Speaker 1: Before we get started. This episode of the podcast does
Speaker 1: contain references and discussions of child abuse. If this is
Speaker 1: a sensitive topic for you, please reflect on whether you
Speaker 1: are ready to listen to this episode. If you don't
Speaker 1: feel ready, it will still be here in a week,
Speaker 1: a month, a year, whenever it's a better time to listen.
Speaker 1: Take care of yourselves, and I'm sending you love and healing.
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever you are in
Speaker 1: the world, it is so lovely, so great to have
Speaker 1: you here. Back for another episode, as we, of course
Speaker 1: break down the psychology of our twenties this week. When
Speaker 1: I sat down at my desk and I was deciding
Speaker 1: what to talk about this week, what did I want
Speaker 1: to discuss, I made the decision to do something a
Speaker 1: little bit fun, a little bit different. I wanted to
Speaker 1: do an episode there that you might not think has
Speaker 1: anything to do with psychology. You know. I feel like
Speaker 1: we've done quite a few serious, emotional, very in depth,
Speaker 1: somewhat scientific episodes as of late, and I wanted to
Speaker 1: kind of do something a bit more fun. One topic
Speaker 1: that kept floating to the surface for me was tattoos.
Speaker 1: Why do we get them, not just in our twenties,
Speaker 1: but at any stage? How important are they to our identity?
Speaker 1: Which tattoos do we end up regretting? Which ones do
Speaker 1: we not end up regretting. Basically, I want to talk
Speaker 1: about the psychology of tattoos, and that, my friends, is
Speaker 1: what we are going to do today. I have been
Speaker 1: endlessly fascinated by this topic for some time. As someone
Speaker 1: with tattoos, I have never actually considered why I got them?
Speaker 1: Why was I called to literally get something permanently put
Speaker 1: on my body after when I had just turned eighteen?
Speaker 1: Why did I decide on specific designs? Why did I
Speaker 1: just side on what to get? What was the motivation?
Speaker 1: And in thinking about my own intentions with my tattoos,
Speaker 1: I uncovered so much research that I did not even
Speaker 1: know was out there. I also talked to some of
Speaker 1: my friends. I am so lucky to have some incredible
Speaker 1: friends in my life who are tattoo artists and who
Speaker 1: make a living off of permanent art on somebody else's body,
Speaker 1: like there is no other type of art like it.
Speaker 1: And I spoke to them and I was like, can
Speaker 1: you tell me what you hear? From people who are
Speaker 1: getting tattoos. Are you seeing a specific kind of person
Speaker 1: get a specific kind of tattoo? Do people ever come
Speaker 1: back and say they regret it? Like, tell me about
Speaker 1: the emotional experience you have with a client when you
Speaker 1: are putting something on their body. And it has just
Speaker 1: been so fascinating talking to people about what kind of
Speaker 1: feels like quite an innocuous subject. I also found this
Speaker 1: interesting piece of research saying that the majority of people
Speaker 1: who have tattoos got their first one in their twenties.
Speaker 1: Now you may hear that and think that gemma, that
Speaker 1: makes sense, right, Depending on where you live, most people
Speaker 1: can't get tattoos before they turn eighteen, and even then
Speaker 1: you probably don't have the money to get the tattoos
Speaker 1: that you want until you're in your twenties. So it
Speaker 1: feels like the time a lot of people are doing it.
Speaker 1: But it also comes down to the fact that this
Speaker 1: decade is when we are in peak identity formation season.
