Dr. Gary Bell's Absurd Psychology

Technology addictions, also commonly known as digital addictions or internet addictions, are often overlooked due to the acceptance that society has placed on using digital devices.  Technology addictions often go unnoticed by loved ones because the addicted individual may appear as though they are tending to something important such as work-related tasks on their digital device, when in reality hiding behind the screen is something extraneous.  When a technological problem does develop and is noticed it is often not viewed as being an imminent risk akin to an addiction to alcohol or drugs because not only is it more acceptable, but it is also not viewed as being acute or deadly.  Despite these beliefs, pathological technology use can indeed be pervasive and detrimental to one’s health and wellbeing.  In a growing digital age there is a rapid expansion of digital use and subsequent potential for problematic pathological technology use to ensue. Tune in and learn all about how to recognize and control digital addition!

Talking about a past relationship is a tricky affair. What starts off as a fun round of twenty questions can turn into an icy chill in no time if you aren’t careful. Finding out more about past relationships is never a good thing, and yet, like all inquisitive fools, we go looking for dirt in our lover’s past. And when we do find the dirt, we dirty our hands and are left with a stench that lingers for a long time after the discovery. Talking about exes and past lovers may feel like a bag of bricks lifted off your back, but it may come back to haunt you again through your present lover. If your new lover has popped the past relationship question to you, and you find no way of avoiding it with a smile or a wink, perhaps you should learn how to talk about a past relationship and make sure you don’t find yourself in sticky ground by giving the wrong answers. Tune in and learn all about this resentment and how to heal and deal with it!

The psychedelic experience feels as though this self-referential moment-to-moment updating of the ego has suddenly disappeared. The perception of our familiar self vanishes. The name given to this experience is ego death or ego dissolution. This distortion of our subjective experience of self is central to the psychedelic experience. People describe ego-dissolution as a diminished sense of self and an increase in the feeling of being at one with the universe, an experience felt as enriching. The psychedelic experience also includes an increase in emotional empathy, the ability to respond to another’s mental state. People report a greatly enhanced sociability, as though they have “taken off the mask they wear around others,” or that the personal “wall” that separates them from others has fallen. Because our ego separates us from others, ego-dissolution causes us to feel much closer to other people, whether we know them well or not. Tune in and learn how psychedelics is changing the future of psychology!

Narcissism tends to develop in environments where there's a mix of both overindulgence and under-indulgence. Typically, it's an overindulgence in focusing on status, money, appearance, how things look to others or just to focus on external achievements, and there's an under-indulgence in teaching kids about compassion and empathy, really developing their sense of self and their self-esteem and connection to others. Tune in and learn all about how parents raise narcissists and how to prevent it!

Everybody gets depressed sometimes, typically in response to events or experiences in which goals go unmet and expectations are dashed, but such reactions tend to be short-lived. Depression is regarded as a disorder when low mood and other symptoms persist for more than two weeks. Mood dysregulation revealed by unrelenting sadness may be the sign most associated with depression, but the disorder can be reflected in impaired functioning in almost every system of the body, from sexual desire to pain perception. Because depression is complex and affects so many systems of the body, it has many manifestations, and which ones are most prominent can vary from person to person. According to the latest edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, widely used as a roadmap to diagnosis, depression can be considered an illness when at least five symptoms occur together for at least two weeks. tune in and learn how to recognize depression, heal and help people with it!

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills. The concept of the Dunning-Kruger effect is based on a 1999 paper by Cornell University psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. The pair tested participants on their logic, grammar, and sense of humor, and found that those who performed in the bottom quartile rated their skills far above average. For example, those in the 12th percentile self-rated their expertise to be, on average, in the 62nd percentile. The researchers attributed the trend to a problem of metacognition—the ability to analyze one’s own thoughts or performance. “Those with limited knowledge in a domain suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach mistaken conclusions and make regrettable errors, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it,” they wrote. Tune in and learn how pervasive this issue is in our world!

A near-death experience (NDE) is the conscious, semi-conscious or recollected experience of someone who is approaching or has temporarily begun the process of dying. An example is a cardiac arrest that is followed by resuscitation. People who recall near-death experiences have described perceiving a variety of surreal phenomena, such as seeing themselves from above or passing through a tunnel of light. Reports of these experiences sometimes include religious or spiritual interpretations and have fueled debates about whether a person’s consciousness can persist after death. Some scientists dispute that NDEs reflect post-mortem consciousness and have sought to explain them in terms of changes in brain function during the process of dying. This show is a dynamic scientific and psychological live in-depth interview with world re-known expert and author on NDE, Dr. Bruce (Charles) Greyson.

I feel dead inside is a statement you might hear people make or something that you may have felt yourself. For anyone who has never experienced it, feeling dead inside can be hard to imagine. And, those who have struggled with it might not always have the right words to explain the confusion, sadness, and numbness that comes with this feeling. The meaning of feeling dead inside is to find it difficult to process emotions like happiness and sadness. When you feel dead inside feelings take on the same dull tone and are hard to appreciate no matter the situation. Feeling dead inside might cause life to seem like a boring event, one that has no purpose or end in sight. It can cause a very detached approach to everyday life. Tune in and learn all about how to work through emptiness!

Groupthink is a phenomenon that occurs when a group of well-intentioned people makes irrational or non-optimal decisions spurred by the urge to conform or the belief that dissent is impossible. The problematic or premature consensus that is characteristic of groupthink may be fueled by a particular agenda—or it may be due to group members valuing harmony and coherence above critical thought. The term “groupthink” was first introduced in the November 1971 issue of Psychology Today by psychologist Irving Janis. Janis had conducted extensive research on group decision-making under conditions of stress. Tune in and learn how group think has taken over our politics, life, education and destiny!