What happens when dominance meets detachment? Inside the minds of men who mistake victory for permission.

Imagine you’re a 21-year-old college guy. You just crushed another dude in a competitive task. You're flying high on the fumes of dominance. Then someone asks, "Want to share a video with this woman you don’t know—one who’s clearly said she dislikes sexual content?"

Now pause. Your answer, according to new research, might say a lot about who you are—and whether your idea of “winning” is less about success and more about control.

A recent experimental study in Aggressive Behavior (Hoffmann, Verona, & Hruza, 2024) reveals something disconcerting: heterosexual men with high levels of interpersonal-affective psychopathic traits—marked by emotional coldness, dominance, and a lack of empathy—were significantly more likely to engage in sexually aggressive behavior after winning a competition against another man.

That’s right. It wasn’t losing.

It wasn’t bruised ego or revenge. It was victory—sweet, power-drunk victory—that lit the fuse.

By now, most of us have encountered at least one human being who, when given a social moment that wasn't about them, simply withered like a houseplant in a closet.

If you haven't, you may want to gently peer into a mirror and ask yourself if your coworkers are truly laughing with you.

Enter narcissism—the spicy human flavor that’s somewhere between charming confidence and grandiose theater.

Narcissists, according to the DSM and your cousin Kevin, tend to believe they are God’s gift to dinner parties.

They yearn for admiration the way cats yearn for warm laptops. But recent research has added a physiological twist to this familiar plot: they don’t just like talking about themselves—they practically light up.

For anyone who’s ever tried to take the edge off with a little weed, only to end up googling “Can you die from a too-fast heartbeat?” at 2:00 a.m.—you’re not alone.

The relationship between cannabis and anxiety is, well… complicated.

While some people swear by medical marijuana as a natural anxiety remedy, others find that it does the exact opposite: increases heart rate, magnifies worry, and launches them into existential dread about whether the barista actually did judge them for their oat milk order.

So which is it?

Can cannabis help with anxiety—or does it just help some people feel better while making others more anxious?

And what does the science say about medical marijuana for anxiety disorders?

Let’s take a deep breath (no toking required yet), and explore.

As a couples therapist, I often tell clients that gossip is the social glue we love to hate. It feels icky when it’s about us, but strangely bonding when we’re doing it about others.

So when new research out of Self & Identity revealed that some folks actually enjoy being gossiped about—especially when the gossip is negative—I had to dig deeper.

It turns out, narcissistic men may not just tolerate gossip—they prefer it over being ignored.

That’s right.

According to five studies conducted by Andrew H. Hales, Meltem Yucel, and Selma C. Rudert, most people still dislike being the subject of gossip.

Once upon a time, a man fell in love with a woman.

He called her his queen, his moon, his reason for waking up in the morning.

He wrote her love letters in the form of text messages, albeit mostly "U up?" and "Miss u," but still—passion was passion.

And then, the years rolled in, like a sluggish tide carrying the driftwood of forgotten anniversaries, emotional absences, and an increasing number of nights spent staring into the comforting glow of a smartphone.

What happened? Maybe you’re wondering if you are merely a domestic fixture, one step removed from the fridge or the cat, instead of a person he actually values. Social science, thank God, has some answers.

Let’s peruse the grand buffet of passive-aggressive relationship tactics; there’s ghosting (poof, they’re gone), breadcrumbing (a Hansel and Gretel nightmare), and stonewalling (the emotional equivalent of a medieval fortress).

But somewhere between ghosting and stonewalling lies a lesser-known but equally maddening behavior: greywalling.

Defining Greywalling: The Cold Shoulder With a Pulse

What is Greywalling?

Greywalling is the deliberate act of responding with minimal engagement, offering just enough acknowledgment to avoid outright stonewalling, but withholding any real emotional connection.

It’s the emotional equivalent of someone turning off the Wi-Fi on your video call—you're still there, but the connection is useless.

Unlike stonewalling, which is a complete shutdown, greywalling keeps the interaction technically alive..

Is there a link between marital conflict and cardiovascular health?

For years, we've known that stress is bad for the heart.

But what if the most damaging stressor in your life isn't your job, financial concerns, or even your in-laws—but your marriage?

A study of 1,200 older married adults (ages 57-85) led by sociologist Hui Liu at Michigan State University found that people in unhappy marriages, particularly women, have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those in satisfying marriages (Liu et al., 2016).

These findings aren't just a warning sign for those in rocky relationships; they reveal a critical intersection between mental and physical health.

If we were to build a factory that churned out emotionally hardened, manipulative souls, the blueprints would likely resemble the adolescent social landscape.

Peer rejection, that timeless crucible of human cruelty, may be more than just a childhood nuisance—it may be the prototype for the development of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism.

A recent study by Pu and Gan (2024) suggests that social ostracism in adolescence contributes to the development of the Dark Triad traits through the mediating factor of loneliness.

The implication? That schoolyard exclusions and digital ghosting rituals might be shaping the next generation of cunning strategists, ruthless impulsives, and self-appointed demigods.

So, you've taken a childhood trauma test, and it turns out your childhood wasn't all sunshine and finger painting.

What now?

Trauma isn't just some poetic notion of suffering—it lives in the nervous system, rewires the brain, and can turn a perfectly good Tuesday into a high-stakes psychological battle over whether to answer a text message.

But here’s the good news: brains are changeable, and healing is possible.

This guide walks through the latest research on how childhood trauma affects the brain and body, the most effective evidence-based therapies, and practical strategies for rewiring old patterns.

If trauma is the unwanted gift from the past that keeps on giving, consider this your guide to finally returning it.

Childhood trauma has profound effects on mental health, emotional well-being, and even physical health across a lifetime.

To understand the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other trauma, psychologists and researchers have developed various childhood trauma tests.

These assessments help identify the presence and severity of childhood trauma, providing a starting point for healing and intervention.

But how accurate are these tests? What do they truly measure? And how should they be used in clinical and personal contexts?

This guide explores the history, types, reliability, and implications of childhood trauma tests, helping clients and professionals make informed decisions about their use.

Humans who barely understand themselves are tasked with raising future generations.

It soon becomes self-evident that a troubling reality emerges: some parents never grow up.

Instead of being wise, nurturing figures, they remain emotionally stunted, reacting to stress with all the grace of a teenager whose phone just died.

This is not a new phenomenon. Cultural Narcissism has always taken suseptible souls.

Ancient mythology is riddled with narcissistic, vengeful parents (hello, Cronus).

Shakespeare built entire tragedies around emotionally immature authority figures.

Today, we just have TikTok compilations—30-second masterclasses in dysfunctional parenting.

But unlike in Greek mythology, where you could just overthrow the gods, modern psychology insists we use science-based coping strategies instead.

So, let’s consider the emotionally immature parents—what causes their behavior, how they impact their children, and what, if anything, can be done about it.

Somewhere in the dim corridors of evolutionary psychology, a grand bargain was struck: men would hunt, women would gather, and marriage would make sure both parties stayed well-fed.

Fast-forward to modern Poland, and the evidence suggests the deal might have gotten out of hand. According to a recent study, married men are over three times as likely to be obese as their unmarried counterparts (Cicha-Mikolajczyk et al., 2024).

This, of course, begs the question: Does matrimony come with an invisible side of weight gain, or are we merely witnessing the gravitational pull of domesticity?