Shows / Psyche Magazine
Psyche Magazine
Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and others through expert guides, provocative ideas and personal life stories. We address psychological questions and puzzles from a range of perspectives including philosophy, history, anthropology and more. You will discover practical knowledge and insights to help you navigate everyday challenges, overcome difficulties and find meaning, wonder and spirituality. Psyche is a nonprofit digital magazine. With a dedication to pluralism and…
Episodes
Psyche MagazineDo you weave historical events into your own life story?
Some people watch history pass by. Others high in ‘historical consciousness’ truly live it – and seem to benefit as a result. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineStargazing really is good for the soul
A trip to the telescopes of the Atacama Desert led me to research showing the benefits of feeling connected to the night sky. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWhen we fear the past we’re actually still looking ahead
Fear protects us from future harm, so what’s going on when we find ourselves scared of what’s already happened?. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineHow to write yourself every day
By getting thoughts out of your head and on to a page, you can become the author of your own life, one small page at a time. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineYou can use music to escape your negative thought loops
Research is uncovering the way music can calm the brain and there are techniques to help you amplify its emotional power. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWant to colour?
When I was six, I met my sister: her quiet question sparked a bond that took us from foster agency to home. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineGuilty pleasures are more than just giving in to temptation
Psychologists are discovering what’s going on when you do something you enjoy, but also feel weird or embarrassed about. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineLet the mystery be
As a hospital chaplain, I watched lives end, faiths fracture and certainties crumble. My job was holding hands in the dark. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineA common misunderstanding about genetics
People’s misunderstanding of terms like ‘heritability’ shows how important it is to communicate science carefully. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineHow to reconnect with your inner child
The experiences you had as a child influence your emotional life as an adult. Recognising these dynamics can be healing. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineOn loving a clone, or why love can’t be rationally justified
You couldn’t love a clone of someone the same way you loved the original. But why? And what does this reveal about love?. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineThe chocolate edible
When a weed-infused treat put me in a psychological tailspin, it reshaped what I knew about fear. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineWhy AI’s hallucinations are like the illusions of narcissism
Unable to handle uncertainty, AI mimics the narcissistic compulsion to fill voids with plausible but false narratives. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineExperiments in resistance
When I tested people’s blood after a protest, I discovered that science itself could be a form of dissent. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself…
Psyche MagazineIQ scores are falling but, no, we’re not growing more stupid
Screens and social media get the blame, but the real problem lies in how we measure intelligence in the first place. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to date again after an abusive relationship
You might feel unlovable or find dating daunting, but you deserve connection – and you can find it safely at your own pace. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineBody of water
In the pool, my softer, heavier self rediscovered motion and power – proof that this body, too, can swim. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself…
Psyche MagazineHow will the future judge us?
Any excuses we might give for acting or not acting now are likely to seem much thinner to someone living 250 years from us. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineI’m a philosopher trying to make sense of my dad’s delusions
Philosophers debate whether delusions count as genuine beliefs. My father’s storytelling has made the question more personal. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to tolerate annoying things
Hassles are part of life, but the way we react often makes them worse. ACT skills can help you handle them with greater ease. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWhat I found in one of the tiniest languages
The great complexity and extraordinary simplicity of a constructed language with no more than 140 words. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself…
Psyche MagazineThere are times when we shouldn’t be ashamed of public shaming
When our self-respect, status and social identity are threatened, we ought to defend ourselves and shame our wrongdoers. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche Magazine‘Each of us has a song’
Burhan Sönmez, now the president of PEN International, was a rising human rights lawyer in Turkey. A brutal assault nearly killed him – and propelled him to a…
Psyche MagazineWhat helps you feel better might depend on where you grew up
Research on the common strategies used to deal with emotions suggests their usefulness differs from culture to culture. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineFinding solace in Murderbot
Why I’ve started describing my feelings in the style of Murderbot, a half-human construct from Martha Wells’s sci-fi series. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to reclaim your attention
Psychological minimalism is a way to clarify your life by cutting the mental noise from your environment and routines. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineA memory hack to help you face your fears
There’s a way to recall past encounters with your fears that could help you feel more confident facing them in future. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineTrue courage isn’t being fearless, it’s fearing well
Aristotle created the blueprint for the bravery we need to resist injustice and do the right thing, even at our own risk. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWhy we’re falling out of love with our AI confidants
