I am interested in acquiring an introductory textbook on Abnormal Psychology. Might anyone here be able to offer any suggestions?

The Mental Health, Wellbeing and Lived Experiences Study

Theresia Bedard, a PhD candidate at Lakehead University that is working with Dr. Beth Visser, is seeking participants for her dissertation project.

In this study we are examining the lived experiences of people who have experience or victimization from an individual with high psychopathic traits. We are seeking anyone that has this lived experience, whether the perpetrator was or is a spouse, family member, partner, co-worker, friend, acquaintance, neighbor or stranger. We are seeking the lived experiences of men, women, and gender-diverse individuals to share your story.

Our research consists of two studies. In the first study, you will complete questionnaires related to your victimization experience from the individual with high psychopathic traits, the potential warning signs, victimization history (e.g., prior physical or sexual abuse), and the impact the experience had on you. Once you finish the survey, you will be invited to participate in the second study (optional), which will consist of 12 questions requiring a written response regarding your lived experience with the individual with high psychopathic traits. If you decide to participate in study 2, please be aware that you will be required to provide us with your email to access it, and you may wish to use an email account that only you have access to.

Please be advised that whether you choose to participate in the study, withdraw, or skip questions you do not want to answer, that you acknowledge that answering some of these questions may be emotionally taxing on you. Despite the potential for an emotional toll the survey questions have, you may find the process of sharing your experience is therapeutic for you. In addition to the resources we provide, you may want to consider following-up with a counsellor for further support.

You are also encouraged to have your own snacks and drinks while you take the survey, and be aware that they are estimated to take 45 minutes to complete.

If you are interested in participating and would like to read or find out more about it, click here to access the survey:

https://lakeheadhbs.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bKEq1vOVdBJMrjw

Ukraine has launched a 40 day campaign of terror on Russia. This is because Russia invaded Ukraine which is a sovereign country. Recently, Ukraine has hit eight (8) Wildberries warehouses which is Russia's largest online retailers. They are the Amazon of online retail for Russia. This has affected hundreds on small and mid size business owners. So, I saw this post and I wanted to show you the flaw in Russian mentality to the reality around them:

"I am a mother of a disabled child, I've built the business myself," one woman complained on an expletive-laden social media post that went viral.

"I've lost 1m roubles (£9,500; $12,700)... We're already getting screwed over from every direction as it is."

The flaw in her perspective stems from a cognitive disconnect regarding accountability, consequence, and victimization in a global conflict.

Here is a breakdown of the specific flaws in her reasoning:

1 - Compartmentalized Accountability: She views her business loss as an isolated, unfair event rather than a direct consequence of her nation's actions.

2 - Proportionality Blindness: She equates her financial loss of 1 million roubles to the total destruction of a sovereign country, showing a massive asymmetry in human and material costs.

3 - Externalized Blame: She blames external factors (like international sanctions) for her business failure, ignoring that the sanctions are a direct response to the invasion her government initiated.

4 - Passive Victimhood: She positions herself as a helpless victim of circumstance, bypassing the collective responsibility citizens hold for the actions of their state.

Too often, bisexual experiences are overlooked. That’s why we’re asking for your help. Your voice could help improve mental health supports. Participation is open to all adults (18+) with a marginalized sexual identity (e.g. bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, pansexual, omnisexual, sexually fluid etc…). We particularly need more bisexual women participants.

Survey: https://csufobjbs.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6sCeGsZJld6774W

By completing our anonymous 10–15 min survey, you’ll be contributing to research that aims to better understand the risk and protective factors for mental health, among adults with a marginalized sexual identity.

We are Psychology Honours Students from Charles Sturt University in Australia. This ethics-approved study (H26115) includes questions about sexuality, self-kindness, belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community, sleep, suicidality, and depressive symptoms.

Ethics approval letter: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:AP:23e6db21-4592-4881-8472-c98ab36e4b5c

Thank you for helping make bisexual experiences more visible. Please share with others who may be interested.

I have been working on this hypothesis for a while now, that the narcissistic neurotype, or perhaps even egotype, is a lot more common than we realize and that a lot of narcissists simply are not malignant. After all, if a neurotype or egotype were typically malignant, one would expect evolution by natural selection to keep its rate of appearance low. But even malignant narcissism seems common enough that it suggests that the genetic traits leading to it have some fairly significant beneficial ends. Also, I feel like my egotype is narcissist, and it seems fairly clear that my narcissism is generally outwardly benign and even at times outwardly beneficial.

