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Psychology Topics: Exploring the Full Spectrum of Human Experience

Diverse Subjects in Mental Health and Behavioral Science

Welcome to Taproot Therapy Collective’s comprehensive exploration of psychology topics spanning the breadth of human experience, from fundamental concepts like memory and emotion to specialized areas like forensic psychology and environmental mental health. Our psychology topics content covers both foundational knowledge and emerging areas that shape contemporary understanding of mind and behavior.

What You’ll Find in These Articles

Our psychology topics articles cover major areas including developmental psychology across the lifespan, social psychology and group dynamics, cognitive psychology and learning processes, and abnormal psychology and mental health conditions. We explore specialized fields like health psychology, sports psychology, and positive psychology while examining how different areas interconnect and inform each other.

You’ll discover content on current research findings, psychological phenomena that affect daily life, and explanations of complex concepts made accessible to general readers. We cover everything from attachment theory and personality development to decision-making biases and stress responses, providing both theoretical understanding and practical applications.

Connecting Theory with Real-World Applications

These pieces bridge academic psychology with practical implications for mental health and wellbeing, showing how research findings inform the therapeutic approaches detailed on our main services page. We explore how understanding psychological principles enhances self-awareness, relationships, and life satisfaction while connecting individual topics to broader patterns in human behavior.

Our content addresses contemporary issues through psychological lenses, examining how digital technology affects cognition, how cultural changes impact mental health, and how psychological knowledge applies to current social and personal challenges.

Birmingham Community Applications

Our articles often explore how various psychology topics relate to Birmingham’s community context, examining local mental health trends, cultural factors that influence psychological experience, and how regional characteristics shape the application of psychological principles in Alabama.

Contact Taproot Therapy Collective: 📍 2025 Shady Crest Dr. Suite 203, Hoover, AL 35216
📞 (205) 598-6471
🌐 www.GetTherapyBirmingham.com
🎧 Podcast: gettherapybirmingham.podbean.com

Discover + Heal + Grow with Taproot Therapy Collective – Birmingham’s resource for exploring diverse psychology topics and their applications to understanding human experience.

Understanding Locus of Control in Trauma Therapy: A Framework for Healing

Understanding Locus of Control in Trauma Therapy: A Framework for Healing

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When working with trauma survivors, particularly those who experienced childhood trauma, therapists often encounter distinct patterns in how clients assign responsibility for their experiences. This framework, centered around the concept of locus of control, offers valuable insights for both therapists and clients navigating the complex journey of trauma recovery. What is Locus of Control? Locus of control refers to where individuals place responsibility for events in their lives. Think of it as the "center of...

The Weaponization of Collective Trauma: Understanding Digital-Age Psychological Manipulation

The Weaponization of Collective Trauma: Understanding Digital-Age Psychological Manipulation

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How Modern Data Mining and Microtargeting Exploit Our Deepest Wounds A Clinical Perspective on the Intersection of Trauma, Technology, and Political Manipulation In the therapy room, we witness daily how trauma shapes perception, decision-making, and emotional regulation. We understand that unresolved wounds create vulnerabilities—moments where the past hijacks the present, where fear overrides logic, where the body remembers what the mind tries to forget. What we're only beginning to grasp is how these same...

Is My Friend or Business Partner a Con Artist?

Is My Friend or Business Partner a Con Artist?

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Understanding the Psychology Behind Deception and Emotional Manipulation Have you ever wondered if your business partner is a con artist? Perhaps you've noticed a pattern where their stories don't quite add up, where their accomplishments seem to exist only in conversation, or where every failure has an elaborate explanation that somehow positions them as the victim. Maybe you've watched them charm their way through situations with nothing but words, leaving you with an uneasy feeling that something fundamental...

The Wounded Healer: Navigating Trauma, Intuition, and Projection in the Helping Professions

The Wounded Healer: Navigating Trauma, Intuition, and Projection in the Helping Professions

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The Chiron Paradox In the constellation of Greek mythology, few figures embody the paradox of human suffering and healing as profoundly as Chiron, the wounded healer. Unlike his brutish centaur kin, Chiron was wise, gentle, and skilled in the arts of medicine, music, and prophecy. Yet he carried within himself an unhealable wound—struck by a poisoned arrow, he lived in perpetual pain despite his vast knowledge of healing arts. This mythological figure serves as a powerful metaphor for a phenomenon deeply embedded...

