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Caution: Toxic

As weird as it may sound, the first time I heard the term toxic person/environment was actually after I graduated. I remember a friend telling me about her toxic environment at work and asking me to tailor a psycho-educational group about toxic people and how to handle them. Even though I wasn’t very familiar with the term because it was something that I didn’t really learn at university, I…

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e-Love

It is not a secret that each year technology integrates exponentially into our lives. Listening to the Atlantic’s podcast “The complexities of human love,” kindled my inspiration to write about the relationship between technology and human connection. Mr. Omri Gillath, a social psychologist, stated that “Romantic love blossoms when people explore their differences.” What he meant was that one of…

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If you OVERTHINK, raise your hand

When I was doing my practicum, one of the pieces of advice that I kept with me, was to act as if I were a detective trying to solve the mystery. So, let’s put our Poirot hat on and examine the scenario below.  “X has been on a few dates with Y, and X likes Y. However, X starts to overthink everything Y says and does. For example, if Y takes longer than usual to respond to X’s text message, X…

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What they didn’t tell you about T H E R A P Y

Before entering my practicum year, we had to pass different classes that prepared us on a theoretical level for what individual therapy is all about. I still have Dr. S’s words engraved in my mind, saying that one of the most important factors of successful psychotherapy is the dynamics of the client-therapist relationship. She would add, “Remember, it’s like you are mentally dancing with them.…

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Μητρότητα/Motherhood ft Stella Fountoulaki

Για τη φετινή Ημέρα των Δικαιωμάτων της Γυναίκας, αποφάσισα να μοιραστώ μαζί σας για τη μητρότητα. Η μητρότητα είναι μια επιλογή όπου όλες οι γυναίκες πρέπει να είναι ελεύθερες να επιλέξουν εάν θέλουν να ακολουθήσουν αυτό το μονοπάτι. Το να είσαι μητέρα είναι προσωπική εμπειρία για την καθεμία από εμάς και όσα βιβλία και λογοτεχνία κι αν διαβάσεις, δεν θα αποτυπώσουν με ακρίβεια την εμπειρία σου.…

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Dealing with Grief 

For many years, February used to be a difficult month for me, since I had associated it with the grief I had when I lost a loved one. Not being a psychologist at the time and not being “taught” what to do and how to process it, I handled my sadness and anger, as many people would relate, by distracting myself with doing chores, hoping that through time I would be able to not let my emotions…

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Time does not heal all wounds. It’s S L E E P

Time does not heal all wounds. It’s S L E E P

Yes, you guessed it correctly. This post is about sleep and its importance. One can not talk about sleep and not refer to Matthew Walker. Walker has extensively studied the science of sleep and in most of his lectures/masterclasses/podcasts begins by explaining the importance of good sleep, because if we understand its gravity, then we will pay the required attention for better mental and…

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Santa Claus: True or Lie?

Santa Claus: True or Lie?

When they ask me how did I find out that Santa Claus does not exist, I can only recall the moment I realized that my parents were lying about it and how I felt about it. Do I feel bad about it now? No. Did it have any impact on my development? Yes. The short answer is no when I’m asked if parents should lie to their children about Santa Claus. However, let’s unravel how we reached that…

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Ξέρεις πώς σε αφορά η εξάλειψη βίας κατά των γυναικών;

Ξέρεις πώς σε αφορά η εξάλειψη βίας κατά των γυναικών;

Για οποιοδήποτε παγκόσμιο φαινόμενο χρειάζεται μια παγκόσμια προσπάθεια για αλλαγή. Ο τερματισμό της βίας κατά των γυναικών είναι επίσης και ο τερματισμός βίας ανθρώπων όπου μέσα από τα χρόνια έχουν χαρακτηριστεί μειονότητα, αφού πολιτικά είχαν συγκεκριμένη δύναμη και εξουσία. Το τι κάνει ξεχωριστό τον τερματισμό της βίας κατά των γυναικών είναι το γεγονός ότι η βία δεν κάνει διακρίσεις, ούτε σε…

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Stigma: Menstruation

Stigma: Menstruation

In my previous post, Stigma: Mental Health, I shared the mechanisms and origin of stigma on mental health. Another topic, that unfortunately is marked in most cultures, is the stigma of shame associated, with menstruators’ periods. If you do a quick google search about the stigma on menstruators’ periods, what you will find is that in most cultures and in some religions there’s a taboo associated…

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Stigma: Mental Health

Stigma: Mental Health

Mental health stigmatization was firstly seen even before 400 B.C. since people who suffered from mental illnesses were thought to be demonically possessed. Even in the 20th century, when doctors invented the first antipsychotic drug to help control psychotic symptoms, ironically mental health stigmatization increased (Tracy, 2019). Why may you ask? The answer is simple. Despite the fact that…

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Wanna know about Defence Mechanisms? 

Wanna know about Defence Mechanisms? 

Considering the architecture of our mind, we’re programmed to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Each one of us defines what is pain and pleasure differently; however, all of us find ways to appear dominant. So what happens when there is a situation when we cannot avoid nor control what could cause pain? What happens in a case where we believe that we will appear weak and susceptible to attack?  As…

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N2; Normalizing Negativity

Our primal mind tends to gravitate towards the negatives as a way to keep us alert. This was pivotal for the cave humans whose lives were at stake as they had to face wild animals and other dangers especially when they went out to hunt for food. However, for us, the modern human in 2022, this may be a bit overwhelming since our survival does not depend on the day’s hunting, but rather on our…

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Sexuality 101

Sexuality belongs under the big umbrella of cultural identities. As with most cultural identities, the biological aspect has social, economic, and political meaning. What is thought to be an oxymoron when referring to sexuality is that even though sexuality is personal; hence it should be kept private, we have a social code on how to communicate our sexuality to the outer world.  Sexuality is…

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What Is Your Sexual Script?

What Is Your Sexual Script?

In my first Human Sexuality class, one of our first assignments was to complete our sexual script. Scripts, in psychology, are the formulas you create, influenced by your culture, in order to behave in different situations and settings.  Usually, we are not aware of our scripts since those are what set our normalcy in the first place. Even though everyone has their own script of life, very few…

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Show me who you attract and I'll tell you who you are

Show me who you attract and I’ll tell you who you are

One of the reasons that I was thrilled to visit Florence was to book my ticket for Galleria Uffizi. As we were toured by one art historian, one thing that is still engraved in my mind is when she was explaining to us Boticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” masterpiece. More specifically, what she told us was that Venus’ face and body were inspired by his muse Simonetta Vespucci. If you take a better…

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Loneliness, my only friend

Loneliness, my only friend

If it was something that most people felt, especially during the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020, was loneliness. Loneliness is a state of discomfort due to a lack of social connection in terms of quality and/or quantity. In other words, it does not necessarily have to do with the number of people you physically surround yourself with, but with how much you are emotionally connected to…