Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Sefik Tagay Ph.D
Why Genocide Does Not End When the Killings Stop
Genocide destroys not only lives, but the psychological foundations of collective existence. Twelve years later, around 2,600 Ezidis remain missing and over 200,000 displaced. Recovery requires restoring the conditions for safety, agency, belonging, dignity, and continuity. Between 2014 and 2019, I treated many Ezidis who had fled Shingal, the region internationally known as Sinjar in northern Iraq, after attacks by the Islamic State.
Why Genocide Does Not End When the Killings Stop
What Is Displacement? Take our Can You Spot Defense Mechanisms? Find a therapist to heal from anger Genocide destroys not only lives, but the psychological foundations of collective existence. Twelve years later, around 2,600 Ezidis remain missing and over 200,000 displaced. Recovery requires restoring the conditions for safety, agency, belonging, dignity, and continuity.
Why Losing a Child Shatters the World
A child’s death can disrupt identity, attachment, agency, dignity, and meaning at once. Prolonged grief is not weak mourning; it is a treatable breakdown in adaptation. Healing preserves the bond while gradually restoring a life worth living. A couple sat across from me, both dressed in dark clothing and speaking quietly. Two years earlier, their young adult daughter had died in a bus accident while studying abroad. “When the police came to our door, everything collapsed,” the mother said.
Why Losing a Child Shatters the World
Take our Depression Test Find a therapist to heal from grief A child’s death can disrupt identity, attachment, agency, dignity, and meaning at once. Prolonged grief is not weak mourning; it is a treatable breakdown in adaptation. Healing preserves the bond while gradually restoring a life worth living. A couple sat across from me, both dressed in dark clothing and speaking quietly. Two years earlier, their young adult daughter had died in a bus accident while studying abroad.
What AI Companions Do to Our Deepest Psychological Needs
A woman in her thirties tells me she talks to an AI companion every night before sleep. It never interrupts, never judges, never grows tired of her. She feels heard. She also feels, she admits, a little more alone each week. Both things are true, and the tension between them is exactly where the psychology lies. AI companions—apps built to converse, remember, and respond with apparent warmth—have moved from novelty to mass use.
What AI Companions Do to Our Deepest Psychological Needs
AI companions can ease loneliness briefly, while heavy use is linked to dependence and less socializing. They can regulate all six basic needs—while satisfying some and displacing others. What does the AI provide, and what human experience does it replace? A woman in her thirties tells me she talks to an AI companion every night before sleep. It never interrupts, never judges, never grows tired of her. She feels heard. She also feels, she admits, a little more alone each week.
Do You Feel Dignity in Your Relationship?
Communication falters when people feel dismissed, controlled, shamed, or unsafe. Violations of dignity can spark defensiveness, withdrawal, rage, or retaliation. Respectful communication protects dignity while still naming harmful behavior. Imagine a partner who responds to every expression of hurt with the same three words: “You’re too sensitive.” At first, this sounds like a disagreement about interpretation—one person feels injured, the other finds the reaction exaggerated.
Do You Feel Dignity in Your Relationship?
Why Relationships Matter Take our Can You Spot Red Flags In A Relationship? Find a therapist to strengthen relationships Communication falters when people feel dismissed, controlled, shamed, or unsafe. Violations of dignity can spark defensiveness, withdrawal, rage, or retaliation. Respectful communication protects dignity while still naming harmful behavior.
Are We Living, or Being Lived? - Sefik tagay ph.d
What Does "Self Help" Mean? Take our Self-Esteem Test Find a therapist near me Human beings are shaped by early experiences and social conditions, but they are not finally defined by them. Growth begins when we move from reacting to actively shaping our lives. Becoming a co-author of life means restoring core psychological needs For more than 20 years, one question has stayed with me: Are we living—or are we being lived? At first, this may sound like a philosophical question.
Are We Living, or Being Lived?
Human beings are shaped by early experiences and social conditions, but they are not finally defined by them. Growth begins when we move from reacting to actively shaping our lives. Becoming a co-author of life means restoring core psychological needs For more than 20 years, one question has stayed with me: Are we living—or are we being lived? At first, this may sound like a philosophical question. But it is also a deeply psychological one.
Loneliness In Later Life Is a Signal
Baltes, P. B., & Baltes, M. M. (1990). Psychological perspectives on successful aging: The model of selective optimization with compensation. In P. B. Baltes & M. M. Baltes (Eds.), Successful aging: Perspectives from the behavioral sciences (pp. 1–34). Cambridge University Press. Caruso, C., Accardi, G., Aiello, A., Calabrò, A., Zarcone, R., & Candore, G. (2025). The longevity of blue zones: Myth or reality. Journal of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 73(2), 70–81. DOI: 10.36150/2499-6564-N865.
Loneliness In Later Life Is a Signal - Sefik tagay ph.d
Understanding Loneliness Take our Loneliness Test Find a therapist near me Loneliness and social isolation are related but not the same. Good aging depends on relationships, roles, contribution, and meaning. Reducing loneliness requires more than adding social contact. Imagine an 84-year-old woman named Helen. She does not live in complete isolation. A neighbor checks in, her daughter calls on Sundays, and a nurse visits twice a week. Yet Helen often feels alone. She no longer cooks for anyone.