Joseph LeDoux and the Revolution in Trauma Therapy:

Joseph LeDoux and the Revolution in Trauma Therapy:

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 Understanding Memory Reconsolidation and the Neuroscience Behind Experiential Healing  A Paradigm Shift in Understanding Emotional Memory For decades, the field of psychology operated under the assumption that emotional memories, particularly traumatic ones, were indelible marks on the psyche—permanent scars that could perhaps be managed but never truly erased. Joseph LeDoux, a pioneering neuroscientist at New York University, has fundamentally challenged this view through his groundbreaking research on the...

Beyond PTSD: Rethinking Trauma Diagnosis Through Memory Systems and Targeted Treatment

Beyond PTSD: Rethinking Trauma Diagnosis Through Memory Systems and Targeted Treatment

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The Limitations of Current Trauma Diagnosis   Leading trauma experts Gabor Maté and Bessel van der Kolk have long argued that the DSM-5's approach to trauma diagnosis fails to capture the complexity of how trauma manifests in different memory systems and psychological processes. As van der Kolk notes in "The Body Keeps the Score," trauma isn't a singular experience but rather a constellation of disruptions across multiple domains of functioning. Similarly, Maté emphasizes in his work on trauma and addiction...

Is EMDR Pseudoscience? Is EMDR Evidence Based?

Is EMDR Pseudoscience? Is EMDR Evidence Based?

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The Complex Reality of EMDR in Clinical Practice Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) occupies a unique and controversial position in the landscape of trauma therapy. While some practitioners report remarkable results, researchers often express skepticism about its mechanisms calling it a purple hat therapy and effectiveness. This divide between clinical experience and research findings reveals important truths about how we understand and treat trauma. Understanding EMDR's Mixed Reception EMDR...

The Weird History of Psychotherapy Part 1: A Different Version of Your Dad

The Weird History of Psychotherapy Part 1: A Different Version of Your Dad

The Wounded Healer: How Freud's Trauma Shaped Modern Psychology Understanding the Origins of Psychoanalysis Through the Lens of Its Founder's Unresolved Wounds The story of Sigmund Freud is not merely the biography of psychology's most famous figure—it's a cautionary tale about how unhealed trauma can shape an entire field of study. When we examine Freud's life through a psychodynamic lens, we see how his personal wounds became the blueprint for psychoanalysis, ultimately creating a system that reflected his own...

Teyber’s Interpersonal Process in Therapy:

Teyber’s Interpersonal Process in Therapy:

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Buy the Book  How Edward Teyber's Revolutionary Approach Transformed My Journey from Anxious Student to Confident Therapist I still remember sitting in my social work school classroom, frantically taking notes on CBT protocols and DBT worksheets, feeling increasingly overwhelmed with each passing lecture. The more theoretical models and manualized treatments I learned, the more confused I became about how I would ever actually sit down with a real human being and do therapy. My notebooks were filled with...

The Evolution of Addiction Recovery: How Jungian Psychology is Creating Deeper, More Sustainable Healingaft

The Evolution of Addiction Recovery: How Jungian Psychology is Creating Deeper, More Sustainable Healingaft

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In the landscape of addiction recovery, a quiet revolution is taking place. While traditional 12-step programs continue to serve as crucial foundations for early sobriety, a growing number of treatment professionals are recognizing that lasting recovery requires something deeper—a transformation at the soul level that goes far beyond behavior modification. Corey Gamberg, Executive Director of Rockland Recovery Treatment Centers in Massachusetts, represents this new wave of thinking. His approach integrates...

The Landscape of Personality Psychology: A Comprehensive Review of Key Thinkers, Theories, and Models

The Landscape of Personality Psychology: A Comprehensive Review of Key Thinkers, Theories, and Models

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Personality psychology is a rich and diverse field that seeks to understand the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that make each individual unique. Over the past century, numerous thinkers have proposed theories and models to explain the complex nature of human personality, each emphasizing different aspects of psychological functioning and drawing upon various research methods. This article provides a comprehensive review of the key pioneers, perspectives, and paradigms that have shaped the landscape...

