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

Tag: The Rebuilt Series

  • What Is Semantic Nitpicking? How to Push Back?
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    What Is Semantic Nitpicking? How to Push Back?

    Imagine someone judges you harshly for taking a gap year (only because that doesn’t fit into their narrative), and you tell them, “You need to respect other people’s life choice.” They reply with: “Life choices. Plural. Thank you.” Or, because of company policy, sick leave has a strict deadline; you messaged a manager: “Sorry, I…

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  • The Truth of Abuse: Unconscious Mechanisms Are Not an Excuse
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    The Truth of Abuse: Unconscious Mechanisms Are Not an Excuse

    Over the years, I have heard many ridiculous excuses—some from abusers, others from their recruits, and still others from biased witnesses. To protect myself (and my readers) from these absurdities, I am sharing this very clear message for fellow survivors: as adults, there is no justification for deliberately hurting others for personal gain. Abuse, manipulation,…

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  • Those Important Life Lessons Trauma Teaches Us
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    Those Important Life Lessons Trauma Teaches Us

    As survivors, we move through stages of recovery and eventually arrive at a place where we can become our own harshest enemy. Unfair as it is, there also seems to be a persistent cultural instinct to treat trauma as a flaw, a deficit to be corrected, a shameful chapter to close. Or, the experience is…

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  • Why Sometimes Understanding Is More Helpful Than Actions
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    Why Sometimes Understanding Is More Helpful Than Actions

    This is for someone who truly cares about survivors: When someone is in pain, fear, or extreme emotional stress, it’s valid that you want to offer concrete help. But the instinct to edit the uncomfortable reality around you when seeing someone suffer is not always helpful. Offer a solution, reframe the situation, point toward what’s…

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  • Why Focus on the “Why” Doesn’t Really Help Healing?
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    Why Focus on the “Why” Doesn’t Really Help Healing?

    This is from a survivor for fellow survivors. It is not wrong to intellectualize trauma, but the real cost is our endless rumination. Instinctively, when something catastrophic happens, our immediate instinct is to ask why. We dissect the past, looking for a logical explanation that can make the pain make sense. However, fixation on the “why”…

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