Speaker 1: We've had our teen years to really explore, but it's
Speaker 1: our twenties where we are really trying to find the
Speaker 1: shoe or the outfit or the persona that fits. We
Speaker 1: are trying to find our space we are really starting
Speaker 1: to feel grounded in who we are. We're kind of
Speaker 1: exploring different facets of our identity and sometimes that calls
Speaker 1: for expression. It calls for something permanent to represent who
Speaker 1: we are and what we're going through. That is where
Speaker 1: tattoos come in. And I think of tattoos kind of
Speaker 1: as like a testimony to the age you are when
Speaker 1: you get them. And maybe in ten twenty years time
Speaker 1: you'll look at it and think what was I thinking? Like,
Speaker 1: what does this even mean? But maybe it's also, you know,
Speaker 1: an important rite of passage to some people. It brings
Speaker 1: a sense of certainty. All right, don't want to spoil
Speaker 1: the entire episode before we even get into it, but really,
Speaker 1: what we are going to do today is just take
Speaker 1: a big bite into all the fascinating research to do
Speaker 1: with body modification, tattooing, even things like regret, as well
Speaker 1: as do a brief kind of dive into some of
Speaker 1: the history as well, because this topic has so many
Speaker 1: dimensions to it. Without further ado, my lovely listeners, let
Speaker 1: us get into the psychology of tattoos. Let's talk briefly
Speaker 1: about the history of tattoos, because I feel like the
Speaker 1: change in attitudes that we've experienced just in the last
Speaker 1: fifty years is really quite striking and worth investigating. Now.
Speaker 1: I always get in trouble when I talk about history
Speaker 1: on this podcast because there are some very smart people
Speaker 1: out there who know a lot more about very specific
Speaker 1: topics than me and very graciously correct me when I'm wrong.
Speaker 1: But I really did a deep dive into this one.
Speaker 1: I used what I think is like the mother of
Speaker 1: all guides, the Smithsonian's Worldwide History of Tattoos, to really
Speaker 1: go in deep. So I hope that you are all
Speaker 1: prepared for a bit of a factual start to this episode.
Speaker 1: Some people will incorrectly assume or tell you that tattoos
Speaker 1: first emerged in the eighteen hundreds. That cannot be further
Speaker 1: from the truth. Humans have been marking their skin in
Speaker 1: ritualistic and important ways for literally thousands of years around
Speaker 1: the world, across different cultures. Tattoos are really really significant.
Speaker 1: I think about you know, the Greeks, they used to
Speaker 1: use tattoos to declare love. Indigenous Polynesians used to use
Speaker 1: tattoos to tell personal stories. We see them in ancient
Speaker 1: Serbian nomads. In Native South Americans, tattoos have this real
Speaker 1: core place in the human story, how we express ourselves,
Speaker 1: how we signify status, religious beliefs, even as just purely
Speaker 1: a form of decoration. So I think what people generally
Speaker 1: used to believe is that it was the Egyptians who
Speaker 1: were like these so called inventors of inking skin, and
Speaker 1: they used to use different kinds of pigments or ground
Speaker 1: up insects, and they would insert the you know way
Speaker 1: pigment into the skin using a piece of bronze or
Speaker 1: like a sharp stick. There's also evidence of a very
Speaker 1: famous mummy. It's called Otse the Iceman. If you're a
Speaker 1: history buff, you'll know this mummy quite well. That individual
Speaker 1: is almost six thousand years old. And when they found
Speaker 1: this mummified person, he had tattoos. Six thousand years ago
Speaker 1: people were already adorning their skin. Now that is really
Speaker 1: the beginning of tattoos as we know it. Let's now
Speaker 1: go forward about you know, five, seven hundred years, three
Speaker 1: hundred years ago. During this time, specifically in Western cultures,
Speaker 1: something changed when it came to our attitudes towards tattoos.
Speaker 1: They used to be very culturally maybe religiously significant, and
Speaker 1: then they started being considered a sign of being a
Speaker 1: criminal or a deviant. They're associated with gangs, behaviors that
Speaker 1: society doesn't approve of, and as such, they're banned in
Speaker 1: some spaces. Actually, I remember visiting Japan last year and
Speaker 1: not being able to enter the onsens or the hot
Speaker 1: baths because I had tattoos. So it's still relevant in
Speaker 1: some cultures. But we can link a lot of this
Speaker 1: stigma back to a specific group of Christian missionaries who
Speaker 1: did a really great job at convincing people back then
Speaker 1: that tattoos would disfigure the sacred vessel given to us
Speaker 1: by God, and consequently they were banned. They were banned
Speaker 1: in Christianity, and as Christianity became more widespread, that same
Speaker 1: belief was impressed upon different cultures, some of whom did
Speaker 1: have a historical, I don't know, historical attachment to tattooing.