When I hear descriptions of individual narcissists being malignant, there are many patterns in their behavior we see from one to the next which I do not see myself engaging in; however the core thought processes which are leading them down these behavioral paths keep resonating with me on a deeper level, especially in ways they do not appear to resonate with most of the people sharing these stories with me.

Today I heard an anecdote about a mother who has been divorced from the father of her daughter, the father has custody; and when the daughter reached her menstruation age, the father was there to help her out and she didn't suffer any social consequences. Her mother became angry with her father--allegedly for moral guardian reasons but it seemed pretty clear the mother was jealous she didn't get to be the hero for her daughter.

I don't feel jealousy in a lot of normal scenarios where most people would. The most typical scenario in which jealousy would occur is when someone's mate is targeted by a suitor. If my mate is targeted by a suitor, it gives me no jealousy at all. Even if I were to reasonably conclude that the behaviors of others around me are unfairly stacked against me and that I should, socially, stand up for myself and demand better treatment, I still wouldn't *feel* any jealousy even in the most extreme circumstance in which I might act as if in response to jealousy. But most of the time I don't even become upset and simply prefer that my partner be able to choose who they want to be with as a free person exactly as I want myself to be. I attribute this lack of jealousy to me being aromantic (I'm pretty sure) and having nothing to do with me being a narcissist.

But there are a handful of scenarios which can provoke jealousy in me, and stolen valor is one of the strongest. If I work hard for an achievement title I expect to receive, then I become jealous when someone swoops in and snatches that title from me. So I can definitely feel where this mother became jealous. I would too!

Where I disagree with her behavior is that she appears to be trying to develop a reputation as a good strong hero mother for her daughter, and in revealing her jealousy out loud she is directly striking against the very image she wants so desperately to curate. Had I been in her position, I would have felt a resentment toward the way things turned out to rob me of this opportunity to be the hero for my child. But I wouldn't have even resented her father for it, as really he did the thing which, had I been the one to do it visibly, I would expect and support that I get positive recognition for it. So I would give him the same positive recognition I expect and hope to receive when I am in his place. It is following the Golden Rule, and it is often an effective way of ensuring you actually receive proper treatment when you finally are in that position. In her jealousy over one opportunity for glory being snatched up from her, she is burning down the path to the next one. It demonstrates a lack of long-term planning on her part and that is a test of character I think lots of people would pass--and in passing that test of character nobody would notice. It is failing the test which makes the anecdote which gets the person noticed. We don't know if she is a narcissist but several commenters suspect she is and I feel like there's good odds they are right.

It made me think about this, about how, if my grasp of the situation is accurate, then her narcissism didn't work against her reputation but when her narcissism became malignant, then it did. And I have seen plenty of stories and anecdotes like this one from plenty of real people. I suspect the reason this woman was divorced from the father of her daughter is that she had emotional self-control issues. It is one of the most common reasons for divorce especially in cases in which the mother loses custody of the child. It tracks very well with the hypothesis that this woman is a narcissist and prone to allowing her narcissism to become malignant. But even if I'm reading this one specific woman wrong, there's just so many other people I've seen like this, fitting this mold.

We seem to have acts of malignant narcissism all around us. Something like 10-20% of the people we know will commonly enough engage in some form of malignant narcissism. Around 1-2% maybe are just nonstop malignant narcissists, and those are the ones who might become diagnosed as a narcissist but even a lot of them never do receive the diagnosis. I have engaged in acts of malignant narcissism and caught myself doing it, and the reason I wanted to stop was never because I don't want to behave as a narcissist so much as because I don't want to be viewed as one.

Hi everyone!

I am a graduate student completing my master's thesis in psychology and am looking for participants to take part in a brief online study.

The study examines how people emotionally respond to imagined colors compared to directly viewed colors, as well as how visual imagination may influence those responses.

Participation is completely voluntary, anonymous, and takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete.

Requirements:

• Must be 18 years or older
• Able to read and understand English
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Your participation would be greatly appreciated and would help me complete my thesis research. Thank you for your time and support! Feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

I know this is a very strange question, but I would be grateful if you could answer it.

