care – A Journey to Healing with Zain

    Trauma-Informed Care: A Journey to Healing with Zain As a therapist, I’ve been fortunate to witness many remarkable stories of healing and resilience. One story that stands out is Zain’s, a man in his mid-thirties of Asian descent, who courageously allowed me to share his journey with the understanding that his real name is not…