Speaker 1: Of of course, we know that did not stop people
Speaker 1: from doing it, but it did bring about a stigma
Speaker 1: that if you got tattoos, you were obviously not a
Speaker 1: God fearing individual and therefore you were probably up to
Speaker 1: no good. This is how they really became associated with being,
Speaker 1: you know, a bit of a rebel, and they became
Speaker 1: associated with criminality and counterculture. But around like the nineteen forties,
Speaker 1: specifically in America, there was a revival of tattooing in
Speaker 1: Western cultures, and slowly more and more people knew someone
Speaker 1: with a tattoo, they knew a relative, they knew someone
Speaker 1: in the army. Then you know, they kind of thought
Speaker 1: about getting one of their own. They have kids with tattoos.
Speaker 1: So nowadays, there's some estimates that between thirty to forty
Speaker 1: eight percent of people in the country's surveys of countries
Speaker 1: like Canada, America, Germany, and Australia, those were the country
Speaker 1: is included in these studies, thirty to forty eight percent
Speaker 1: of people in those countries have tattoos. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: in your twenties, the likelihood that you have a tattoo
Speaker 1: is increased. It's around thirty eight to fifty two percent.
Speaker 1: So that's showing that, like over time generationally, we have
Speaker 1: become a lot more accepting and we're a lot more
Speaker 1: normal about this idea. I remember before I got my
Speaker 1: first tattoo, I was like still had this like fear
Speaker 1: of not being able to find a job, specifically like
Speaker 1: if it was visible. But nowadays, like this stigma has
Speaker 1: definitely lessened. So there's your little history lesson for the day.
Speaker 1: I know this is a psychology podcast. I will not
Speaker 1: dwell on it for long, but I do think it's
Speaker 1: important to cover because that attitudinal change does play into
Speaker 1: the psychology behind why we may be drawn to get
Speaker 1: a tattoo. All right, let's talk about that question now,
Speaker 1: why why do we feel compelled to put something permanent
Speaker 1: on our skin? So, when it comes down to it,
Speaker 1: when you're sitting in that tattoo chair, when you're waiting
Speaker 1: for the needle to go in, you are probably in
Speaker 1: that position because of one of four reasons. The first
Speaker 1: is that you're looking to represent something of personal emotional
Speaker 1: significance on your body. This is a way of telling
Speaker 1: your personal story and your personal beliefs and maybe reaffirming
Speaker 1: to yourself what you care about. What's important to you?
Speaker 1: Is it family? Is religion? Is it a specific value system.
Speaker 1: One of the largest studies ever done on the psychology
Speaker 1: of tattoos was conducted in South Africa with university students
Speaker 1: between nineteen and thirty five. Now, some of them had tattoos,
Speaker 1: some of them were considering it, some of them were
Speaker 1: just like absolutely not at all, and the researchers said,
Speaker 1: explain your reasoning, and then they imadically grouped the responses. Now,
Speaker 1: amongst people who had a tattoo or wanted a tattoo,
Speaker 1: twenty five percent of them said the reason I would
Speaker 1: want to do it is because this thing has a
Speaker 1: personal meaning. It marks a significant experience or struggle for me.
Speaker 1: So some of the reasons given were, I got a
Speaker 1: tattoo to honor my mother, to honor my siblings, because
Speaker 1: it represents my life philosophy, because this really presents what
Speaker 1: I was going through at a certain time in my
Speaker 1: life and I want to remember it. This idea is
Speaker 1: one I actually really want to grab onto for a second,
Speaker 1: And it's the idea that tattoos can bring about a
Speaker 1: sense of permanence. They can really anchor us to a
Speaker 1: specific time and our identity and our feelings and what
Speaker 1: we were going through in that moment. It's kind of like,
Speaker 1: if I put this on my body, this experience will
Speaker 1: always be part of me. I won't forget. I won't
Speaker 1: forget that loved one, I won't forget my how capable
Speaker 1: I was and how courageous I was to get through
Speaker 1: an experience I'll never forget that. This is how I
Speaker 1: see life, this is how I choose to live it.
