Most people assume that rejection by a potential romantic partner is far more painful than rejection by a prospective friend. However, new research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology suggests that, when rejection is actually experienced, the emotional impact is remarkably similar regardless of whether it comes from a romantic or a platonic source.

I’ve been seeing my schema therapist for 3 years now and I’m a bit confused about something in the therapeutic relationship and wanted to ask if this is normal within schema therapy.

My therapist reaches out to check on me fairly regularly between sessions, especially when I’m struggling. She never pressures me, never crosses boundaries, and honestly has been one of the safest people I’ve ever known. I’m autistic, have severe trauma, and basically don’t really have anyone else in my life, so sometimes those check-ins make me feel less alone and more emotionally held than I’ve ever experienced before.

At the same time, it also feels very vulnerable and intense for me emotionally, because I’m not used to someone caring or staying present. I think part of me keeps wondering whether this level of contact/checking in is normal for schema therapy specifically, or whether my situation is unusual.

She’s never done anything that felt manipulative or inappropriate, and I genuinely can’t fault her clinically. I think I’m more confused by the emotional impact it has on me than by her behaviour itself.

Is regular therapist check-in/contact something that can happen in schema therapy, especially with severe trauma/attachment issues, autism, etc. Or is this outside what would normally happen in this modality?

I have spoken to her about it, despite her reassurances, I continue to feel confused.

I'm an incoming freshman in Psychological Sciences. What is some advice you have for other freshmen starting this degree? Can be anything about the profs, courses, course load, study advice, research opportunities, career advice, mistakes you made that are avoidable, etc.

I've already gone through the main threads on freshman advice, and most of them are geared towards engineering students or just general social advice. While that's been helpful, I'd like some specific advice for my major. Thanks!

I’ll start: I think any clinician that advertises themselves as culturally competent is not truly culturally competent. I think key components of gaining cultural competency are having humility and understanding that you will never fully be competent in someone else’s cultural experience. To me, there’s a difference between saying “I’m culturally competent” and “I value and strive for cultural competency.”

Anyways, what’s your therapist hot take?

Does Neuroscience Training Change Social Perception and Emotional Regulation?

I’m curious about whether studying neuroscience significantly changes the way people interpret human behavior and social interaction.

For example, does deeper knowledge of cognition, emotion, and neural processing improve someone’s ability to recognize deception, discomfort, emotional suppression, or nonverbal communication patterns?

I’m also interested in whether neuroscience training influences self-regulation. Do people in the field generally become more aware of their own cognitive biases, emotional reactions, and behavioral patterns, or does having scientific knowledge of the brain not necessarily translate into greater emotional control in everyday life?

The term “breathwork” emerged alongside the psychedelic movement of the 1960s.

When psychedelics became illegal, psychiatrist Stanislav Grof developed Holotropic Breathwork as a way to access non-ordinary states without substances.

A lot of modern breathwork still follows this model:

intensity, catharsis, emotional release, and altered states.

And these experiences can absolutely be valuable.

Although my sense is that people are approaching healing with the same mindset that created the imbalance in the first place: more intensity, faster results, stronger experiences.

The deeper work is what happens afterward.

In my experience, I've seen gentler breathing practices guide the nervous system toward greater regulation once the session ends, with much less force.

That’s the work.

That's integration.

Hi, I'm a b.tech graduate pivoting to a career in councelling psychology in india. I am applying for the pg diploma in psychology at Montfort and would really appreciate any and all information on the entrance exams as possible...what should I study to clear the exams? Is there anything I can do to show that my pivot is intentional?

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I am ba graduate in Psychology and wanna explore ui ux and marketing as I heard of it being possible but want genuine suggestions about how to start what skills to build how to build those any resources or videos or courses. Create a crisp reddit post

I’m a BA Psychology graduate and I’ve recently become interested in exploring UI/UX and marketing as career options. I’ve heard psychology backgrounds can actually be useful in these fields, but I want realistic advice from people already working in them.

I’d love guidance on:

How to start from scratch

Which field is easier/more practical to break into: UI/UX or marketing

What skills I should focus on first

Best ways to build those skills without wasting time/money

Any genuinely useful free/paid courses, YouTube channels, certifications, or roadmaps

How important portfolios, internships, networking, and freelancing are

Whether a psychology background actually helps in hiring or if it’s mostly irrelevant

I’m especially looking for honest advice about job opportunities, salary growth, competition, and whether these careers are still worth entering in 2026.

Would really appreciate insights from people who transitioned into these fields from non-tech/non-design backgrounds.

Hello! I’m a psychologist and currently doing my private practice with 2+ years of experience in the field and here are some things I genuinely wish people had told me earlier, so now I’m telling you🥹

One thing I’ve realised is that psychology is SUCH a broad field, but somehow people make it sound like therapy is the only option after psychology. It really isn’t.