Why Breakups Are So Hard to Let Go
Breakups can disrupt several psychological needs at once. Young people may suffer acutely because identity and future plans become destabilized. Letting go often means actively rebuilding agency, dignity, and meaning. A romantic breakup can feel much larger than the end of a relationship. For many young people, daily life loses its emotional center, the future grows uncertain, and the self becomes harder to recognize.
Why Breakups Are So Hard to Let Go - Sefik tagay ph.d
Why Relationships Matter Take our Can You Spot Red Flags In A Relationship? Find a therapist to strengthen relationships Breakups can disrupt several psychological needs at once. Young people may suffer acutely because identity and future plans become destabilized. Letting go often means actively rebuilding agency, dignity, and meaning. A romantic breakup can feel much larger than the end of a relationship.
Why Social Media Feels So Compelling - Sefik tagay ph.d
Social media taps into many of our psychological needs. Unpredictable feedback can turn social approval into a reward loop. Regaining control starts with asking what need we are trying to meet online. A young man comes home after a long day feeling tired, unnoticed, and somewhat disconnected. He tells himself he will check his phone for only a few minutes. A friend has liked his post. A short video makes him laugh.
Why Social Media Feels So Compelling
Social media taps into many of our psychological needs. Unpredictable feedback can turn social approval into a reward loop. Regaining control starts with asking what need we are trying to meet online. A young man comes home after a long day feeling tired, unnoticed, and somewhat disconnected. He tells himself he will check his phone for only a few minutes. A friend has liked his post. A short video makes him laugh.
Why Older Men Are at Higher Risk for Suicide
Older men die by suicide at disproportionately high rates. Late-life risk often reflects several threatened psychological needs at once. Prevention should restore agency, connection, usefulness, dignity, and meaning. Robert, 78, did not describe himself as depressed. He said he was “just old.” After retirement, his wife’s death, and a hip fracture that left him unable to drive, his world became smaller.
Why Older Men Are at Higher Risk for Suicide - Sefik tagay ph.d
Suicide Risk Factors and Signs Take our Depression Test Find a therapist near me Older men die by suicide at disproportionately high rates. Late-life risk often reflects several threatened psychological needs at once. Prevention should restore agency, connection, usefulness, dignity, and meaning. Robert, 78, did not describe himself as depressed. He said he was “just old.” After retirement, his wife’s death, and a hip fracture that left him unable to drive, his world became smaller.
How Unmet Psychological Needs Quietly Undermine Democracy
Democracy weakens when basic psychological needs are chronically unmet. Chronic threat activates defensive thinking and narrows tolerance for difference. Core needs help build the psychological foundations democracy requires. Many people know the feeling: the world seems unstable, decisions feel distant, and other groups appear to threaten what matters most. News about war, economic insecurity, climate change, migration debates, or political conflict can create constant pressure.
What Strong Couples Repair
Strong relationships protect core psychological needs over time. Many couples' conflicts begin as threats of safety, belonging, autonomy, competence, or dignity. Responsiveness, shared coping, and repair make love more durable. Most relationships do not break in one dramatic moment. They wear down when too many small injuries stop being repaired. People often explain successful partnerships in terms of chemistry, compatibility, or luck.
Why So Many People Burn Out at Work
Burnout is shaped not only by workload but by high demands, limited resources, and unmet psychological needs. Many struggle to set limits because saying no can threaten belonging, dignity, competence, and security. Burnout prevention works best when recovery is paired with healthier work conditions. When people talk about burnout, they often reach for a simple explanation: too much work. That captures part of the problem, but not the whole of it.
What Makes Painful Memories Stick
Why do painful memories often linger while many positive moments fade so quickly? Most people know the experience: One humiliation can remain vivid for years, while many affirming moments quietly recede. A single rejection may return again and again, even when it is surrounded by far more experiences of acceptance, appreciation, or success. More Than a Bias Toward the Negative A common explanation is that the mind is biased toward the negative. There is truth in that.
Why Shame Is Central in Trauma
She knew she had been harmed. Yet what she felt most, each morning, was shame. When people think about trauma, they often think first of fear. That makes sense. Trauma can overwhelm the nervous system, alter threat perception, and leave people hypervigilant, startled, and unable to feel safe. But trauma is not only about fear. In the DSM-5, the classification system for mental disorders, trauma refers to exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
Why Men Avoid Therapy and What Needs Are at Stake
Many men avoid therapy because help-seeking can threaten core psychological needs. Traditional masculinity is linked to more self-reliance and less help-seeking. Men often engage better when therapy protects dignity, autonomy, and competence. When people ask why many men avoid therapy, the usual answers come quickly: stigma, pride, emotional repression, or the belief that men are simply less willing to talk. These explanations are incomplete.
How Trauma Disrupts 6 Universal Psychological Needs
Trauma disrupts six universal needs: safety, belonging, autonomy, competence, dignity, and meaning. Post-traumatic symptoms are often understandable responses to wounded needs, not signs of weakness or failure. Recovery involves rebuilding psychological foundations rather than simply reducing symptoms. When people think about trauma, they often focus on the event itself: a war, an assault, a serious accident, a natural disaster, or a sudden loss. But trauma is defined not only by what happened.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Sefik
Contact Sefik, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack