Category: Research
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The room that shows no profit
A culture built on return on investment sends an accountant through the house of your life, pricing every room by its yield. The room that only keeps you well reads on his form as waste. For a brain that needs several such rooms, that is a diagnosis waiting to happen.
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The doctor’s blood pressure is the one nobody takes
White coat hypertension has a name, a protocol and a home cuff. The doctor’s version, in which certainty rises the moment the coat goes on, has none. A 67-year-old patient in Đà Lạt on rolled eyes, one doctor who listened, and what unheard pain costs an older body
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Nobody ever checked whether my two eyes agree
Lindsey Mackereth has a hypothesis: that a brain which had to work at fusing two disagreeing images may be a brain that never learned to stop watching itself. She is careful about what it does and does not claim, which is exactly why it is worth reading
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The seven-dollar therapist
For roughly the price of a sandwich you can buy a counselling certificate off a Facebook advert and lawfully call yourself a psychotherapist by Tuesday. A psychologist and a psychotherapist are not the same animal, and the difference is not cleverness. It is what happens when it goes wrong
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You cannot reframe your way out of a filing cabinet
Two rats get identical shocks. One has a wheel that works. Weeks later only one of them is broken, and the difference was never mindset. What the controllability literature says about surviving an institution that will not answer you, and why reframing is the wrong target
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The canary doesn’t have an anxiety disorder
At 6am in my street in Đà Lạt, three generations eat breakfast on plastic stools and nobody looks at a phone. Western teenagers are not fragile. Their alarm systems are being fed industrial quantities of real threat, in habitats stripped of the company that settles it
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The colours of noise: sorting real science from wellness-industry hiss
White noise, pink noise, brown, green — the wellness aisle has worked out how to sell you silence by the colour, with a subscription. Some of it is real. Most of it isn’t what the label claims. A counselling psychologist sorts the four into their proper boxes
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The body keeps the invoice
The universe spent 13.8 billion years producing a nervous system capable of abstract thought, and you’ve spent the last forty years running it on emergency power. The research says the invoice can start being paid down. Here’s what actually works
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Your body has been writing you letters for years. You just couldn’t read them
If decades of masking and the invisible weight of long COVID have left your body keeping a score nobody told you about, you are not imagining it. Lee Hopkins is a psychologist and late-diagnosed AuDHD adult who understands what you are going through from the inside out
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When the body keeps the score of a lifetime of masking
Chronic physical pain can emerge after years of neurodivergent masking because the nervous system and body absorb prolonged stress responses. When identity strain, social pressure and self-criticism accumulate over decades, the body may eventually signal overload through fatigue, tension and pain
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Steve Davis on social media’s fall
Now that Australia has passed the world’s first law on social media and teens, over a decade after it was first realised how dangerous Meta/Facebook/Instagram are to mental health, Steve Davis reflects…
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When your hand won’t listen
Your hand shapes your world—writing, creating, connecting. When Dupuytren’s contracture takes that away, the psychological toll is profound. Read how this hidden disability changes more than movement, and why acknowledging its impact can restore dignity, meaning, and connection in the face of limitation
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Why women say ‘yes’ to intimacy
Women’s intimacy is shaped by biology, emotion, and neurodiversity. Learn the real motivators, avoid misinterpretation, and adapt your relationship to grow deeper over time. Stop guessing about desire — start understanding what intimacy really means for her, right now
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Neurobollocks in therapy
Polyvagal Theory and “vagus nerve hacks” sound compelling—but when you dig into the citations, the evidence unravels. In my latest piece, I explore why massage won’t “activate” your vagus nerve and why we need sharper BS filters in psychotherapy
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Attraction when you’re neurocomplex
Tired of chasing sparks that burn out? For neurocomplex adults, attraction isn’t about chemistry—it’s about resonance, safety, and relief. Learn how to filter connections, protect your energy, and spot the rare minds that truly meet you
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When your child feels everything
Highly sensitive children aren’t broken—they’re neurologically different. Research shows 20-30% of children have heightened sensory processing sensitivity, with brains that process emotions more deeply. With understanding and support, their sensitivity becomes a superpower, leading to greater empathy, creativity, and success in nurturing environments
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Understanding AuDHD
Discover the essential guide to autism and ADHD—together. Understanding AuDHD – Third Edition blends lived experience and professional insight to explain the science, strengths, and strategies that make AuDHD unique. Clear, practical, and compassionate—this book helps you turn understanding into meaningful action for real-life impact
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The psychology behind effective study: Evidence‑based strategies that work
Unpack the science behind effective study techniques—spaced repetition, testing, desirable difficulty, and the protégé effect. Grounded in decades of research, learn how students of any age can learn more deeply, retain more information, and study smarter—not harder
