Dr. Luster's November Psychology Today Blog Entries

By Rodney Luster

Publication news

For November, Dr. Luster authored two blog posts for Psychology Today. Take a look here:

On Resiliency and Forgiveness - What a series like "The Walking Dead" can teach us about ourselves. opens in new window

Primary take-aways:

  • Art and characters can reflect the deeper aspects of the potentials that reside within us all.
  • "Wilding" is selfish behavior indulged in at the expense of others.
  • Forgiving can help insulate us from the insidious effects of anxiety, depression, and even posttraumatic stress disorder.

When Painful Memories Haunt Us-Can we intentionally forget painful memories? And should we? opens in new window

Primary take-aways:

  • Eradicating and suppressing painful memories may have detrimental effects to our health.
  • Memories, even painful ones, can serve to challenge our "fixed identities," which can help us grow in new ways.
  • Suppression-induced forgetting, thought-stopping, and recontextualizing painful memories can change the way we remember and reduce the pain.
See more articles by Dr. Luster on Psychology Today