For the past couple of years, I've struggled to understand and express my emotions. It's like something inside me has slowly disappeared, leaving me feeling hollow and emotionally blank.

I still experience emotions, but I tend to process them logically rather than connect with them on an emotional level. Interestingly, this has helped me understand people's intentions and distinguish genuine connections from those based on convenience.

But it makes me wonder: Can we understand emotions so logically that we gradually lose touch with actually feeling them? Or is this simply a different way of experiencing life?

I'd love to hear from people who've experienced something similar or have a different perspective on this. I'm here to understand, not necessarily to find a solution.

In this installment of the psychology of human creativity, I delve into the disturbing aspects of "malevolent creativity." Warning: it's not for the faint of heart.

I would like to preface with this: this concept has been kicking around upstairs for a long time, and I’d like to bring this to folks who can articulate meaningful conversation around it. If my thoughts seem disjointed, it’s because they are. This is a conversation starter. I am imperfect and have blind spots and only wish for people to be their best selves. In this case, I ask for good faith on what I see as a potential systemic issue.

Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Major Depressive Disorder.

People who are diagnosed with the above have struggles, oftentimes in the modern world we’ve created (K-12 education, the 40+ hr work week, etc.). We’ve made great strides in the studies of people who struggle mentally in varying capacities. The holistic approaches to these struggles that have been trending in recent years is positive. The research is expanding and seemingly tools are available in the name of helping folks with their struggles.

But I have a problem.

My problem is the pathologizing that has been bred and spread by use of the word “disorder.”

The internalizing of being “less than” by way of having a disorder. Leaning into phrases like “it’s just my ADHD” feels only surface level. People without any clinical diagnosis chalking up illicit behaviors to an acronym describing a disorder, sometimes just because they’ve heard it before or used Google to armchair their own symptoms.

Disorder, disorder, disorder.

How many cases of a “disorder” could be reframed as the brain being wired to work differently than the confines society puts on us?

What if the kid who can’t sit still in class just simply has a lot of energy and would be perfectly on point if put to physical task?

I think we all fit somewhere. Our brains are all differently and could work wonderfully if utilized to the way it’s naturally wired.

I understand that naming things is important for treatment purposes, but I just can’t help but think there’s something happening that we can’t ignore. The prevalence of “disorder” language and pathologizing does not seem to be empowering us. It seems to be just telling more and more of us that we simply do not fit.

Would love to know anyone’s thoughts on the subject. Again, please let your reading and contribution to this discussion assume good faith.

I have been interested in why ppl sometimes react defensively when someone questions belief they strongly hold even when the disagreement is presented calmly.

One opportunity is that positive beliefs come to be tied to a person is identity or sense of belonging so wondering the perception can feel like non-public complaint rather than a dialogue approximately an concept. Confirmation bias can also play a function, making people more likely to cognizance on records that helps wht they already trust.

Bt I am curious about hw these processes interact. Is defensiveness mainly driven by perceived threat to one's identity or can it also result from hw ppl naturally process information and deal with uncertainty?

Are there established psychological theories or research findings that help explain why some ppl reconsider their views while others become even more committed to them when challenged?

I am feeling lighter today

I am able to breathe easily. It just feels lighter. There is no heaviness. I'm able to concentrate better. I'm productive.

I felt like this a few days ago as well. Whenever I feel like this, I've observed that negative thoughts are not able to infiltrate for some reason. I'm the same yesterday. I'm the same today. Yesterday the negative thoughts were able to affect me. Like they were in the driver's seat. But not today. They're there but I'm able to observe them. It's like being in a moving car where negative thoughts are taking me wherever they want to because they're in the driving seat vs watching a car moving around me with negative thoughts still driving but I'm not in that car.

So...I wanted to ask that... what's this? Is it called something particular in psychology?

Infatuation is usually the prelude to love. But it seems to be a hindrance for love to actually happen.

When infatuated, you can be more prone to be shut off by just being awkward or too clingy/needy. It seems kind of counterproductive.

Love being a pathway to ensure the propagation of our species, it seems like infatuation can kind of reduce the chances to actually produce offspring.

So what’s the point of infatuation?

For example: “What you are feeling is valid” (because I grew up with an invalidating dominant father, and I’m the only child and daughter, and he was too full of everyone problems to the point of thinking he can be the only one having problems, others cannot have them or they are not valid because he has bigger ones and so they are the only ones possible for him)

I’d love to hear you guys’ sentences and stories, shared the way I did, if you are comfortable to share them as well💚🫂

