What Happens When Parents Say “I Was Wrong”

A teen girl approaches her parents with a grievance: She believes she is treated unfairly. “I feel like you’re giving my older brother much more privileges. It’s not just my age, I feel like you trust him more than you’ll ever trust me.” Jean-Michel Robichaud, a psychologist at the Université de Moncton in New Brunswick, […]

What We Get Wrong About Fathers Who Don’t Live With…

Popular culture tends to stigmatize fathers who don’t live with their children. From reality television to TikTok shaming, nonresident fathers are often thought to be absent from their children’s lives: “deadbeat dads.” The reality is quite different. As a researcher who studies nonresident fathers, as we call fathers who don’t currently live with their minor […]

Why Self-Care Feels Wrong When You’re a Perfectionist

Perfectionists are often more concerned with goals and accomplishments than with their own well-being. Sometimes, we’re so busy trying to please people, avoid criticism, and prove we’re “good enough” that we don’t even realize the toll it’s taking on our mental and physical health. Are You a Perfectionist? Perfectionists have impossibly high standards for themselves—and […]

What We Get Wrong About Teaching Kids to Apologize…

As an expert on the topic of interpersonal forgiveness, it is difficult for me to hear of situations when teachers and parents demand children to apologize and forgive immediately after an offense. Those are often viewed as quick behavioral fixes in situations of conflict or when one individual has been hurt by another. This process […]

Holding Meta and Google Responsible for Addiction Is Wrong

The verdict delivered on March 25, 2026, holding Meta and Google responsible for purposefully designing social media platforms to be addictive, and knowing it can be harmful, is flawed at multiple levels. At its core, this ruling negates personal responsibility for choices. Addiction is not a one-dimensional construct caused by a single factor. The ruling […]

What I Ask Myself Now Instead of “What’s Wrong with Me?”

Does everything feel like too much these days? Get When Life Sucks: 21 Days of Laughs and Light for free when you join the Tiny Buddha list. “With Self-compassion, we give ourselves the same kindness and care we’d give to a good friend.” ~Kristin Neff For a long time, I carried a question with me […]

Breaking the Cycle of “There’s Something Wrong with Me”

Does everything feel like too much these days? Get When Life Sucks: 21 Days of Laughs and Light for free when you join the Tiny Buddha list. “The wound is where the light enters you.” ~Rumi “I can’t do anything right. There’s something wrong with me.” My daughter said these words quietly, almost as if […]

Moving Beyond “Right” and “Wrong” in Relationships

Terry Real’s influence in the world of couples therapy is hard to overstate. A bestselling author, renowned social worker, and respected clinician, Real is known for blending emotional depth with clear-eyed pragmatism. He tells the truth, but always with compassion. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Real hosted a virtual gathering for fellow therapists. His message—that […]