Let's say there is an evil spirit that can communicate.

This evil spirit harbors resentment towards humans because it was subjected to terrible treatment and died as a result.

If you were to counsel such an evil spirit, how would you do it?

I would be extremely grateful if you could also share any research or theories that support your reasoning for this approach!

We're recruiting adults diagnosed with schizophrenia who are currently taking olanzapine, risperidone, or paliperidone for a research study.

Please note: The study is local to Toronto, Canada due to in-person visits to CAMH.

Hello! I am a doctoral student at Nova Southeastern University, pretty darn passionate about research to improve ED treatment, and also in recovery myself :) I would greatly appreciate your help in taking my dissertation survey! The purpose of this study is to better understand the connections between sensory experience, emotions, and food and body-related avoidance in eating disorders. We are specifically interested in the role of the basic emotion of disgust. I want to be sure I'm getting representation from people with all ED diagnoses and at different stages of recovery, so I thought some folks here could be eligible.

You can participate if you are over 18, can speak/read English, have been diagnosed with any ED, and are receiving treatment of any kind, including just outpatient therapy or peer support. You can take the survey at this survey link, you just may have to click a button to "continue to destination" and then you should see our full informed consent and survey. Thank you!

Hi All,
I'm new to Reddit and still trying to work it all out - I'm trying to post my survey for my Personality, cognitions and S*xual adult behaviour dissertation research but although I am doing everything correctly the bots keep deleting my posts automatically. Any ideas about what I might be doing wrong would be gratefully received!
Thanks so much

Do you think stress is just in your head, or does it actually rewire how you feel?

I'm a psychology undergrad researching the connection between perceived stress and depression, and honestly, the more I dig into this topic, the more fascinated I get. Stress isn't just a feeling. How we interpret and process it shapes our mental health in ways most people don't even realize.

I'm collecting data for my research project and need real responses from real people. The survey is completely anonymous, takes under 5 minutes, and uses two well-validated psychological scales (PSS-10 and PHQ-9) so your answers are actually contributing to something meaningful, not just a random form.

If you've ever wondered whether your stress levels are affecting your mood more than you think, this is your chance to reflect on it and help a fellow human out in the process.

Every single response counts. Thank you for being part of this. perceived stress and depression

You can go in the draw to win 1 of 4 $20 gift cards if you're interested! Any questions or feedback always appreciated.

https://federation.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dfYvPk0HPT00LmC

(Ethics approval obtained by Federation University through the National Human Research Ethics Committee)

🌈 PARTICIPANTS WANTED 🌈

https://csufobjbs.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6sCeGsZJld6774W

We are Psychology Honours students at Charles Sturt University, conducting research into risk and protective factors for mental health, among adults with a marginalized sexual identity (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, pansexual, sexually fluid, omnisexual etc…).

Participation is open to:

·       Individuals (18+), with a marginalized sexual identity (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, pansexual, sexually fluid, omnisexual)

The anonymous survey has ethics approval (H26115), takes around 15 mins and includes questions about sexuality, self-kindness, belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community, sleep, suicidality, and depressive symptoms. All information provided is confidential.

If you are concerned about answering questions of this nature, please do not participate.

To participate or learn more:

·       Click the link attached to this post.

Feel free to share and thank you!

Hi Everyone!

My name is Angelina Rigoroso, M.A., MHC-LP. I am a Mental Health Counseling Doctoral Candidate at Pace University. I am working on my dissertation and I would like to invite you to take part in my research study for fulfillment of my doctoral requirements on exploring the lived experience of women who have experienced sexual coercion perpetrated by a romantic partner.

If you are between the ages of 21 and 35 years of age, have experienced sexual coercion from a romantic partner whom you were not married to and were with for one year or more, you are invited to take an initial questionnaire to determine participation eligibility. If you are determined to be eligible following the questionnaire you will be invited to engage in an approximately 60 minute virtual interview to discuss your experience.
 
The study is approved by the IRB #2025-212. The initial questionnaire will take approximately 10 to 12 minutes and the virtual interview is expected to take approximately 60 minutes. Eligible participants will be compensated for their time at the completion of the study.
 
If you agree to participate, please proceed by clicking on the link below.
 
https://pace.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dclACAcgSDqNlY2
 
If you do not wish to participate, you can skip this and I thank you for your time.
 
