An open-access digital library of research-based information and reflections on psychology, wellness, and culture

Category: Culture

  • Complexity of Layers of Racism You Need to Think About
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    Complexity of Layers of Racism You Need to Think About

    Recently, I have been reading books about racism, and one of the most established, perhaps one of the most widely cited, is Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones’s “The Gardener’s Tale. The Harvard University public health researcher systematically mapped out three layers of racism: institutional, personally mediated, and internalized (Jones, 2000). Clearly, institutional racism sits at the…

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  • Why Some People Love to Dismiss Spirituality’s Therapeutic Role
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    Why Some People Love to Dismiss Spirituality’s Therapeutic Role

    Over the years, I have encountered people who rushed to jump into a conversation to dismiss spirituality’s role when we talked about therapeutic approaches. Some of them are in the field, while others aren’t. Typically, one friend, overwhelmed by existential panic or emotional burnout, finds solace and genuine grounding in a tarot reading, crystals, aura…

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  • The Scapegoat Theory: Blame Someone for Maintaining Social Order
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    The Scapegoat Theory: Blame Someone for Maintaining Social Order

    This can happen in any group, especially when you’re in a toxic social environment. In that dynamic, you may have been unfortunately and unfairly labeled as the “uncontrollable” one. You might have faced exclusion, cruelty, confusion, and a kind of collective gaslighting that has nothing to do with your actual worth. In psychology, group behavior…

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  • Do It In a Way That People Will Follow
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    Do It In a Way That People Will Follow

    This is a message about leadership for lone wolves (like me): no matter how much you enjoy being on your own, if you’re ambitious enough, you’ll eventually need to learn to work with people. While that requires a whole different skill set, mindset, and, let’s be honest, a specific kind of headache, the deeper issue…

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  • Sisu: An Important Concept of Finnish Resilience
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    Sisu: An Important Concept of Finnish Resilience

    In the depths of a Nordic winter, when daylight is a fleeting rumor and temperatures plunge well below freezing, you will find Finns swimming in ice-cut lakes or trekking through knee-deep snow. To an outsider, it’s a spirited cultural tradition. In Finnish, it is called sisu. What Does It Actually Mean? Pronounced see-su, this untranslatable Finnish…

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