Speaker 1: So if our body is just a vessel for our soul,
Speaker 1: you know, why not decorate it in the manner of
Speaker 1: what is important to you. I find this reason, this
Speaker 1: reasoning almost using your body like a journal, in some
Speaker 1: ways quite compelling. I have tattoos from specific periods in
Speaker 1: my life, and when I think about them, I can
Speaker 1: exactly remember what I was going through that made me
Speaker 1: believe that this thing was important to get. One in particular,
Speaker 1: and I have admitted this to very very few people
Speaker 1: is a breakup tattoo. I went through this breakup when
Speaker 1: I was eighteen, and it was really awful and I
Speaker 1: don't know, it was just it was shrouded in a
Speaker 1: lot of I don't know, it was complex. I'll just
Speaker 1: say it was complex, and being my first like big heartbreak,
Speaker 1: it taught me a lot. And I remember having this
Speaker 1: resounding sense of like independence, like no matter what, you
Speaker 1: need to be independent, you need to be able to
Speaker 1: rely on yourself. You cannot get attached to any one person.
Speaker 1: And so I got this like tattoo that represented that,
Speaker 1: and now I have a more balanced perspective. But when
Speaker 1: I look at that tattoo in the mirror, sometimes I
Speaker 1: can exactly remember where I was when I got it.
Speaker 1: And I don't just mean physically where I was, but
Speaker 1: emotionally and mentally as well. Same for like my twenty
Speaker 1: two tattoo. You know, I turned twenty two on the
Speaker 1: twenty second of the second twenty twenty two. That felt
Speaker 1: very significant to me. It felt very aligned, It felt
Speaker 1: like it was something that needed to be held on to,
Speaker 1: and you know, actually, quite frankly, like my twenty second
Speaker 1: year was an amazing year of my life. Like I
Speaker 1: quit my job, I met my boyfriend, I finally felt
Speaker 1: happy in the city I was in. I had all
Speaker 1: these opportunities. But you know, I do still sometimes look
Speaker 1: at it and be like, why did you have to
Speaker 1: get that? Why why did you have to get that?
Speaker 1: Because you're not twenty two anymore. But I think we'll
Speaker 1: talk about regret a little bit later. The biggest reason
Speaker 1: for me in that moment was the emotional significance of
Speaker 1: where I was, and for other people that it's really
Speaker 1: important as well. It really comes down to self identity
Speaker 1: and our desire to hold on to the feelings and
Speaker 1: encounters that have shaped us, perhaps even using our body
Speaker 1: as like a way to communicate who we are and
Speaker 1: what we've experienced. I think about Harry Potter tattoos as
Speaker 1: a perfect example of this, or any kind of fandom
Speaker 1: or religious tattoo. These look called group identification tattoos. You know,
Speaker 1: you put something on your body so that if someone
Speaker 1: else saw it, they would know, maybe implicitly, what kind
Speaker 1: of person you are, or if there were someone who
Speaker 1: was interested in the same things, they could be like, oh, friend,
Speaker 1: you know, I know who you are. We have this
Speaker 1: thing in common even though we've never met. It's like
Speaker 1: this form of communication or recognition belonging. It's a form
Speaker 1: of belonging. Obviously, that can also take a terrible turn
Speaker 1: if people are using hate symbols as a way to
Speaker 1: identify a group to which they belong, Like that's this,
Speaker 1: that's this philosophy taken to a very negative, dark extreme.
Speaker 1: But it is still part of some people's motivations for
Speaker 1: getting tattoos. The final value based reason for getting a
Speaker 1: tattoo can be for cultural reasons. As we've already explained,
Speaker 1: there are so many cultures with an amazing history of tattooing.