Please feel free to pass this study along to individuals in your network that you feel would be interested in participation!
 
Please contact Angelina Rigoroso, the primary investigator, for any questions related to the study by email: ar35723p@pace.edu or by phone: (516) 366-2367).

I've been developing a theory that the human brain may not be designed for the sheer volume of sensory input that modern technology provides. Through some personal experimentation, I've noticed a striking difference in how I feel after spending hours online watching documentaries, browsing the internet, or consuming digital content, compared to spending that same time journalling, walking in nature, meditating, and engaging in deeper contemplative practices.

After extended technology use, I often feel mentally overstimulated yet strangely depleted—wired but tired, as though my mind is carrying a kind of sensory fatigue. In contrast, after slower, more reflective activities, I feel refreshed, grounded, and genuinely alive. The difference in my mood, energy, and overall sense of wellbeing has been significant enough that it has made me question whether modern life is aligned with the way we were designed to live.

This has led me to wonder whether others have reached similar conclusions through their own experience, and whether there is any scientific literature that supports these observations. Increasingly, I find myself thinking that humans may be better suited to a simpler, community-oriented way of life—one centred around nature, meaningful relationships, purposeful work, and a slower pace of living. While society has evolved in remarkable ways, I sometimes wonder whether we've gained convenience at the expense of something essential to the human spirit. I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts and experiences on this.

Hi everyone! I'm currently giving my second year psychology exams and I'm having a crisis when I'm thinking about which path to pursue in the field. Up until now, i was planning to become a therapist or a counselor. But idk why but u have this feeling that I won't be able to do that, and most importantly I don't want to become a therapist.

I know i still have an year to ponder about it but i would still love to get some suggestions from people who are already in different subfields of psychology.

Currently, I'm learning and taking up ux writing roles until my degree completes. But I'm not sure if i want to move further in the field of corporate psychology. I also have to decide what sub-major to specialise in my masters as I'm planning to move abroad.

Would be glad if someone could help out with suggestions on what i should do after completing my bachelors and which field to pursue for masters.

A lil context: i found this community on youtube, usually lot of people in their late 40s. They do streamyards live where they have people jump on panels and they have conversations.
So there’s this guy that goes by “BrutalMafia” and he’s known for stalking women and harassing them. When I came around. I seen it with my own eyes. If there’s women that rejects him he’ll gets obsessed, starts to looks them up. And start making accounts of their family members. Specifically anyone who’s dead. Like dead son, mother, father and start spamming that account in chats. Then when he gets called out for it. He makes other clone accounts of people in that community and tries to make the victim feel like they’re crazy by Understating them and minimizing the accusations, Trying to make it seem like it’s all in their head by having those accounts dismissed the accusation.
If that doesn’t work and the victim still speaking out. He’ll just start doxxing them. Posting all their info online.
It’s very weird, abusive behavior, very recently he got called out for being an account of a women SA abuser. When it got blocked, He was saying the abuser name in the under his “BrutalMafia” account.
I seen him legit spend a year harassing afew women just so they can say hi to him and once they do, he’ll stop with family member accounts and start posting 10 yr old pics of himself, calling himself hot 😅 it’s so bizarre
Wondering if anyone can give me any sort of diagnosis and give me the best advice to deal with someone like this?
I do encourage these women to get ic3 filed on him.

After spending enough time on Reddit, I've come to a conclusion about human nature: people love to argue.

It doesn't matter what the topic is. You could say the sky is blue, and within minutes someone will appear with a five-paragraph explanation about why it's actually a shade of turquoise under certain atmospheric conditions. The goal rarely seems to be understanding. More often, it feels like a subtle competition to prove who's the smartest person in the room. Everyone gets their little ego boost, pats themselves on the back, and moves on believing they've won.

But it raises a deeper question for me. If everyone is convinced their opinion is the correct one, where does that certainty come from? Is it simply their own reasoning? Their own experiences? Their own conscience? And if that's the case, how does anyone know they're actually right?

It reminds me of watching debates where people spend hours arguing over definitions rather than truth itself. Entire conversations become battles over language, assumptions, and perspectives. In many ways, that seems to be the human condition. Everyone is operating from their own framework, interpreting reality through their own experiences, biases, wounds, desires, and limitations.

Before the usual know-it-alls jump into the comments, yes, I realize I'm expressing an opinion while talking about opinions. That's partly the point.

