Through Time

Steadiness: getting through a hard stretch

What research on emotions and stress supports and what it does not, how to get through a hard stretch, and when to see a professional.

A course for adults worn down by change, by the news and by anxiety about AI. You will learn which techniques have grounds behind them, which advice did not survive testing, what a chatbot can do in a bad moment and how to go to a professional. This is general information, not therapy or medical care.

So far there is only this table of contents. Lessons appear one at a time, and we promise no dates. Feed of new lessons (Atom)

17 lessons, 4 parts

Part 1 What has held up

Much that is confident has been written about emotions, and here what holds up is separated from what merely sounds good.

  1. Where you can step in

    Gross’s model of how an emotion can be influenced before the moment it flares, and why that is more use than “calm down.”

    coming soon

  2. Reappraisal and suppression

    Why rethinking a situation usually does more than hiding the feeling, and when that rule stops working.

    coming soon

  3. Letting off steam

    Hitting a punching bag and replaying the grievance do not help, and what calms the body usually does: how to cool off without fanning the anger.

    coming soon

  4. What did not replicate

    Ego depletion and power posing: how loud findings came into question, and how to read psychology from headlines after that.

    coming soon

  5. How many people recover on their own

    How many people recover without help, why the figures are disputed, and why they do not mean everyone must cope alone.

    coming soon

Part 2 The body under load

Stress and sleep in plain words: no scare stories and no treatment advice.

  1. Stress in plain words

    A short stress response is useful and a long load works differently: what happens in the body, and why “no stress at all” is not the goal.

    coming soon

  2. Sleep without the scare stories

    How much sleep an adult needs, why the frightening numbers in popular books deserve a check, and why lasting insomnia is a reason to see a doctor.

    coming soon

Part 3 Uncertainty and news

Change frightens not only by being bad but by being unknown.

  1. When not knowing is worse

    Uncertainty can weigh more than knowing a bad outcome for certain: how we know that, and what to do about it.

    coming soon

  2. Change it or bear it

    When to act and when to accept: why reappraisal helps where nothing depends on you and can get in the way where something does.

    coming soon

  3. How much news you can take

    How hours of news about a disaster go with stress, why that is an association, not a proven cause, and how to set yourself a limit.

    coming soon

  4. Anxiety about AI

    How to separate what you can work on from a fear with no address, and see who profits from panic.

    coming soon

Part 4 When you need help

A chatbot is there at night and a professional is not, and here it is said plainly how they differ and where to go.

  1. A chatbot on a bad night

    What talking to a machine offers in a bad moment, what it does not, and why a purpose-built bot in a trial is not your everyday chatbot.

    coming soon

  2. Where a chatbot is dangerous

    An ordinary chatbot can miss a crisis and answer literally: when to close the window and call a living person.

    coming soon

  3. When to see a professional

    Weeks of feeling bad, trouble living as usual, thoughts of death: with those thoughts do not wait, call your local emergency or crisis line.

    coming soon

  4. Who to see and how

    Psychologist, psychotherapist and psychiatrist: how they differ, how to check training, and what to do without money or a doctor nearby.

    coming soon

  5. When someone close is struggling

    How to stay close without advice or rescuing, and why with thoughts of suicide the first resource is a professional or a crisis line.

    coming soon

  6. A look ahead: chatbots and the rules

    What rules may come for chatbots that talk about mental health, and how to tell whether a service can be trusted with even a conversation.

    coming soon