Speaker 1: I think about our New Zealand and Marie neighbors here
Speaker 1: in Australia who get I'm going to try and pronounce
Speaker 1: this right tomoco, which is traditional mary tattoos that really
Speaker 1: symbolize cultural pride, history story. They can mark like a
Speaker 1: significant occasion like a marriage or a graduation. Side note,
Speaker 1: I need you to look up how people get these tattoos,
Speaker 1: because when I first saw that process, I genuinely was like, wow,
Speaker 1: these are the toughest people on the planet. But yes,
Speaker 1: that is a really big part of what calls people
Speaker 1: to have something permanent on their skin. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: the second reason we get tattoos, and that is because
Speaker 1: it's just an appealing form of art. It's an extension
Speaker 1: of our identity through decoration. Now, the first reason was
Speaker 1: very deep, it's very identity based. This one is less deep.
Speaker 1: Tattoos are pretty. We are just a canvas. Our body
Speaker 1: is made to be adorned. Simple as that. Your tattoos
Speaker 1: don't need a specific meaning. In a recent episode, actually
Speaker 1: a guest was telling me about a friend of hers
Speaker 1: who gets random tattoos whenever she feels like it. You know,
Speaker 1: she's I think in her fifties, and she'll go into
Speaker 1: a tattoo parlor on a Saturday and just say, go
Speaker 1: for it, decorate me. You know, if she sees a
Speaker 1: cool cartoon, a word she loves, an image, a pattern,
Speaker 1: she just does it. I think that is a beautiful
Speaker 1: way to think about our body and to think about,
Speaker 1: you know, its permanence or lack of permanence in this world.
Speaker 1: Something I do always struggle with when it comes to
Speaker 1: this though, or I debate with myself when it comes
Speaker 1: to should I get a specific tattoo? Should I get
Speaker 1: a specific design? Is do I just think this is
Speaker 1: cute because it's a trending design? Is this just the
Speaker 1: same as a viral sweater or a viral lip balm?
Speaker 1: But it is going to be on my body forever?
Speaker 1: That's something I consider a lot. If tattoos are self expression,
Speaker 1: why is it that a lot of us end up
Speaker 1: getting similar tattoos? Like some examples, I can think of
Speaker 1: the love heart tattoos everyone was getting on their fingers,
Speaker 1: like back in like twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, Infinity tattoos.
Speaker 1: Now it's like micro tattoos, cowboy tattoos, which I think
Speaker 1: are really really cute that lion tattoo that everyone used
Speaker 1: to get on their finger. None of these are inherently
Speaker 1: bad tattoos, but it's interesting that a lot of us
Speaker 1: got them at the same time. And I think what
Speaker 1: it reflects is like a shared esthetic appreciation, shared cultural trends,
Speaker 1: community identity, of course, and you know the Internet is
Speaker 1: obviously some parts of the Internet are a communit so
Speaker 1: we all kind of feel excited by the same things.
Speaker 1: We end up finding beauty in the same things. I think,
Speaker 1: just like art in general has different seasons and movements,
Speaker 1: like abstract art, the Renaissance, contemporary art, tattoos go through
Speaker 1: these kind of seasons as well, and it means that
Speaker 1: a lot of people will jump on the bandwagon. Now,
Speaker 1: I don't think this is a bad thing, quite honestly.
Speaker 1: Like I think, just because you find something beautiful and
Speaker 1: someone else also finds that beautiful doesn't mean you are
Speaker 1: not unique. I actually think that when I see someone
Speaker 1: with these tattoos, I'm like, wow, you are kind of
Speaker 1: a tapestry for the culture and age that we're living in.
Speaker 1: You know, this is you're a part of history, Like
Speaker 1: this is actually quite cool that you have this thing
Speaker 1: on your body that I know this is quite morbid.
Speaker 1: But say someone was to dig you up in three
Speaker 1: thousand years, like that mummy we talked about, and they
Speaker 1: found like a tattoo of a heart on your finger.
Speaker 1: They could say, oh wow, that must have been important
Speaker 1: at the time. That must have been something that was
Speaker 1: esthetic to people at the time. And I find that
Speaker 1: very very interesting. Okay, we are going to take a
Speaker 1: quick break because I'm fully about to shift gears here.
