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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is increasingly understood as a disorder rooted in disrupted dopamine signaling. This disruption doesn't occur in just one part of the system. It involves both the regulation of dopamine release from presynaptic neurons and the sensitivity of dopamine receptors on the receiving postsynaptic cells. Together, these imbalances affect core ADHD symptoms, including inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. One key component of pre

Dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) are deeply involved in how we experience motivation, social connection, and reward. These receptors help the brain regulate how it responds to both familiar and novel stimuli, acting as part of a larger feedback system that influences everything from attention to emotional sensitivity. What many people don’t realize is that D2 receptor function can be shaped — and disrupted — by our social environment and daily experiences. One of the most consist

Dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) play a key role in how we experience motivation, cognitive flexibility, and emotion regulation. Unlike the general excitement surrounding dopamine "hacks," very little is actually known about how to safely and reliably boost D2R levels in humans. Most of what we do know comes from clinical trials and pharmacological research, especially studies using PET imaging to observe how these receptors respond over time. One of the most well-established way

Dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) are critical regulators of dopamine signaling in the brain, influencing neuronal activity, neurotransmitter Dopamine D2 receptors (D2Rs) are critical regulators of dopamine signaling in the brain, influencing neuronal activity, neurotransmitter release, and synaptic plasticity. Their regulation involves complex intracellular signaling cascades, receptor isoforms, and interactions with other proteins and ions that shape both normal brain function a

There's a particular kind of physiological unraveling that happens when athletes push past sustainable limits for extended periods. The body doesn't just get tired—it starts operating under fundamentally altered rules, its regulatory systems losing the rhythmic patterns that normally govern stress response, recovery, and adaptation. We can measure this breakdown in heart rate variability that becomes erratic and suppressed, in cortisol rhythms that flatten and invert, in musc

There's a particular irony in how elite athletic culture approaches training volume. The assumption runs something like this: if some training produces improvement, more training must produce more improvement, and maximum training must produce maximum results. This logic feels intuitive, almost mathematical in its simplicity. What it misses—what research on overtraining makes devastatingly clear—is that the relationship between training load and performance isn't linear. Past

There's a particular kind of institutional failure that happens when systems designed to develop excellence instead produce trauma. Elite sport environments—especially high-cost, high-pressure ones—have accumulated decades of evidence showing they can damage the people they claim to serve. Abuse scandals surface periodically, mental health crises among elite athletes make headlines, and we collectively express shock before returning to business as usual. What we've been slowe

There's a psychological trap built into how we typically structure youth athletics—one so common it feels inevitable rather than constructed. Young athletes learn, often without anyone saying it explicitly, that their value depends on outcomes. Win and you matter. Lose and you don't, or at least you matter less. Perform well and you're worthy of attention, resources, pride. Perform poorly and you become problem to be fixed or moved past. This equation between performance and

My article has been published in International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Stresspoints ! This article is about Israel’s ongoing trauma crisis, where traditional talk therapy often fails because the nervous system is stuck in survival mode. It presents Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy as a body-based, relational method that helps people regulate their physiology, rebuild a sense of safety, and begin healing from continuous traumatic stress. If you are a member y

There's a script that elite athletes learn early, often without anyone explicitly teaching it. You talk about training, about sacrifice, about overcoming obstacles through determination. You frame setbacks as temporary challenges on the path to triumph. You present yourself as mentally tough, physically dominant, psychologically resilient. What you don't do—what the script explicitly prohibits—is tell stories that complicate this narrative. Stories about struggling with menta

There's a peculiar paradox at the heart of athletic culture—the people who fail most publicly, most visibly, most frequently are the ones least permitted to acknowledge it. Athletes operate under constant scrutiny where every mistake gets recorded, analyzed, replayed, yet admitting those mistakes or discussing the psychological weight they carry remains somehow taboo. We celebrate resilience while demanding athletes pretend they don't struggle. We praise mental toughness whil

There's a uncomfortable truth about equestrian sport that everyone involved knows but rarely articulates directly: it's not designed for most people. The barrier to entry isn't just high—it's prohibitive, structured in ways that ensure participation remains the province of those with substantial economic means. We talk about talent development, about finding the next generation of champions, about growing the sport. But what we're actually doing, through the accumulated weigh

There's a particular psychological alchemy that happens when circumstances become genuinely overwhelming—when the odds are stacked impossibly high, when systemic barriers seem insurmountable, when rational calculation would suggest giving up. Athletes facing these conditions don't typically respond with cold logic or strategic reassessment. Instead, they tell themselves stories. Not lies exactly, though the line can blur, but narratives that make continued effort feel meaning

There's a particular kind of psychological sleight of hand that happens under pressure, a way the mind protects itself from threats too immediate or overwhelming to process directly. Athletes operating in high-stakes environments—where performance is scrutinized, bodies are on display, and failure feels catastrophic—develop sophisticated psychological defenses that allow them to keep functioning when most people would shut down entirely. What we're beginning to understand, th

There's a particular kind of suffering that doesn't show up on medical imaging or rehabilitation protocols, one that persists long after physical wounds have healed. For equestrian riders, grief operates as an invisible injury—the loss of a horse to death or career-ending injury, the rider's own body failing them, the slow death of competitive dreams that won't materialize. What makes these losses especially damaging isn't just their occurrence but what happens when they go u

There's a particular kind of suffering that perfectionism inflicts, one that's hard to see from the outside because it masquerades as virtue. The athlete who stays late reviewing footage, who can't let go of a single mistake from weeks ago, who transforms every minor error into evidence of fundamental inadequacy—we tend to read this as dedication, maybe even admirable intensity. What we're often missing is the internal violence of it, the way certain forms of perfectionism op

There's something unique about equestrian sport that confounds easy categorization—the athlete's primary relationship isn't with teammates or opponents but with another living being whose welfare is simultaneously their responsibility and their pathway to success. Equestrians occupy a psychological space that other athletes don't: they're caretakers and competitors, partners and performers, responsible for a sentient being whose needs sometimes conflict with the demands of wi

There's a question that hovers around every story of athletic exploitation—whether it's emotional abuse from coaches, labor practices that border on indentured servitude, or training environments that systematically destroy bodies and minds. The question is always some variation of: why didn't they just leave? It's posed with genuine confusion, sometimes with judgment, as though staying in a harmful system represents a failure of self-preservation or common sense. What this q

There's a particular mythology around young athletes who give up everything for their sport—the ones training before school, skipping birthday parties for competitions, whose entire social world revolves around the gym or the rink or the field. We tend to romanticize this sacrifice, viewing it as evidence of dedication, discipline, the kind of single-minded focus that separates future champions from everyone else. What we're less comfortable acknowledging is that this early n

Scroll through any social media feed, and you'll find them: the impossibly lean gymnast mid-flip, the figure skater frozen in perfect arabesque, the dancer whose body seems to defy both physics and biology. These images aren't just documentation—they're currency in an economy of appearance where athletes in visually aesthetic sports trade their bodies for validation, one like at a time. What we're beginning to understand, though perhaps too slowly, is that this exchange comes