What is the function of the brain?

Based on her ethnographic study of psychiatric residency programs, anthropologist T.M. Luhrmann concluded psychiatry is โ€œof two minds,โ€ much like the Axis I and Axis II diagnoses organizing the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. While some...

Trauma’s Imaginal Worlds

Few people pass from birth to death without intimate knowledge of traumaโ€™s capacity to alter the landscape of their lives. So many experiences are traumatizing: war, rape, death of a loved one, car accidents, hurricanes, bullying, scapegoating, family violence,...

Too Stressed to Meditate?

Buddhist psychology claims there are three primary emotions or sensations โ€” pleasant, painful, and neutral. Arising from these primary emotions are our reactions to them, the so-called secondary emotions. For example, we might feel desire or joy in...

Love and the Split Self

In the movie Take This Waltz, a young Canadian woman, Margot, is happily married although not excited about her life. Her work doesnโ€™t fulfill her. She designs brochures but would rather be a โ€œrealโ€ writer. She describes herself as afraid of being...

BBCโ€™s “The Why Factor”: On Cultural Memory

BBC’s The Why Factor has a short podcast on trauma well worth your time (18 minutes).  Cultural Memory explores how societies respond collectively to traumatic memories of war and extreme human rights violations, which too often involves...

You cannot copy content of this page