If you’ve been doomscrolling through the internet lately, you might have stumbled upon the claim that manipulative, self-absorbed, and delightfully callous folks—otherwise known as members of the "Dark Triad"—are irresistible to potential mates.

You may have even been led to believe that narcissists, Machiavellians, and psychopaths are cleaning up in the dating scene, leaving the rest of us hapless romantics in the dust.

But alas, a new study published in the Journal of Personality suggests that this notion is about as accurate as a horoscope predicting your ex will text you back.

Researchers Yavor Dragostinov and Tom Booth took a long, hard look at whether Dark Triad traits actually make someone more attractive in the eyes of potential partners—or if this so-called ‘bad boy’ appeal is just a modern fairy tale we keep telling ourselves to justify bad decisions.

If an insomniac adolescent stumbles into your kitchen at noon, bleary-eyed and scouring the fridge for a breakfast burrito, you might wonder: Were they up all night doomscrolling? Lost in the abyss of TikTok?

Secretly engaged in philosophical debates about whether time is a flat circle?

No, gentle reader. According to a recent study in the Journal of Sleep Research, their internal clock might just be responding to the most unassuming influencer of all: sunlight.

When we think of Jewish thought leaders influencing family therapy, names like Martin Buber (I-Thou relationships) or Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (radical empathy) might come to mind.

But Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707–1746), the Ramchal, an 18th-century Italian kabbalist and ethicist, offers an even more profound connection—one that speaks directly to the inner workings of family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and the structure of healthy relational repair.

At the heart of his work Mesilat Yesharim (The Path of the Just) is a structured process of spiritual, emotional, and ethical refinement—a process that mirrors what we now recognize in the field of family therapy.

Through the lenses of awareness (zehirut), order (seder), and rectification (tikun), Ramchal provides a roadmap for healing family wounds, navigating relational conflict, and breaking cycles of dysfunction.

Let’s explore how.

My favorite saint is Maria Goretti. She is a truly modern saint, a symbol of something profoundly uncomfortable—something that has evolved in meaning over the last century.

To the Catholic Church, she is a martyr of purity, a girl who chose death rather than sexual defilement.

To my eyes, her story is far more complex: an act of brutal male entitlement, a crime of lust and control, a reflection of family dysfunction, and, perhaps most strikingly, a study of how trauma ripples across generations.

In the curious pantheon of Roman Catholic saints, few are as peculiar—or as profoundly instructive to family therapy—as St. Joseph of Cupertino (1603–1663).

Known as the "Flying Saint," Joseph was a Franciscan friar who reportedly levitated during prayer.

But before he became a celestial wonder, he was a bumbling, ridiculed, and unwanted man—a man who, by all worldly measures, should have been cast aside.

The intersection of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and gender-expansive behavior has garnered increasing attention in clinical and academic research.

ADHD, a neurodevelopmental disorder marked by impulsivity, executive dysfunction, and emotional dysregulation, appears to have a notable correlation with gender variance, including gender nonconformity, nonbinary identities, and gender fluidity.

This paper explores the research linking ADHD to gender identity development, highlighting neuropsychological, social, and emotional factors that contribute to this phenomenon.

Radical Honesty, as an idea, taps into the modern longing for authenticity.

It offers a seductive promise: that if we just tell the unvarnished truth, our relationships will be stronger, our inner conflicts will dissolve, and our lives will be free from the psychic burden of deception.

But Radical Honesty is not just a communication strategy; it is a worldview—one that assumes truth can be spoken without distortion, that vulnerability is always constructive, and that the self is best understood through unfiltered externalization.

In this critique, we will go beyond social niceties and relational harm—let’s probe the nature of truth, selfhood, morality, and human connection.

Can your brain tell if your partner is being honest? It turns out, love isn’t just about candlelit dinners and sweet words—it’s also about synchronized brain waves.

A fascinating new neuroimaging study out of China found that romantic couples exhibit higher brain synchronization when interacting compared to strangers, and this enhanced neural connection correlates with greater honesty.

The study, published in Brain Sciences, suggests that love may literally shape our brains to be more in sync—building trust and reducing deception.

This research aligns with what many of us instinctively feel: when we truly connect with someone, honesty comes more naturally. But how exactly does this work on a neurological level? And could brain science help explain why trust is so essential in long-term relationships?

Let’s dive into the science of brain synchronization, deception, and what it means for the way we love.

Workplaces are not just sites of productivity; they are social environments where past experiences, particularly childhood trauma, can shape interpersonal dynamics.

A recent study by Liu, Xu, and Yao (2024) published in Personality and Individual Differences explores how childhood emotional abuse influences workplace interactions, particularly among employees driven by a strong desire for power.

Their findings suggest that unresolved emotional wounds from childhood may spill over into professional relationships, contributing to workplace conflict and social exclusion.

Somewhere in China, a college student is doing push-ups instead of doomscrolling. This is progress.

According to a new study published in Addictive Behaviors, exercise—yes, good old-fashioned moving your body until it hurts—actually reduces Internet addiction among Chinese college students.

Not only does it pry their eyeballs away from their screens, but it also alleviates anxiety, loneliness, stress, feelings of inadequacy, fatigue, and depression.

In other words, exercise may be the only thing standing between them and total existential collapse.

Ever wondered why some people seem to radiate joy while others walk around looking like they’ve just bitten into a lemon?

Science may have cracked the code, and it turns out, it all comes down to one simple trait: niceness.

Yes, that old-fashioned virtue your grandma swore by is more than just good manners—it’s a distinct psychological trait, and according to research, it’s strongly linked to happiness.

So if you’re looking for an easy mood booster (that doesn’t require expensive supplements or hours of meditation), start by being a little nicer.

When a marriage ends, the world is accustomed to thinking in terms of divorce—a clean (or not-so-clean) legal severance of two partners who, for whatever reason, can no longer function as a couple.

But what if, instead of merely ending, a marriage was declared to have never truly existed?

That is the power of the annulment—a rare and, in some traditions, almost mystical declaration that dissolves a marriage not because it failed, but because it was never valid in the first place.

The history of marriage annulment reveals an evolving understanding of love, legitimacy, and personal autonomy.

Unlike divorce, which assumes a union was real and then ended, annulment challenges the very existence of the marriage, often invoking legal, religious, or social justifications.

Over the centuries, the criteria for annulment have reflected changing cultural attitudes toward marriage itself—who should enter it, why they should stay, and under what conditions they might be released.