Psyche Magazine
A magazine to help you understand yourself and live well.
- In this delightful animation, the US photographer and filmmaker Josephine Sittenfeld digs into a curiosity many of us can likely relate to: who is her therapist Linda outside of her treatment room? Here are the small hints at Linda’s private life that she’s collected
- To study the nature of transcendent spiritual experiences, the psychology researcher Mohammadamin Saraei radically re-designed his research to move away from the lab and out into the world. His findings widen our lens on spirituality from the brain to a whole community
- The personal essay can sometimes get a bad rap – too confessional, too self-involved. But Psyche’s Life Stories editor Alizeh Kohari is here to change your mind: personal essays capture something essential about our shared humanity, finding the universal in the personal psyche.co/life-stories
- Having cruised through her teenage years with remarkably clear skin, the writer Krystal Sital viewed makeup as frivolous and vain. So it came as a surprise to everyone – and most of all herself – when she found herself turning to the beauty aisle for comfort after her lupus diagnosis
- Snorkelling at the most unassuming of beaches can teach us about slowing down and noticing the small spectacles unfolding everywhere
- This Guide by psychologist Julie K Norem identifies some of the most common planning pitfalls, and suggests that the strategy of ‘defensive pessimism’ can help you plan more realistically and effectively
- In this tenderly shot portrait of the acclaimed Latin American ballet dancer Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, the Berlin-based film maker Veronika Pokoptceva captures what goes into the seemingly effortless perfection of a ballet performance
- One evening, Kathleen Donohoe looked into her grandfather’s blue eyes, the two of them joined by her dog Mindy in her bedroom. This seemingly unremarkable scene is so indelibly etched into her memory because of one detail: her grandfather had been dead for over ten
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- We’re often told that speaking up is the path to healing. In this Idea, a philosopher of psychiatry asks us to pause and reconsider that assumption. He explores when talking helps, when it harms, and why making space for quiet can be an act of care in itself
- Attachment theory is often oversimplified by focusing only on our parents. But in this Note to Self, Psyche editor Matt Huston contemplates research that found even our friendships with our peers shape how we relate to others as we grow up
- At age 13, Andrea Dorfman first tried shaving her legs together with a friend – the operative word there being ‘tried’. In this charmingly animated, award-winning short film, Dorfman documents her changing relationship with her leg hair and how it has fundamentally shaped her self image
- We often try escaping the stress-inducing business of the city by going into nature. But what if that’s not an option? In this Psyche Idea, Zsanett Ritli suggests that nature isn’t the only place to find stillness: it can be constructed by humans, through art and architecture
- What makes a life meaningful? Launching today, our new monthly Psyche Portraits explore this question through longform profiles. Our first Portrait is of Steve Schwartzberg, a Harvard psychologist-turned-sexual healer, whom the writer Andrew Lawler spoke with through his final months
- Tapping into his audience’s innate musicality, the musician Bobby McFerrin conducts an impromptu choir using an unconventional method: hopping around on stage. Discover the power of the pentatonic scale in this amusing video, taken at the World Science Festival
- For children of immigrant families, the challenges can be numerous and overwhelming, and often their identity becomes tied to their self-sufficiency and achievements. How can someone break free from the pattern of conflating excelling with self-worth and ‘fitting in’ with success?
- In a world characterised by uncertainty, speed and ceaseless attempts to hijack our attention, The Icelandic concept of InnSæi can help us stay consciously and courageously anchored to our inner compass while adjusting to new realities. This Guide will show you how
- Breaking down the neurophysiology behind our reactions in heated arguments – the sensation of ‘losing your cool’ – the psychiatrist Tracey Marks explains how we can turn conflict into an opportunity for growth in a relationship in this calming and instructive video
- Talking to the writer Kiprop Kimutai, the Kenyan disability rights advocate Sauda tells the story of how her adoptive mother’s tough but loving guidance helped her find her own path in a world not always ready to accommodate her @tirobon.bsky.social
- You’ve probably heard it said that willpower is like a muscle. Use it too much and it gets fatigued. But, studies show that this model doesn’t fit how people’s willpower actually works. Instead, moments of distraction may reflect natural transitions in the cognitive system
- It is easy to write something off as ‘not for you’ if the first impression is less than ideal – whether that be for foods, workout classes, styles of dress, or even dates. But there is value in trying things twice, and applying this motto may even cause a shift in your personality
- Since childhood, artist and mudlark Marie-Louise Plum has been drawn to symbolic, physical objects as something solid to cling to in a changing and uncertain world. But is holding onto artefacts from other peoples lives holding her back from facing her own past?
- What is team spirit? The force that binds some teams can feel elusive – something you either have or you don’t. But that assumption misses the point. In this Guide, an expert in teamwork, negotiation and collaboration draws on research and real-world examples to show how team spirit is built
- In Manhattan, where driving is a game of inches, one teacher’s reputation precedes her. ‘Shanti Rides Shotgun’ is a vivid portrait of Shanti Gooljar, a driving teacher with more than 30 years of experience, a near-perfect pass rate, a cigarette in hand, colourful language, and a whole lot of charm
- Hannah Arendt understood something radical: ‘Instead of being born with an innate dignity, its existence hinges on external conditions. We must, therefore, continually practise dignity’ @christateston.bsky.social
- In this Aeon Original video interview, Nigel Warburton speaks with the neuroscientist and Aeon author Anil Seth, winner of the 2025 Berggruen Prize Essay Competition, about what consciousness is and how our understanding of it has shifted in recent decades @nigelwarburton.bsky.social
- In this as-told-to piece, a neuroscientist reflects on losing close family members to cancer while she was still young, an experience that left her bracing indefinitely for her own diagnosis, and seeking a way to live well under that shadow
- If you’ve ever experienced change as an unwelcome force that unsettles your emotional balance, this Guide by a clinical psychologist offers ways to respond differently. Learn how to face change with acceptance and adaptation
- If you’ve ever experienced change as an unwelcome force that unsettles your emotional balance, this Guide by a clinical psychologist offers ways to respond differently. Learn how to face change with acceptance and adaptation
- Nike has just released its first ever range of ‘mind-altering’ shoes, which promise to help connect your body with your brain and tune you in to the present moment. But is any of it real? The remarkable thing about the placebo effect is that it doesn’t really matter
- ‘We want to be who we are. We would just like to lose less for being it’. In this moving account, the writer and academic coach Pamela Swanigan reflects on her childhood and the racist bullying and isolation she encountered as her family moved from place to place
- At a time when making health choices is complicated by the amount of information we are exposed to on a daily basis, it is understandable that we have come to form a ‘naturalness bias’. But is there a better, more nuanced, way to make these decisions?
- In this tender portrait, filmmaker Leonard Kamerling profiles Ryan Matthews, an artist who has been captivated by machines since childhood. Working out of his one-room cabin, Matthews creates art that reflects his sensitivity to these machines and their ‘souls’
- We have all been ghosted. Indeed, most of us have probably ghosted somebody in turn. Despite the hurt and confusion it may cause, is such behaviour just an inevitable byproduct of an overly social and overburdened world?
- Our capacity for neuroplasticity is essential for us to learn, but can we influence the process? In this BBC News series, Melissa Hogenboom ventured to find out – joining a six-week programme to restructure her brain through mindfulness @melissa-hogenboom.bsky.social
- Reflecting on how his complicated relationship with exercise interacted and transformed with his transition, de Vries tells a story sparkling with sensory detail and – ultimately – joy
- It can be comforting to think of your ‘self’ as separate from the world, but the German philosopher Martin Heidegger argued that it is a fantasy. This striking Idea invites us to enjoy the adventure of being ‘always essentially outdoors’
- Madison Lamb’s life was forever altered by a drive-by shooting which left her with crippling PTSD. She was losing hope in the system when she discovered transcranial magnetic stimulation, a life-changing treatment that could finally give her the chance to heal
- When it comes to OCD compulsions, what seems horrible to one person might seem innocuous to the next, and looking to the past offers another dimension of this multiplicity
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- Through muted colours, elegant hand-drawn animation and lyrical storytelling in ‘Malá/The Little One’, filmmaker Diana Cam Van Nguyen animates her own coming-of-age as a ‘third culture kid’ growing up in the Czech Republic, far from Vietnam which her parents always regarded as home
- Have you ever suddenly snapped back to attention and realised your mind had been completely empty? This Idea by neuroscientist Thomas Andrillon dives into the phenomenon known as ‘mind blanking’ and asks what these moments of apparent nothingness can tell us about consciousness itself
- Inspired by an ancient piece of Sámi rock art in Norway, the artist Rémy Noë set out to create a connection between the deep past and the deep future. In this meditative and tactile piece, Noë details the process of creating a petroglyph of his own
- Rest is essential to a good life. Learning to recharge is a skill that will allow you to enjoy a more creative, sustainable life. Today’s editor’s pick shows you how to harvest the benefits of rest – a reminder we need more than ever over the Christmas season
- As we settle into a new year, this stunningly shot short by Mykhailo Bogdanov invites us to take a moment and enjoy the ‘avoesis’ – a term coined by the ecologist Liam Heneghan to describe a ‘form of quietness, one that is not precisely silence’. Come along for a wander in avoesis
- How do you select a bottle of wine that you’ll enjoy? In this guide, a Master of Wine offers advice on how to forget wine snobbery and develop your own distinctive taste
- What could a new step family need more than a high-energy, difficult-to-train puppy? Reflecting on the first years of Elsa’s life – first exploding like a grenade, then settling into a highly active routine – this Turning Point makes for a perfect family holiday read
- Do we really get sluggish and depressed in winter? Tim Brennen, a psychology professor who moved to Tromsø, Norway – 350 km north of the Arctic Circle, where the sun doesn’t rise for two months – decided to find out in this Idea. His research suggests the mind adjusts to darkness in unexpected ways
- Looking for some motivation for your new year’s resolutions? Maybe GOD could help? The GOD principle – guts, organisation and determination – is an excellent way to tackle ‘pretty much anything you set your mind to in life’. Find out how in this Guide
- ‘The aroma of this house was beautiful … I felt life, a very healthy life, being led in that space.’ Moving gently through memory, photographs and stillness, the film becomes a sensorial meditation on time, craftsmanship and connection, revealing how a home can shape the lives within it
- If you’ve ever moved to a beat, joined in a chorus or felt your heart quicken to the lyrics of a song, you’ve felt the power of music. Everyone can make music, and this Guide will show you how
- In this charming MoMA tutorial, artist Bix Archer takes her practice into the museum’s sculpture garden, exploring plein-air drawing amid shifting light, movement and reflections. She places the practice in a rich artistic lineage and frames outdoor drawing as a deeply embodied experience