Lifespan Integration Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Timeline-Based Healing

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Lifespan Integration Therapy: A Comprehensive Guide to Timeline-Based Healing An in-depth exploration of Lifespan Integration therapy, its principles, protocols, and effectiveness for trauma healing. What is Lifespan Integration Therapy? Lifespan Integration (LI) is an innovative therapeutic approach that has emerged as a powerful modality for healing trauma and promoting neural integration. Developed by Peggy Pace in the early 2000s, LI has evolved significantly through collaborative refinement into a...

Who was Mesmer and WHat is Animal Magnetism?

Who was Mesmer and WHat is Animal Magnetism?

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From Mesmerism to Modern Psychotherapy: The Enduring Legacy of Franz Anton Mesmer and the Importance of Empirical Validation Franz Anton Mesmer, the 18th-century German physician, is often considered the father of modern hypnosis. His theory of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, posited that an invisible, universal fluid connected all living beings and could be harnessed for healing purposes. While his ideas were initially met with skepticism and ultimately discredited by a commission led by Benjamin Franklin,...

Trauma and The Double Bind: Learned Helplessness

Trauma and The Double Bind: Learned Helplessness

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Understanding the Lasting Impacts of Toxic Relationships The double bind theory, first proposed by Gregory Bateson and his colleagues in the 1950s, describes a type of dysfunctional communication and relationship pattern that can have devastating psychological consequences. When a person, often a child, repeatedly receives conflicting messages and finds themselves in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" type of situation, it creates what is known as a "double bind." What is the Double Bind? In a double bind...

Reclaiming the Soul of Psychology: Recentering the Study of Consciousness in Psychotherapy

Reclaiming the Soul of Psychology: Recentering the Study of Consciousness in Psychotherapy

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Psychology, as a field, stands at a critical juncture. Over the past few decades, the focus has shifted away from the fundamental nature of human consciousness and towards a more mechanistic, symptom-focused approach to mental health. Manualized therapies, diagnostic checklists, and a preoccupation with "evidence-based" practices have come to dominate the landscape, threatening to reduce the rich tapestry of human experience to a set of computerized algorithms. As a graduate student, I remember feeling a deep...

The Healing Power of Humor: Finding Light in the Darkness of Trauma

The Healing Power of Humor: Finding Light in the Darkness of Trauma

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The Counterintuitive Role of Humor in Trauma Recovery There exists a seeming paradox in the realm of trauma therapy: the juxtaposition of humor against the backdrop of suffering. For those grappling with PTSD and the horrific aspects of life that create it, the idea of finding anything funny may feel not just counterintuitive but downright impossible. Yet humor, used skilfully, is one of the most powerful tools we have for exploring and integrating even the darkest of human experiences. Stand-Up Comedians:...

Unlocking the Power of Ericksonian Hypnosis: Crafting Personalized Guided Meditations

Unlocking the Power of Ericksonian Hypnosis: Crafting Personalized Guided Meditations

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How to do Guided Meditation with Clients The renowned psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson was known for his unconventional yet highly effective approach to hypnosis and psychotherapy. One famous anecdote illustrates the essence of his technique: As recounted by Erickson's protégé Jeffrey Zeig, Erickson once watched Zeig, then a graduate student, prepare to smoke a pipe before a therapy session. Erickson proceeded to tell an elaborate, hour-long story about a friend who was hopelessly awkward with every aspect of pipe...

On Intuition and Trauma:

On Intuition and Trauma:

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Neurobiological Intersections and Mistaken Identities Intuition vs. Trauma One of the most common questions that I get as a trauma therapist is "How do you deal with all the crazy people that believe (insert X here) about politics, religion and conspiracy theories. It's a fair question because I work by connecting patients back to their empowered intution and teaching them to tell the difference between it and their own unconcious trauma and the avvoidance and biases itt creates. People are often shockesd to hear...

Micronutrition for Mental Health: Treating ASD, ADHD, AUDHD and more!

Micronutrition for Mental Health: Treating ASD, ADHD, AUDHD and more!

