Life Examined

Trauma, PTSD, and human resilience, with George Bonanno

Psychologist George Bonanno, author of “The End of Trauma: How the New Science of Resilience Is Changing How We Think About PTSD,” explores the history, science, and nature of trauma. He says that contrary to popular opinion, trauma plays a significant role in building human resilience and that people are overwhelmingly resilient to adversity. Trauma or traumatic events, Bonanno says, have “become an easy and convenient excuse as to why we can’t function.”

The language of grief, with writers Ross Gay and Chloe Honum

Ross Gay, poet, essayist, and author of Inciting Joy, shares how losing his father impacted not only his writing, but more or less everything else that he now does. Witnessing his own sorrow, Gay says, was both terrifying and a revelation: “If you can't be close to your sorrow, then you're gonna miss your life.

The art and science of change, with author Brad Stulberg

Brad Stulberg writes and teaches about mental health and well-being, and is author of several books, most recently Master Of Change: How To Excel When Everything Is Changing — Including You. Stulberg dives into the science and some of the ancient wisdom behind change. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who wrote about the nature of reality and its relationship to change, famously said, “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”
“There's one tragedy that none of us can avoid, which is that the things that we love are going to change,” says Stulberg. “And yet, in spite of it, we can still trudge forward with a hopeful attitude because this is the life that we have, these are the cards that were dealt, and it serves us no good to despair.” 

A guide to self discipline and the science behind habits, good and bad

Writer and expert on stoic philosophy Ryan Holiday explores the history and power of self discipline. Behavioral scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School Katy Milkman explains the science behind forming habits.

Attachment styles: How knowing ourselves can lead to better, more lasting relationships

Amir Levine, associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and co-author of Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love, explains the origins and science behind attachment theory and how human bonding is a necessary element “from the moment we are born until we die.” 
As infants, humans’ bond between mother or caregiver is essential, what Levine calls “a necessary element in our thriving, just as much as food and water.” When those patterns of attachment are formed, they can also carry through into adulthood and impact subsequent bonds and attachments.
Attachment theory was pioneered by British psychiatrist and child development specialist John Bowlby, whose research included working with children displaced during The Blitz in WWII London. 
“What they noticed [was] even though they were able to give them food and shelter, because there were so many, they didn't pay much attention to engaging with them,” Levine explains. “A lot of these very young infants and kids failed to grow properly and develop.”

‘What do we want in a partner?’ Relationships and how to foster deeper connections

Lori Gottlieb, relationship therapist, podcast host, and author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, shares her experience both personally and professionally with couples therapy. Gottlieb says the  de-stigmatization of mental health has helped normalize having a therapist, although its growing visibility on social media may have the opposite effect and creates a false idea of what therapy can and cannot do. 
“Therapy is a relationship in and of itself,” says Gottlieb. “A safe space where you can slow things down, look at ways that you interact or move through the world in this relationship so you can change it in those outside relationships.”

On blindness: Andrew Leland explores how losing his sight has expanded his world view

Andrew Leland, writer and author of “The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight,” shares his experience of slowly losing his sight after being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare genetic eye disease for which there is no cure. From using a cane to learning braille and researching the history of inventions for the blind, Leland describes the accommodations he’s sometimes reluctantly made during his transition. Embracing the experience has expanded his perspective. Sometimes, he says, “the thing that seems to go wrong actually turns out to be the thing that makes it great.”

ADHD in an era of distraction: Why are more adults getting diagnosed?

Anthony Rostain, Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Cooper University Health Care and co-author of “The Adult ADHD Tool Kit: Using CBT to Facilitate Coping Inside and Out,” explains that the recent rise in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses among adults may be connected to an increasing awareness and acceptance of mental disorders, compelling many who have suffered in silence to now seek help and get treated.
 “When we look at the rates of ADHD in adults in the United States, we estimate that about 4% of the population of adults has ADHD,” Rostain says. “However, not even a quarter of them have really been assessed or treated. So there's a large number of people out there who were never diagnosed who are discovering it now.”
Moira O’Connell, a BCBA (board certified behavioral analyst) from Massachusetts, shares her experience discovering that she had ADHD as an adult, and what it felt like struggling to stay focused and organized.  
“I can't be organized,” says O’Connell. “My husband would talk to me and I would never listen, which I would just always attribute to, ‘I'm not a multitasker.’ I can't chew gum and walk at the same time, but what it really was was that I was having trouble focusing and attending.”

The Japanese art of happiness: From ikigai, to ritual, to embracing old age

Pico Iyer, traveler writer and author of “The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise,” Pico Iyer explores his love for Japan and why it remains, for him, the “most unique and distinctive place I've ever been.” Iyer shares why he’s drawn to the culture’s appreciation of community and elders. “In California, many of us are trying to be as young and full of energy and enthusiasm [as possible], but in Japan, which is a very hierarchical place, the older the better, because age connotes wisdom, maturity, and experience,” Iyer says. 
More: In search of paradise — and why travel writer Pico Iyer says it may be within
Iza Kavedžija, social and medical anthropologist at Cambridge University and author of “Making Meaningful Lives: Tales from an Aging Japan,” describes some of the principals and traditions which abound in Japanese culture and imbue a sense of meaning, purpose, and well-being into many older generations of Japanese people. 
“We don't tend to think of older people as driving the processes of social change,” says Kavedžija, “but that's exactly what they were doing.”

The secret lives of cats, past and present

Jonathan Losos, evolutionary biologist at Washington University and author of “The Cat's Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa,” explores the evolution, peculiarities, and joys of our feline friends. Long before grumpy cat memes, cats were worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, and archaeological evidence suggests they were domesticated as far back as 10,000 years ago on the island of Cyprus. 
The ancestor of the domestic cat is a species called the North African Wildcat. Losos explains the evolution of the cat, their history of domestication, and how they have evolved from an ancient divine symbol to the common and loveable house cat.
“Cats are consummate predators. There's this wildness to them and they are as good a predator as there is on the planet,” Losos says. “I think one of the appeals to many people of having cats as pets is that you've got a little bit of the Serengeti in your own living room.”