PsycheBubbles - Anwesha Bhattacharya

“Let's say your name is J...You reach the office a little late, catching your breath and before anyone can ask what happened, you say, “The traffic was horrible today, I was stuck on the road for such a long time on the main road.” And the truth is, the traffic indeed was horrible, forcing everyone to move at a snail’s pace. But there is another side to this, you might have also woken up later and hurried as much as you could to reach your office on time." A week later, one of your colleagues is late; he too comes into the office out of breath, saying the same thing you did, but your first thought is, “He probably overslept today, even though we are supposed to work on the project together.” We might have done this at least once, where we assumed that when a person did something (they made a mistake, or were late for something), it was because of things like their personality (who they are as a person) and similar dispositional factors, but we focused more on...

Decisions can sometimes feel really difficult, but we can't escape making choices- we make them almost every day, whether it is as mundane as which coffee brand to buy, or what to eat, or as serious as a medical professional making a tricky diagnosis from an X-ray for a tumour. People may have to choose between taking a cab and a bus during an important meeting while also trying to save money. These choices have one thing in common: a feeling of uncertainty (sometimes more intense than others), and this can become complicated by our own personalities, our life experiences, and the distractions surrounding us. When we have to choose between the bus and the cab, we may have to factor in our anxiety levels, our priorities (like saving money), the weather, the risk of being late and other related factors, if we want to reach our office on time (the goal we want to achieve). Based on these factors alone, we might make different choices. This is where Signal Detection Theory ...

 

  Note: This short story is not a replacement for therapy, an official diagnostic tool, or other interventions. The information I share in this short story is based on research papers, articles, chapters, and my experience as a therapist. However, what I write here may not address your specific questions or concerns; this is generalised information. The characters I mention here and the story itself are completely fictional, so any resemblance to reality is coincidental. All the artwork and charts are mine, so please use them only for personal use. Please do reach out to someone for assistance if you believe you need it. We deserve all the help and resources that we need! "...Everything is fine. Everything... is fine...", Jen kept on chanting these words to herself as if willing them to become muscle memory. But the longer she paced around the room, chanting monotonously, the more doubtful she became of how fine everything actually was. 25 year old Jen took a moment to stop p...

  Short Story: Neha's Journey Note: This short story was originally published on another website, Milyin . That website has since been shut down. I have decided to republish my short story here with some edits and new artworks. This, and the previous version of the story, are my original works. This short story is fictional, and any character or situation mentioned here is not real. The short story mentions topics/concepts related to mental health, and any resemblance to personal experiences is coincidental. "Ring Ring Ring.." The bell hadn't even stopped ringing, and all the students were already running out of the class, impatient to avoid letting any teacher take away their recess time. Well, actually, all but one student had left the class. Neha was still sitting in her chair, staring out of the window- she had been doing that often lately. At first, it was because staring out the window helped her calm down; I mean, who doesn't feel calm when they stare at ...

Note: This blog post is not a replacement for therapy or other interventions. The information I share here is based on research papers, articles, chapters, and my experience as a therapist. However, what I write here may not address your specific questions or address your specific concerns; this is general information. Please reach out to someone for assistance if you believe you need it. We deserve all the help and resources that we need!     “Why do people have to be this lonely? What's the point of it all? Millions of people in this world, all of them yearning, looking to others to satisfy them, yet isolating themselves. Why? Was the earth put here just to nourish human loneliness?” ―  Haruki Murakami,  Sputnik Sweetheart  Loneliness is something that can exacerbate sadness, make life feel dreary, and the quiet feel like stretches of never-ending longing. But these are not just musings of worried family "tsk tsking" about youngsters these days staying in...

Do Gender Roles Influence Our Psychological Well-being? Pink and Blue gender reveal decor... Barbies or toy cars... nursing or engineering... gender roles seem to pervade every fabric of our society, and even when times have changed the rigidity of said roles, the weight of different gender roles relentlessly assert their presence. Other researchers in the field of social sciences and behaviour have argued whether nature or nurture influences gender roles, and psychologists have tried to look into their long-term effects on psychological well-being as well as mental health.  What are Gender Roles? Most of us will take up multiple social roles throughout our lives- and that doesn't just include our professional roles. In our personal lives, too, we take up the responsibilities of being a child, friend, partner, parent, and an individual beyond being a student or job-specific roles we take up. When we dive into these roles in our lives, it is hard to ignore the differences in the soc...

Every year, we celebrate World Mental Health Day on 10th October, where we focus on a common theme to work towards and improve upon the interventions provided to those who need them the most. This year's theme was (and will be): Mental Health in Humanitarian Emergencies. Note: This blog post is not a replacement for therapy or other interventions. The information I share here is based on research papers, articles, chapters and my experience as a therapist. But what I write here might not answer your specific questions or cover your specific concerns- this is general information. Please reach out to someone for assistance if you believe you need it. We deserve all the help and resources that we need! It feels like every other day now, when we check social media or the news and see reports on natural calamities or wars, panellists discussing about who is responsible, pictures of catastrophes being dissected, cameras panning into the hopeless, crying faces of people, the broken houses...

Note: This blog post is not a replacement for therapy or other interventions. The information I share here is based on research papers, articles, chapters and my experience as a therapist. But what I write here might not answer your specific questions or cover your specific concerns- this is general information. Please reach out to someone for assistance if you believe you need it. We deserve all the help and resources that we need! Have you ever watched a magnificent piece of art and found yourself getting teary-eyed, or watched something so funny that you were laughing at your workplace while your coworkers watched you incredulously, or felt a tightening in the chest and churning in your stomach before a major life event? All these and more happen because of... drumroll please... emotions.  When you read the APA Psychology Dictionary's definition of emotions, this is what is mentioned: "A complex reaction pattern, involving experiential, behavioural, and physiological elemen...