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Vitamin A (as beta-carotene) Vitamin A, particularly in its beta-carotene form, plays a crucial role in brain development and function. This powerful antioxidant helps protect brain cells from oxidative stress, which has been linked to various mental health disorders like depression, anxiety, and neurodegenerative diseases. Beta-carotene is a provitamin A carotenoid that the body converts into retinol, the active form of vitamin A. It is abundant in orange and green vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots,...

Turning Anger Into a Signpost: Understanding and Channeling Your Rage

Turning Anger Into a Signpost: Understanding and Channeling Your Rage

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How can I get over on Past Anger? Anger is a powerful and often misunderstood emotion. Many of us have been taught to view anger as a purely negative force - something to be suppressed, avoided, or released in cathartic outbursts. But what if anger could be more than just a destructive impulse? What if it could serve as a signpost, pointing us towards important truths about ourselves and our relationships to the world around us? At its core, anger is a signal that there is a mismatch between our inner experience...

Generational Cycles and Parts-Based Therapy: Understanding Generational Differences as Overreactions

Generational Cycles and Parts-Based Therapy: Understanding Generational Differences as Overreactions

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The Generational Cycles of Trauma: A Parts-Based Perspective It has long been pointed out be different schools of therapy that the patterns that repeat in the individual psyche on a micro level also mirror the family system at a mezzo and the society at a macro level. Parts-based therapy, a post-jungian modality rooted in the recognition of distinct internalized aspects of the self, offers a valuable lens through which to understand these generational cycles. Parts-based therapies represent an evolution of...

Intuition or Magic? The Brainstem-Intuition Connection

Intuition or Magic? The Brainstem-Intuition Connection

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 Unlocking the Power of Unconscious Processing and Pattern Recognition in the Context of Trauma What does the Subcorticle Brain Have to do with Intuition? The brainstem, often overshadowed by the more prominent prefrontal cortex, plays a crucial role in rapid, unconscious information processing. This processing forms the foundation for intuition and deep pattern recognition, abilities that can feel almost supernatural or spiritual in their accuracy and insight. Recent research has begun to uncover the complex...

Breaking Free from the Patterns of Narcissistic Abuse: Understanding the Lasting Impact

Breaking Free from the Patterns of Narcissistic Abuse: Understanding the Lasting Impact

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"Faustus: Stay, Mephistophilis, and tell me, what good will my soul do thy lord? Mephistophilis: Enlarge his kingdom. Faustus: Is that the reason why he tempts us thus? Mephistophilis: Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris. (It is a comfort to the wretched to have companions in misery.)" Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus Narcissistic abuse is a particularly insidious form of emotional and psychological manipulation that can have profound and long-lasting effects on its survivors. Unlike physical abuse, which...

Recognizing the Unconscious Ways Childhood Trauma Still Shapes Your Life

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"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds." Laurell K. Hamilton, Mistral's Kiss Childhood trauma casts a long shadow. Even if we can't remember the specifics of what happened to us, or even if we think we've "gotten over it," the impact of early trauma has a way of sneaking into our adult lives in subtle but profound ways. This is because trauma, especially when it occurs during the critical developmental years of childhood, doesn't just affect us...

Existential Therapy and the Search for Meaning After Loss

Existential Therapy and the Search for Meaning After Loss

How can Existential Therapy Help? Loss is an inevitable part of the human condition. Whether through death, separation, or the myriad other ways in which life can strip us of what we hold dear, loss is a universal experience that touches every heart. And yet, despite its universality, the pain of loss is always profoundly personal. It is a unique kind of suffering that can shake the very foundations of our world, leaving us feeling lost, groundless, and alone. In the midst of this existential crisis, it is...

How Somatic Therapy Can Help You Process Trauma Stored in the Body

How Somatic Therapy Can Help You Process Trauma Stored in the Body

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How Does Somatic Therapy Heal Trauma? Trauma is not just a psychological experience; it is a full-body experience. When we undergo a traumatic event, the impact is not confined to our thoughts and emotions, but is also deeply encoded in our physical being. Our bodies remember, even when our conscious minds may not. This understanding is at the heart of somatic therapy, a branch of psychotherapy that focuses on the interconnection of mind and body in the healing of trauma. Somatic therapists recognize that trauma...