Speaker 1: But when I return, let's talk about the role of
Speaker 1: tattooing in coping, healing from trauma, and whether this practice
Speaker 1: can actually become addictive, all of that and so much more.
Speaker 1: After this short break, a few years ago, I came
Speaker 1: across an article by someone calling themselves an ink nurse,
Speaker 1: and they talked about this idea of ink or tattoo therapy. Essentially,
Speaker 1: her take was that everything we feel emotionally and mentally
Speaker 1: cannot disappear through the mind alone. It also needs to
Speaker 1: be processed by the body. Now, for some people, emotions
Speaker 1: are processed through tears and grief, maybe rage, exercise, making art.
Speaker 1: For others, the way they process trauma, psychological pain, heartache,
Speaker 1: anything that the human soul has kind of gone through
Speaker 1: is through tattoos. Why is this the case, Well, firstly,
Speaker 1: I think it's because tattoos give us a sense of
Speaker 1: control we may be lacking in our ordinary life. In
Speaker 1: this way, you know you have this immense power to
Speaker 1: do to your body what you wish to do with it,
Speaker 1: and it can really help you reclaim your identity by
Speaker 1: making it your own through an outward depiction of what
Speaker 1: matters to you, or what you find interesting or what
Speaker 1: you find beautiful. You're saying, I have complete ownership over
Speaker 1: my body, So this is what I'm going to do
Speaker 1: with it. I want to talk about one piece of
Speaker 1: research that really speaks to this reclaiming and this powerful
Speaker 1: healing of tattoos. In particular, this piece of research actually
Speaker 1: looked at the association between childhood abuse and neglect with
Speaker 1: our likelihood of getting tattoos and piercings. It was conducted
Speaker 1: in Germany with over one thousand participants, and they did
Speaker 1: find tattoos and piercings more common amongst individuals who reported
Speaker 1: childhood abuse and neglect. So they're linking this very deep
Speaker 1: emotional suffering with a way of adorning and treating our bodies. Now,
Speaker 1: what They also concluded is that body modification in this
Speaker 1: sense was actually a very empowering experience for these people,
Speaker 1: because although they had suffered this great adversity, they were
Speaker 1: now taking back the control. And there was also this
Speaker 1: weird sense relating to pain and letting that pain be
Speaker 1: self inflicted was actually quite empowering compared to times when
Speaker 1: pain had been used against them. It's deeply psychological and
Speaker 1: to me, this explanation makes a lot of sense. And
Speaker 1: these findings have been corroborated in another piece of research
Speaker 1: that was published just a little bit later on. These
Speaker 1: researchers talk about how our desire to get specific tattoos,
Speaker 1: or even to get tattoos at all, actually gives us
Speaker 1: a real peak, a real vision into someone's psyche. Right
Speaker 1: what they choose to get on their body is actually
Speaker 1: a really i don't know, I don't want to say
Speaker 1: interesting again, but it's a very secretive, almost in depth
Speaker 1: way of understanding what they've been through and how they
Speaker 1: see the world. So this paper, this was published in
Speaker 1: two thousand than seventeen. It actually talks about how therapists
Speaker 1: can prompt an open discussion with someone using their tattoos,
Speaker 1: asking them about their tattoos, asking them about their meaning,
Speaker 1: their motivations forgetting them, as a way to kind of
Speaker 1: have a breakthrough with a client. Basically, if someone has
Speaker 1: a specific piece of art, it's obviously important enough for
Speaker 1: them to have put it on their body. So there
Speaker 1: must have been some motivation that has caused them to
Speaker 1: think that this is a good idea and that this
Speaker 1: is what they want. What is that motivation linked to?