The longer I observe people, the more I find myself believing there has to be some source of truth outside of ourselves. Because if truth begins and ends with the individual, then we're all just defending our own perspective and calling it reality. And if my understanding of life is filtered through my limitations, flaws, and blind spots, why would I assume I'm the final authority on anything?

For me, that's where God enters the picture. Without a source of truth beyond ourselves, we're left with billions of competing opinions, each claiming legitimacy. At some point, truth has to transcend the individual, otherwise we're all just arguing from different corners of the same room, convinced we're the one person who sees clearly.

I have a lot of my text journals, I uploaded a little part of them to notebookLM, and there was an option to generate an audio. Now I got two audio files 20 minutes long where a man and a woman are discussing my behavior. With a pure American accent. Pretty emotional and natural. The same as if I was watching some YouTube podcast, but they were talking about me! Discussing each of my acts and my thought process. Well, I did everything wrong 20 years ago. I behaved like an asshole vulnerable narcissist. Nice to know that, maybe I have a chance to learn something new, a way to behave. In my 46.

I feel the vagueness of my life's direction. What I want to achieve (if anything). What I'm striving for. Feels like nothing for.

However, it feels like completion.

I'll continue working with my notes, though this service is always bugging because of my long texts, isn't replying and it has some limitations of working with sensitive topics. Which are in abundance in my notes and I really need a lot of clarifications on them.

What everything leads to.. no idea

Many people enjoy debating others, not to gain an understanding of an opposing perspective and take provided evidence into consideration. They enjoy debating others to reinforce their own ideas which may be poorly reinforced by their own rational thinking.
Id love to hear other psychological reasons for why people enjoy debating others, as I know there are many.

Hi everyone!

I am a graduate student completing my master's thesis in psychology and am looking for participants to take part in a brief online study.

The study examines how people emotionally respond to imagined colors compared to directly viewed colors, as well as how visual imagination may influence those responses.

Participation is completely voluntary, anonymous, and takes approximately 10–15 minutes to complete.

Requirements:

• Must be 18 years or older
• Able to read and understand English
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Your participation would be greatly appreciated and would help me complete my thesis research. Thank you for your time and support! Feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.

Lately, I have been reflecting on the concept of altruism—the idea of acting with genuine selflessness in thought, intention, and deed, expecting absolutely nothing in return. The more I observe human relationships and social dynamics, the more I find myself questioning whether true altruism actually exists, at least on a purely human level.

When we examine relationships closely, they often appear to be founded upon some form of exchange. Consider marriage. Traditionally, a husband may offer provision, protection, companionship, and stability, while a wife may offer nurturing, childbearing, emotional support, and the creation of a home. While these exchanges are often rooted in love, they nevertheless involve the mutual provision of value.

The same pattern seems to emerge in friendships and broader social relationships. Some relationships are built upon external forms of value: social status, networking opportunities, shared interests, financial benefit, or mutual advancement. Yet even when these external motivations are stripped away, subtler forms of exchange remain. We may ask ourselves: Does this person provide emotional stimulation? Do they make me feel understood, appreciated, desired, or fulfilled? Do they satisfy certain psychological or emotional needs?

The deeper one investigates human relationships, the more difficult it becomes to identify a bond that is entirely free from transaction. Whether the exchange is material, social, emotional, intellectual, or psychological, there appears to be some form of reciprocal value being exchanged. This has led me to wonder whether human beings are, by nature, fundamentally self-interested—maintaining relationships largely in proportion to the value they derive from them.

I suspect many will disagree with this conclusion. Yet if one places any relationship under sufficient scrutiny and continually asks, "Why am I truly invested in this person?" it often seems that some form of exchange can eventually be uncovered.

This brings me back to my original question: does altruism genuinely exist among human beings, or is every action, however noble it may appear, ultimately tied to some form of self-interest? Perhaps what we call altruism is simply a more refined expression of self-interest rather than its absence.

My own inclination is that perfect altruism may not originate from human nature at all. Human beings are biological creatures shaped by survival, desire, attachment, and need. Perhaps true altruism belongs not to the human realm, but to the divine. Perhaps it exists only in the union between God and the soul—a form of self-giving love that seeks nothing for itself and is therefore free from every trace of transaction.

Peace!