Healing from Self-Sabotage

Healing from Self-Sabotage

Parts-Based Therapy and the Inner Critic Have you ever noticed a harsh, critical voice in your head that seems to constantly put you down? A voice that tells you you're not good enough, smart enough, attractive enough, or worthy enough? If so, you're not alone. This inner critic is a common experience for many people, and it can have a profound impact on mental health, self-esteem, and overall well-being. From the perspective of parts-based therapies like Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Voice Dialogue, this...

How do Archetypes Show Up in Relationships

How do Archetypes Show Up in Relationships

  The Role of Archetypes in Romantic Relationships: A Jungian Perspective on Love and Loss Love is one of the great mysteries and marvels of the human experience. It is a force that has inspired countless poems, songs, and stories throughout history, and that continues to shape our lives in profound and often unexpected ways. At the same time, love is also a source of some of our deepest pain and struggle. When relationships fail, when hearts are broken, we are confronted with equally profound feelings of...

How Family Scripts Can Control Your Life

How Family Scripts Can Control Your Life

Unpacking Family Scripts: How Your Childhood Narratives Shape Your Present The stories we tell ourselves about our lives are powerful. They shape our sense of identity, our relationships, and our very experience of reality. And perhaps no stories are more formative than the ones we inherit from our families of origin - the scripts that were written for us long before we had the awareness or agency to question them. Family scripts are the unspoken rules, roles, and narratives that govern how a family system...

How Childhood Religious Trauma can go Unnoticed

How Childhood Religious Trauma can go Unnoticed

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How Religious Trauma Shapes Your Adult Relationships and Self-Perception Religious trauma is a deeply wounding experience that can have far-reaching effects on an individual's emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being. It is a complex phenomenon that often occurs in the context of authoritarian, fear-based religious environments that prioritize rigid doctrine over individual autonomy and critical thinking. At its core, religious trauma represents a profound betrayal of trust. When a religious institution...

Recognizing the Lasting Influence of Narcissistic Abuse in Your Life

Recognizing the Lasting Influence of Narcissistic Abuse in Your Life

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How Can you Heal Narcissistic Abuse in Therapy? "I care for myself. The more solitary, the more friendless, the more unsustained I am, the more I will respect myself." -Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë Narcissistic abuse is a form of emotional and psychological manipulation that can leave deep, enduring scars on a person's psyche. It's a kind of soul wound that impacts every aspect of one's being - from self-image and interpersonal relationships to the very sense of reality itself. When you've been subjected to...

How can therapy help you overcome a breakup?

How can therapy help you overcome a breakup?

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When everything broken is broken, and everything dead is dead, and the hero has looked into the mirror with complete contempt, and the heroine has studied her face and its defects remorselessly, and the pain they thought might, as a token of their earnestness, release them from themselves has lost its novelty and not released them, and they have begun to think, kindly and distantly, watching the others go about their days— likes and dislikes, reasons, habits, fears— that self-love is the one weedy stalk of every...

What is Emotion?

What is Emotion?

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Emotion: A Conjunction of Inner and Outer Spheres James Hillman's book Emotion: A Comprehensive Phenomenology of Theories and Models presents a philosophical and psychological exploration of emotions, investigating them not as mere physiological responses but as integral aspects of human experience and soul life (Hillman, 1960). Hillman critiques the way traditional psychology and psychiatry have often treated emotions in mechanistic, reductive ways, urging instead a deeper understanding of emotions as vital...

The Anima of the Great Gatsby and the Animus of History

The Anima of the Great Gatsby and the Animus of History

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  The Expansive Decadent Ego of the Animus and the Introspective Bust and Decline of the Anima as Parts of Empire Cultures wax and wane. Empires that seem like part of the cosmos itself fall like gunshot victims into a pool or lines on a bar chart. It is the rare work that can speak to both the sparkle of spectacle and the timeless inevitable real it distracts us from. The Great Gatsby was an immediate success and then forgotten and then rediscovered. It was forgotten because the Jazz age was a, beautiful...

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