Psyche Magazine

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qV_uxuXZrbU From the climate crisis, to the breakneck pace of technological change, to the threat of further pandemics, there’s no shortage of reasons you could find to throw up your hands and proclaim ‘the end is nigh’. But what’s the actual likelihood of a societal collapse? Further, what would that even look like? And, in the meantime, what’s the best way to channel the creeping feeling that the world as we know it might be coming to an end?

You don’t have to ‘reinvent’ yourself to live happily after 60. There’s a better approach grounded in lifespan psychology by Denise Taylor, chartered psychologist Photo by Constantine Manos/Magnum Photo by Constantine Manos/Magnum Denise Taylor is a chartered psychologist and author of 10 books, including ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now (2026). Her work explores meaning, identity and purpose in later life, informed by both research and lived experience. She lives in Cheltenham, UK.

Philosophical reflection often begins with a disruptive mood For many of our greatest philosophers, it was their moods, from wonder to estrangement to anxiety, that first inspired them by Steven Segal Frantz Fanon and the crisis of mental health in the Arab world Where is Frantz Fanon’s postcolonial ‘new man’ to be found in the persistence of psychiatric institutions in the Arab world?

Observing nature in your backyard is not dull but radically significant Instead of ‘helicopter science’, we need Gilbert White’s intimate study of nature to understand global environmental change by Yadvinder Malhi Do you find the 21st century overstimulating?

Again, again, again I’m not infertile, but I experience recurrent miscarriages. I worry about how many more I can take by Jami Nakamura Lin The daughter I never had I loved my three sons but still yearned for a girl. Why did this fill me with such shame?

https://www.youtube.com/embed/v4r71kEdYME The ‘peak-end rule’ is a psychological heuristic which holds that, in retrospect, people’s impressions of events tend to be judged by their most intense point (their ‘peak’) and their conclusion (their ‘end’). The idea was first proposed by the psychologists Barbara Fredrickson and Daniel Kahneman, who assembled a series of clever experiments to test it.

Why doing your best is sometimes the worst thing you can do The injunction to ‘do your best’ can get in the way of moral self-development. Instead, plant deep roots and learn to wait by Mavis Biss Mother Teresa was virtuous, but she was wrong about virtue There’s more to virtue than how we treat other individuals. ‘Structure-facing virtues’ tie the personal to the big picture by Michael Brownstein & Alex Madva How to know who’s trustworthy Knotty problems call for sound advice.

Psychological minimalism is a way to clarify your life by cutting the mental noise from your environment and routines by Yousri Marzouki, cognitive psychologist Photo by Eamonn McCabe/Getty Images Photo by Eamonn McCabe/Getty Images Yousri Marzouki is the director of the honours programme and an associate professor in the psychology programme of the Department of Social Sciences at Qatar University. His research focuses on the relationship between attention, emotion and consciousness.

When I first met Bill* at a Los Angeles coffee shop I frequent, I thought he was homeless. He was wearing a rumpled, food-stained shirt, and his hair was a matted-down tumbleweed that hadn’t been cut or washed in years. I was surprised to learn that this shuffling, dishevelled figure was a successful illustrator for a popular TV show. His downcast mood seemed to have changed one afternoon when I saw him glide past the palm trees in the coffee shop’s courtyard.

Confessions of a teenage fundamentalist My world was dark and scary. But beautiful things crept in, and threats of hell just couldn’t compete by Liz Boltz Ranfeld Severe joy I wanted conviction to tell me if I could be gay and Catholic.