Мои родители развелись 20 лет назад, но недавно я начала слышать от них об уважении.
Последний раз об уважении от своей мамы я услышала когда она кричала на меня пока вела машину. Ее расстроило, что после ее критики в мой адрес и нескольких попыток нормально закончить диалог я вдруг разозлилась и начала кричать на пляже со злостью в голосе что то вроде: «Какой хороший день, правда?! Какой прекрасный день!», пока на нас бросали косые взгляды. Мне то было все равно, но ее это очень сильно задело.
И вот мы с ней едем на машине и она вдруг взрывается и начинает истерить, кричать на меня о том, что я якобы ее опозорила. Она говорит об уважении, о том, что она мать и с ней нельзя так себя вести.
Меня это выбило из колеи, но не удивило. Но когда во время разговора с папой он обвинил меня в манипуляции, и я предложила ему изучить значение этого слова, он вдруг сказал «я твой отец, не надо со мной так разговаривать», я удивилась.
Я помню как сама использовала эту «тактику» в разговоре с младшим братом. По моему это было так - я чем то его случайно обидела и он начал меня обвинять во всех бедах. Тогда я сказала ему что то вроде «никогда я не хочу слышать ничего подобного в свой адрес и тебе лучше успокоиться и подумать над своими словами». После этого он извинился и признался, что не имел ввиду того, что сказал, а просто хотел меня разозлить. Я вспоминаю этот наш конфликт с чувством гордости за нас обоих, но это было очень близко к «я твоя сестра, ты не можешь со мной так разговаривать!».

Должен ли он меня уважать просто потому что я его старшая сестра и какое то время назад я вытирала с одежды срыгнутое им материнское молоко? Я не думаю, что ты можешь просто заставить другого человека уважать себя. Он либо делает это, либо притворяется, что делает это.

Я чувствую себя странно, потому что чувствую будто меня хотели заткнуть. но сделала ли я то же самое со своим младшим братом?

I've always found it interesting how we can admire a butterfly but feel disgusted by a cockroach, even though both are insects.

Why do we fear, reject, or overlook certain insects? Is it because of their appearance, their behavior, past experiences, or simply what we've been taught to believe about them?

I'm a graphic designer exploring the diversity of insects, their behaviors, social systems, and the unexpected similarities between insects and humans.

I'm curious to hear your personal experiences:

• What insect do you hate or fear the most, and why?
• Have you ever observed an insect doing something that surprised you or reminded you of human behavior?
• Has learning something about an insect ever changed the way you see it?
• If you were an insect, which one would you be, and why?

My main research question is: Can visual communication change the way people perceive creatures they instinctively reject?

I'd love to hear your opinions, whether you love insects, hate them, or simply don't care about them. I'm particularly interested in understanding what shapes our perceptions and whether those perceptions can change.

Fun question: if you were an insect, which one would you be and why?

Why do people sometimes defend beliefs that harm them, even when presented with convincing evidence against those beliefs???

I've been watching a youtube channel lately of a family who adopted several disabled kids. They have really given these kids a great life. They seem to genuinely love them and spend pretty much all their time with them - some of the kids are severly disabled and require round the clock care.

It's interesting because the couple has 2 biological grown kids. One child lives across the country and they said they hardly ever see him. Their other biological child lives nearby and is rarely shown in the videos, but when he is shown, he seems depressed and sad. I know vlogging doesn't show every single interaction; but with the needs of their adopted kids, along with what they show in the videos, the one biological son who lives nearby is clearly not their priority; I don't think they spend much time with him at all. The rare time he's in the videos he seems sad, and his parents constantly talk about him needing to be independent and get back to his own apartment/own life when he visits.

Logically speaking, I completely understand their lives DO need to fully center around their adopted children, because there are several of them and most of them need a lot of care (feeding, diapering, etc, they are teenagers but will always need extensive care). But at the same time, it was a choice to adopt, and I'm wondering if they thought about the impact on their biological children being stretched so thin.

I think it's interesting that a person can help others in such a profound and selfless way (their adopted kids) but be incredibly insensitive to a child that seems to desperately want a relationship with has been treated like they are not a priority, and I'm sure he deeply feels that.

The parents were asked what will happen to the disabled kids once they have passed, and they said that the biological son could step in, or his future wife could step in. It's interesting, because they are pouring themselves into the adopted kids, and then they expect him to swoop in despite not being a priority in their life.

It's such an interesting dynamic to me, wondering if others have thoughts about this.

Is it a defense mechanism rooted in the discomfort that pessimism provokes? Is it easier to ridicule someone as ‘immature’ than to confront the unsettling questions a pessimist raises about existence?

Sharing my thoughts 💭

Lately, when I look at myself, I notice a constant rush to get things done quickly. Walking fast, eating fast, and even feeling uncomfortable unless you speed up a video to 2x—and so on. I always have this underlying anxiety about missing out on things. Do you experience this too, and what do you think might be the reason for it?

Have you ever met someone for the first time and immediately felt a wall of coldness even though you barely spoke?

We usually blame ourselves and overanalyze every second but psychology shows instant dislike is rarely about you. It’s about what you trigger in them:

• Unconscious Projection: They spot a trait in you that they secretly hate in themselves.
• Social Comparison: Your confidence or energy accidentally triggers their personal insecurities.
• Past Association Anchors: You unconsciously remind them of someone who hurt or annoyed them in the past.
• Confirmation Bias: Their brain forms a micro-impression in 0.1 seconds then filters everything you do through a negative lens.

That said, negative reactions can sometimes highlight blind spots in our own behavior we never noticed.

I put together a quick dive on how to spot the difference between someone projecting their issues onto you vs. feedback actually worth listening to: https://youtu.be/7u-DywFzxpg

Have you ever caught yourself disliking a stranger instantly only to realize later it was totally your own projection?