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psychology


  • From "Shell Shock" to PTSD, Veterans Have a Long Walk to Health

    by Charles Glass

    Iraq War veteran Will Robinson brought himself out of a mental health crisis by hiking more than 11,000 miles of trail from the Pacific Crest to the Appalachian, following the century-old prescription of British military doctor Arthur Brock. 



  • Deconstructing "The Child"

    by Jules Gill-Peterson

    Since the Victorian era, Anglo-American conceptions of childhood have worked ideologically to place children at risk of harm through the justifying idea of love, and hide the reality that only a tiny percentage of young people experience youth as protected, secure, and nurtured. 



  • The Racist Beginnings of Standardized Testing

    Standardized testing originated when public schooling was expanding and eugenicists were arguing that many immigrant and nonwhite groups were not capable of educational achievement. Tests were developed to sustain this viewpoint. 



  • The Tyranny of the Female-Orgasm Industrial Complex

    The writer's personal experiences, in light of a historical review of ideas about female sexuality, suggests that more knowledge has reinforced the social control of women by making pleasure obligatory rather than prohibited (Note: contains frank, explicit and extensive discussions of sexual activity).



  • Can Historians Be Traumatized by History? (Content Warning)

    by James Robins

    "If the historian—the very person supposed to process the past on behalf of everyone else—struggles with trauma, then it is little surprise that societies as a whole struggle to face the violence of how they were formed and how they prevailed."


  • The Psychology of Election Denial

    by Robert Brent Toplin

    The Republican response to the election results is a lesson in the mental mechanics of cognitive dissonance. 



  • How Civilization Broke Our Brains

    The anthropologist James Suzman's book evaluates the ravages of modern capitalist civilization – in particular, the institution of work –  on individual and collective psychology. 


  • Those We Abuse, We Loathe

    by J. Chester Johnson

    Until white Americans reckon with the significance of white supremacy in America, they will deflect a sense of responsibility by laying blame for black suffering on black Americans themselves. 



  • The History of Loneliness

    by Jill Lepore

    Until a century or so ago, almost no one lived alone; now many endure shutdowns and lockdowns on their own. How did modern life get so lonely?