Chatbots make us feel uniquely seen and heard, but then the ‘empathy gap’ kicks in and the relationship turns sour. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineMosque and state
In post-Soviet Azerbaijan, religion was a hot new commodity. I bought into it, too. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and others through…
Psyche MagazineHow to know if your meditation is working
Traditional and tech-based methods can reveal what your practice is doing – and give you the confidence to stick with it. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow I became more facially expressive
Learning sign language made my face more expressive – and changed how I interact with people in general. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself…
Psyche MagazineScience, serendipity and a new era for schizophrenia treatment
Drug treatments for schizophrenia have barely changed in 70 years, but a mix of chance and ingenuity offers fresh hope. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineLiving off a dying sea
I am the last in a long line of shark hunters. As the ocean fades, so too does our way of life. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and others…
Psyche MagazineArachnophobia
I’ve always been terrified of spiders, yet one day I adopted the daddy longlegs in my bathroom. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and others…
Psyche MagazineHow to overcome a fear of fear
When you become afraid of your own reaction to perceived threats, it creates a vicious cycle. Here’s how to break free. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to network when you’re socially anxious
Do networking events fill you with dread? Here’s how to manage your fears, show up, and take advantage of the opportunities. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineExistential crisis? Try reading Wordsworth
For many generations of readers, the poetry of William Wordsworth has been an irreplaceable balm for the soul. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineWhy the search for proof can’t be separated from faith
Rather than being an enemy of empiricism, belief in what can’t be known is part of how we gain knowledge, even now. Psyche audio helps you to better understand…
Psyche MagazineThe hard art of comfort
Sick in a London hospital, I understood the Book of Job and his rage at all the miserable comforters. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineWhy we should embrace ‘nepantla’ – the in-betweenness of life
In an age of strong political commitments, a Nahuatl word encapsulates the freedom to let go of what has become oppressive. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineThe cage
In a heterosexual breakup, the script is clean: loss, anger, distance. Ours refused that narrative. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineDog day blues
We were a new stepfamily, and only the puppy was missing. With Elsa, we lobbed a grenade into the mix. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineThe lost art of making a petroglyph
Inspired by 6,000-year-old rock art in Norway, I decided to create a new carving closer to home. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineSpirituality can’t be reduced to what’s happening in the brain
Seeing the ‘mind’ as extending beyond the head can help us better understand the nature of transcendent experiences. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche Magazine‘We are all always coming and going’
Steve Schwartzberg’s journey from Harvard psychologist to erotic healer, Buddhist and teacher was always haunted by death. Then he was diagnosed with terminal…
Psyche MagazinePainting myself back to life
I’d dealt with many illnesses. But when lupus left scars on my face, my suffering was suddenly visible. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself…
Psyche MagazineWant things to go well? Plan like a defensive pessimist
So often we underestimate the time and effort required to reach our goals. You can avoid that trap with realistic planning. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineSnorkelling taught me stillness
Snorkelling at an unassuming beach sharpened my attention to detail, revealing the tiny spectacles unfolding beneath me. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineA haunting in Brooklyn
At 25, I saw my grandfather’s ghost. At 52, I think of what it may mean to be a ghost. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and others through…
Psyche MagazineFor some with mental illness, it’s not always good to talk
Well-meaning campaigns urge openness and conversation about mental health struggles. But there are those who cherish silence. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineAt what point does the Santa myth become a harmful deception?
Exactly when and how children discover they’ve been duped makes an important difference to the revelatory experience. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to start making music
It’s never too late to play an instrument or learn to sing. Take the leap from listener to maker in the way that suits you. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWho’s responsible for your attachment style?
Do attachment styles come from how our parents treated us? New research on attachment suggests there’s more to the story. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineIn the bustle of the city, we need more pockets of serenity
Stillness shouldn’t be something you only find in nature. Well-designed urban spaces can be good for the nervous system, too. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow cultural outsiders cope with the pain of feeling different
In therapy with people from immigrant families, I’ve seen the side effects of adaptation – and what it takes to break free. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineHow to rest well
Taking a break isn’t lazy – learning to recharge is a skill that will allow you to enjoy a more creative, sustainable life. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineWhat happens to our cognition in the darkest depths of winter?
Contrary to popular beliefs about winter sluggishness and depression, human cognition is not affected by the seasons. Psyche audio helps you to better…
Psyche MagazineThicker than blood
When polio left me unable to walk, my parents put me in a disability centre. There, I met Mommy. Psyche audio helps you to better understand yourself and…
Psyche MagazineNo, willpower isn’t a muscle – here’s a better way to think of it
The muscle metaphor based on ego-depletion theory hasn’t survived scrutiny. But there’s an alternative that holds promise. Psyche audio helps you to better…