I thought I’ll become a clinical psychologist, but fate had other plans 🥲 and honestly, that really disappointed me for a long time (had many MANY breakdowns over it lol). I think people don’t talk enough about how exhausting and confusing this field can feel sometimes. You put so much mental, emotional, and financial energy into a degree, only to later question whether this is even the path you want anymore. And if you’re feeling that way right now, that feeling is VERY normal.

During my bachelors and even during my masters, I had so many friends studying psychology with me, and now almost all of us are doing completely different things. Some are in therapy, some are working in schools, some shifted towards HR and marketing, some are into research, some are working in rehab settings, and some are still figuring things out by getting another degree which is also completely okay.

Like for example If therapy feels like your thing, amazing. You can go ahead with counselling, working in clinics, private practice, hospitals, etc. If one-on-one therapy emotionally drains you, maybe school counselling feels better because you enjoy working with children and adolescents in a more structured environment. If clinical settings don’t feel right for you, you can explore HR, recruitment, organisational behaviour, marketing, consumer psychology, social media strategy, etc. because understanding human behaviour is genuinely useful there. If rehabilitation work interests you, you can work in de addiction centres, psychiatric rehab centres, NGOs, child development centres, special education settings, and similar spaces.

Some people genuinely enjoy research and academics more than direct client work. Some people go into psychometric testing, career counselling, corporate wellness, EAPs, behavioural support roles, content creation, mental health startups, UX research, and so much more. And I think internships help A LOT in understanding what actually suits you.

A lot of us enter psychology with one idea of ourselves and leave with a completely different career path in mind 😭 and that’s normal. I always thought I’d become a clinical psychologist, but I couldn’t afford pursuing MPhil, so I started working after my masters instead. Initially I felt very lost, but over time I realised I genuinely enjoy working with children, adolescents, adults, taking workshops, doing career guidance assessments, school counselling, and slowly building my private practice.

You really do not need to have everything figured out immediately after your bachelors or masters. Most of us are honestly figuring it out as we go. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :)

Hey everyone,

I’m a biology undergrad and I’ve recently become really interested in neurotech (BCIs, neural decoding, neuroAI-type work). I’m trying to figure out what the actual path into this field looks like and whether it’s realistic for someone like me.

A few things I’m confused about:

Can people from biology/neuroscience backgrounds realistically break into neurotech, or is it mostly CS/EE students?

What do neuroscience trained people typically end up doing in industry roles?

How is the neurotech industry actually right now. Is it growing, stable, or still very niche?And realistically, what does the pay range look like at different levels (entry-level to senior roles)?

What skills matter most early on if I want to move in this direction (Python, ML, math, research experience, etc.)?

Right now I’m planning to start learning Python and try to join a lab that works with neural data, but I’m not fully sure if that’s the right direction or just one of several possible paths.

Would really appreciate honest perspectives from people actually in the field especially how they transitioned and what they’d do differently.

My first topic is about curiosity because this entire community is built for people who are curious about everything. So it only makes sense to start by understanding how curiosity actually works in the brain.

Dopamine — often called the “feel-good chemical” — does a lot more than create pleasure. It plays a major role in driving curiosity. Whenever you see something new, surprising, or interesting, your brain releases dopamine. That little boost is what encourages you to explore, learn, and ask questions.

It’s the spark behind the thought: “How does this work?”

Even uncertainty can increase curiosity, because your brain loves closing information gaps. That sense of “I need to know more” is dopamine pushing you forward.

So in the end, dopamine doesn’t just reward you with pleasure — it rewards you with the desire to understand, discover, and learn.

I hope this is helpfull for you all !!

I wanted to share my progress as I remember how much it helped me in the beginning to read other people success with this. I’ll start by saying how eternally grateful I am for finding Dan Browns work, to think this wasn’t even available 10 years ago is crazy. I did the meditations by myself due to cost reasons, however, I will say I am also studying counselling and I already had a support network there to help. I would always advise getting facilitation if you can as this work can bring up a lot.

It’s been 10 months of doing IPF and I have also done some of Cedric’s Schema meditations which have helped massively in the last few months.

I believed I had disorganised attachment and I had a lot of traumas from childhood and abuse in my adult life.

Some of the symptoms that have healed (there have been so many so these are the ones I can remember)

·         I used to have chronic anxiety. I hid it well but every day I would get anxious and sometime have panic attacks. I would be so scared of saying the wrong thing or getting in trouble. I can’t remember the last time I had anxiety in my body. My nervous system is so calm, and I often have this warm feeling, especially after doing the meditations.

·         I am more confident now. I love meeting new people and making new friends. This was something I really struggled with, although everyone thought I was confident, I wasn’t inside.

