Camille and Amma couldn’t be more different. Camille is a 30-something journalist who prefers to stay under the radar. Amma, on the other hand, is her more outgoing and rebellious kid sister. That said, there is one common thread between them: their mother Adora. Or more specifically, her abuse. If…
The idea of brainwashing had a viral moment in the 1950s when the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) decided to wage psychological warfare against Communism. Project MKUltra secretly experimented with “mind control” techniques, dosing people with lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) without their consent. In fact, at one point the CIA…
Narcissists are self-absorbed. They often dominate conversations, manipulate their loved ones, and engage in deceptive behaviors for profit. You might try to steer clear of these disingenuous individuals, but you might also fall victim to their manipulation. So, how do they accomplish this? How do narcissists control you? And how…
This is not a fun topic to write about. Parent-child breakups are painful for everyone involved: for the adult children who feel torn between filial duty and self-protection; for the toxic parents who can’t understand what they did wrong; and even for the children those parents once were, who were…
Toxic relationships are everywhere: We can have an unhealthy attachment to our parents, our partners, even our phones— anything that we interact with, really. Yet rarely do we take a look at our friends. This might be important, considering they’re the people we often vent to about everything (and everyone)…
Some shoppers have nightmares about arriving at the big box store 5 minutes too late to snag the Black Friday doorbuster they came to buy. For other shoppers, a nightmare scenario is the Black Friday shopping itself. Consider this [Trigger Warning]: You walk through the automatic doors of a megamall…
Every fall, Black Friday and Cyber Monday loom as the notorious twins of November, luring shoppers out in droves amid fierce competition. But beyond the viral videos of people fighting over TVs, these two consumer holidays are a big win for companies, with Americans spending nearly $20 billion on both…
As social stigma and perceptions surrounding mental health conditions continue to change, popular usage of mental health terms is increasing as well. Of these terms, “trauma bonding” has been among the most used, researched, and debated. A form of psychological manipulation, trauma bonding occurs when someone experiences cyclical abuse from…
The sweet, charming, handsome ex-Marine you’ve been emailing and texting with for eight months has a family emergency and can’t make his flight to meet you for the first time. You’re crushed. You’d let yourself fall hard for this guy, and now it might be another few months before you…
It’s like a bad nightmare: Imagine having a supervisor that’s hellbent on making your life miserable, playing with your emotions and your sanity. Perhaps this is already a tempting fantasy to believe on our worst workdays, when we’re rushing to meet deadlines or sitting through tedious meetings. Despite the frustration…
Perhaps it’s something about the magnetic allure of narcissistic personalities — or maybe it’s our own dark, inner desires to focus intensely on ourselves that spark interest in narcissism. Whatever the case, we know a lot about the extroverted, grandiose persona typically associated with narcissists — but introverts can be…
We’ve already shown how destructive cults and manipulative marketing tactics can weaponize extreme psychological influence. But what about a form of “mind control” that doesn’t have an industry or a social scaffolding behind it? Manipulation by an intimate partner can feel even more insidious because it’s perpetrated by someone you…
