interview
Interviews with researchers, academics and mental health experts; get the lowdown from those in the brain-fixing business.
When Reflection Feels Like Accomplishment
There is a subtle experience many people recognize but struggle to name: the feeling of having done something meaningful without having actually changed anything. It often follows long periods of thinking, talking, organizing, or refining ideas. The mind feels clearer. Tension feels reduced. There is a sense of closure or completion. And yet, when examined closely, nothing in the external world has moved. No decision has been enacted. No behavior has shifted. No responsibility has been embodied. What changed was internal orientation, not external reality.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 days ago in Psyche
When a Job Stops Feeling Like Progress
Editor’s Note This article is presented as an edited interview shaped from publicly shared ideas, long form discussions, and talks by Ashkan Rajaee, a creator known for exploring the psychology of work, career transitions, and long term thinking around employment and independence.
By Felice Ellington16 days ago in Psyche
When Thinking Feels Like Action
There is a particular satisfaction that comes from understanding something clearly after wrestling with it for a long time. The mind settles. Tension releases. Pieces line up. In that moment, it can feel as though real movement has occurred, as though something meaningful has been accomplished. That feeling is not imagined. Cognitive resolution is a real event. The danger appears when that internal resolution is quietly mistaken for external change, and thinking begins to substitute for action rather than prepare the way for it.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast18 days ago in Psyche
Homework Assignment - Right, Wrong, or Grey-zone?
So my autism therapist gave me some homework for a new form (to me at least) of therapy. It is an Internal Family Systems parts mapping exercise and I have no idea if I am doing it correctly or not, but I just wanted to write about my experience... *smile*
By The Schizophrenic Mom22 days ago in Psyche
A Headache, New Medication, and a Happy Outcome
As of Saturday, I had a headache. Again. Or maybe still? I had a new prescription that was finally approved that I was really hoping would help with my headache, but was a headache to be approved for in and of itself. The paperwork had been delayed by a week. The paperwork had been completed - and then rejected because one item wasn't "clearly" marked.
By The Schizophrenic Mom24 days ago in Psyche
Essence, Embodiment, and Relational Reality
The Failure of Reduction and the Need for Synthesis There is a persistent failure in many modern attempts to explain what a human being is. Some frameworks reduce the person entirely to matter, insisting that identity, consciousness, morality, and meaning are nothing more than emergent properties of physical processes. Other frameworks move in the opposite direction, detaching spirit from reason and grounding belief in intuition alone, often at the cost of coherence or accountability. Both approaches fail because both misunderstand essence. One denies that essence exists at all. The other treats it as something vague and undefinable.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in Psyche
Resistance Is Not the Enemy
Iron sharpens iron. Brakes save lives. Friction preserves form. Modern culture treats resistance as failure. Anything that slows momentum is framed as obstruction, anything that introduces friction is assumed to be opposition, and anything that interrupts progress is labeled a setback. But this instinct misunderstands how both physical systems and human growth actually work. Resistance is not inherently hostile. In many cases, it is the only thing preventing collapse.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in Psyche
The Refiner’s Fire Is Not the Whetstone
There is a difference between being sharpened and being transformed, and confusing the two leads to frustration when growth does not feel productive. Sharpening implies refinement of existing form. Fire implies change in composition. Both processes are uncomfortable, but they operate on different levels and for different purposes. When people expect sharpening and receive fire instead, they often assume something has gone wrong, when in reality something deeper is taking place.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcastabout a month ago in Psyche