·         I used to make up stories as to why people would hurt me or abandon me. I would replay every conversation, check the messages I sent and worry about the things I would say. I don’t do any of this anymore. I’m so much more relaxed and secure in my relationships.

·         I was so hypervigilant. I can’t even remember what that feels like, but I know it was exhausting. This took time to go and would reduce over the months of healing. I live in the present moment so much now and can actually enjoy my life.

·         My intrusive thoughts have gone, although sometimes they can come back when I’m stress or haven’t had enough sleep. But I can quickly go back to my baseline of security.

·         I’m starting to believe I am lovable. This is something I really struggled with. I didn’t understand why anyone would love me, in fact I thought people just wanted to use me and there was always a catch.

·         I no longer feel shame. I used to have these shame spirals that would come out of nowhere. I can’t remember the last time this happened and even if I say the wrong thing or make a mistake, it doesn’t bother me.

·         I’m starting to trust, although I would say this was one of the last things to resolve for me and I’m not fully there yet.

·         My emotions have calmed down a lot. At one point I thought I had borderline, as my emotions were so overwhelming and I used to split a lot. I still have emotions, and a lot of grief came up throughout this process, but I feel safe enough to let them pass through me. I also no longer split, which is huge for me as this was painful and something I felt I had no control over. This would create extreme highs and lows that were exhausting. I have so much more energy now this has settled.

·         I would get triggered on a daily basis; I was constantly in a victim mindset. When I look back at the things that used to trigger me, they make no sense. I can feel how different my energy is now, I don’t expect to be triggered by things, and I don’t expect people to hurt me.

·         I’m more open and excited for the future. I’ve had a lot of things happened to me throughout this process, some amazing and some hard. However, having this helped me get through it all and have hope that my future will be better.

·         There are so many other symptoms that have healed, I had a lot of toxic behaviours that I didn’t even realise. Most of them are gone now. I still have days where old pattens come in, usually when I’m under a lot of stress but every time this happens, I seem to be even calmer when it settles.

Other things that have helped me. Schema meditations have been amazing. They helped when I couldn’t get myself out of a certain fear, like people leaving me. I also got a book by a Reddit user called Fearful Avoidant by antheri0n. This book was incredible and helped me understand what I was going through more. I also led me to reading more about neuroscience and how our brains work. This helps you stop thinking there is something wrong with you, the brain is just doing what it’s designed to do. Things happened to you to create that. Unlocking the Emotional Brain goes into this a lot too and also explains implicit memory and memory reconsolidation, which is fascinating,

I will end on this; I have tried every modality under the sun. I got into psychology at a very young age as I knew how I felt and my symptoms weren’t normal. No doctor or therapist knew what was going on with me. I even had to ask to be diagnosed with CPTSD (however, on my medical records it’s PTSD as CPTSD wasn’t even a recognised diagnosis back then) and they had no idea what that was. Even doing so much EMDR, IFS, polyvagal theory, CBT, CAT therapy and a lot of trying to reprogram my mind with affirmations did nothing. So for 20 plus years I have been so treatment resistant (to the point my EMDR therapist fired me) and this is the first modality that actually worked. I never thought I could heal and I’m nearly there and it’s only been 10 months. I used to do so much self-help everyday just to try and stay calm, now all I do is one IPF meditation a day (and a schema one once a week if I feel like I need it) and the rest of the day I’m just living my life. I no longer need to watch YouTube videos, read a million self-help books, journal, affirm or any nervous system regulation tools and it feels so freeing.

It wasn’t always an easy ride, like I said I had months where a lot of grief came up for me and I would have a lot of setbacks, new triggers and moments where I wanted to give up. It’s all part of the journey so please keep going if that’s you. Because what is on the other side is worth it.

Who can recommend good therapy apps for mental health?

I'm interested in apps like:

• Betterhelp that lets you speak to a therapist one-on-one.
• Meditation apps like Headspace.
• Breathwrk that helps you calm down and control anxiety through breathing exercises.
• Or any other apps that have helped you mentally.

What are the best therapy apps for mental health?

Any recommendations and specific experiences would be greatly appreciated!

I just really want to try an app that I can see has really helped people, there seems to be so many out there.

Some people say they’re healed and others say it will always be an ongoing process.

Been having ifs therapy for 1,5 years now, and in total 5 years of therapy. I know my system, can be in self quite easily (when not overwhelmed), did some unburdenings. But my old triggers and coping mechanisms are all still there. I do feel triggered a little less and most of the time my coping mechanisms are less extreme, but sometimes they’re just as extreme as they used to be. Should I expect it to ever go away? From time to time it makes me want to give up and go back to my old toxic life.

Goodnight everyone. Anyone else feeling like finding their people is a hard thing to do? And I was wondering what some of your non negotiables are in friendships or relationships for your nervous system to feel safe, and the connection to form.