On a December morning in 1885, the lecture hall of the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris is packed to the brim. In the front rows: physicians from Berlin, Vienna, and London. Beside them sit writers, philosophers, journalists. All have come to witness what are already known as “Tuesday Lectures.” That day, a young woman enters the…
Freud defined the return of the repressed as the disguised resurgence of unconscious content into consciousness, material typically incompatible with the ego. It would emerge through slips of the tongue, dreams, neurotic symptoms, or failed actions. That mechanism still persists, but its stage has shifted. Today, it plays out across social media, through memes, hashtags,…
Psychomotricity is a unique discipline that interweaves the body, thought, emotions, and interpersonal relationships. Positioned at the intersection of medical sciences, the humanities, and education, it thrives in a fertile in-between space: that of the psychological and the physical, the objective and the subjective. This article offers a comprehensive reexamination of the history of psychomotricity…
In a Yoruba village, deep in what is now Nigeria, an old man carefully carves a wooden figure, infusing it with all his knowledge and wisdom. He drives nails into it, adorns it with feathers, and adds a few drops of animal blood. This is no ordinary handicraft. This is a fetish. The old man…
It’s no coincidence that fashion trends spread like whispers, subtly shaping our clothing choices and sculpting the image we project to the world. This silent language, sometimes deliberate but often unconscious, influences not only how others perceive us, but also how we perceive ourselves. Social psychology, supported by rigorous scientific studies, seeks to decode this…
In 2004, in a quiet room in Iceland, a 13-year-old boy sat across from Garry Kasparov, then the world’s top-ranked chess player. The Russian grandmaster, undefeated for over two decades, now faced a calm-eyed stranger. For 30 moves, the young Magnus Carlsen held his ground. He didn’t defeat Kasparov that day, but he unsettled him….
The elevator comes to a halt between two floors. Within seconds, breathing quickens, the heart races at 150 beats per minute, and the metal walls seem to close in. For some, this might be a passing inconvenience. For others, it’s a nightmare. Claustrophobia, a specific phobia, transforms enclosed spaces into an unbearable threat. This condition,…
A word, an image, a glimpse of a familiar face in a crowd; sometimes, that’s all it takes for a memory to resurface. It emerges with the clarity and conviction of a moment truly lived. We remember it. We’re certain of it. Or so we believe. Because at times, the memory in question never happened…
Fear is a signal, a primordial alarm etched into the depths of our biological history. As old as humanity itself, it is our safeguard in the face of danger. When a threat arises, our body springs into action: hidden energy reserves are unleashed, ready to propel us forward. In a split second, fear sharpens our…
In the paradoxical landscape of human life, where the extraordinary brushes against the mundane, some of us become witnesses to accidents that do not kill, but instead imprison. Julie Bourges lay motionless, trapped in a body that refused to respond. Around her, doctors whispered, loved ones wept. Behind this mask of stillness, her mind remained…