Speaker 1: What can that tell you about who they are as
Speaker 1: a person? Not only that, not only is it linked
Speaker 1: to control, Not only is it linked to personality, Tattoos
Speaker 1: have also been shown to change how we think about
Speaker 1: our bodies. Having that control and being able to make
Speaker 1: ourselves into a form of art is so oh mentally
Speaker 1: powerful if you are someone who struggles with things like
Speaker 1: body dysmorphia or just general unhappiness towards your appearance. There
Speaker 1: have been some studies, including a specific one I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about from twenty eleven, that showed that right after getting
Speaker 1: a tattoo, individuals reportedly feel better about their bodies. They
Speaker 1: experience less appearance based anxiety. They also express less fear
Speaker 1: of being perceived in that kind of way. Tattoos are
Speaker 1: like a psychological armor, and for that reason, they also
Speaker 1: influence our emotional state. So our emotional state influences whether
Speaker 1: we get them, and then once we do get them,
Speaker 1: that has a further impact. It's like a cycle. That
Speaker 1: is why tattoos can become addictive, because the process of
Speaker 1: getting them makes us feel some sort of way. Anything
Speaker 1: that changes our mood such that we associate inactivity with
Speaker 1: immediately feeling better has the capacity to become addictive. You know, alcohol,
Speaker 1: for example, makes us feel less anxious and more lively.
Speaker 1: That emotional association makes it addictive, and phetamines give us
Speaker 1: that huge rush, make us feel joyous. Gambling makes us
Speaker 1: feel fulfilled by possibility. Tattoos bring us a sense of control,
Speaker 1: and according to that same study, they also make us
Speaker 1: feel better about how we look. They make us feel
Speaker 1: more at peace with our past, and they can make
Speaker 1: our lives feel more purposeful and significant. That is a
Speaker 1: very addictive feeling. I think a lot of us we
Speaker 1: do a lot of things to feel happy in who
Speaker 1: we are, to feel at peace with our past, to
Speaker 1: feel meaningful in our life. That's pretty addictive. Therefore, getting
Speaker 1: tattoos is also addictive. It's a common experience I've heard
Speaker 1: from tattoo artists that they will get a client who
Speaker 1: has never had a tattoo before, they will give them
Speaker 1: their first tattoo, and then a month later this person
Speaker 1: will come back and have like dozens because the process
Speaker 1: for them is so emotionally satisfying. Some of that comes
Speaker 1: down to our experiences with pain. Yes, we mostly want
Speaker 1: to avoid it, that's how we're hardwired. But there are
Speaker 1: some people who actually find it quite pleasurable and quite
Speaker 1: that brings about quite a sense of relief. Some people
Speaker 1: find catharsis in the process of getting a tattoo. You
Speaker 1: know that there's like this painful experience that then provides
Speaker 1: a really amazing result. It lets out pain that they
Speaker 1: may be feeling internally. All of this actually creates a
Speaker 1: lot of enjoyment that we associate with the process. We
Speaker 1: can also get quote unquote addicted to tattooing because of
Speaker 1: the role of two chemicals in our body, adrenaline and endorphins.
Speaker 1: Endorphins I'm just using as a general way of saying
Speaker 1: pleasant chemical messages. So the anticipation of and the pain
Speaker 1: that we experience from tattooing that can lead to an
Speaker 1: adrenaline rush. This will naturally create a feeling of almost euphoria. Now,
Speaker 1: the adrenaline that is released in response to pain is
Speaker 1: meant to lessen the painful experience, but it actually means
Speaker 1: that we begin to associate the act of getting tattooed with,
Speaker 1: you know, a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. Given
Speaker 1: you know, the level of anticipation with any first experience,
Speaker 1: that adrenaline rush is going to be heightened. So the
Speaker 1: first time you get a tattoo, you are going to
Speaker 1: experience the largest adrenaline rush from the specific activity that
Speaker 1: you will ever experience. But people will continue to seek
Speaker 1: that rush, and that is why we can perhaps explain
Speaker 1: people who come back and come back and come back.
Speaker 1: It looks like an addiction, but it's more them chasing
Speaker 1: a specific feeling. Now, after getting a tattoo, our body
Speaker 1: will also naturally release endorphins to soothe our pain, to
Speaker 1: target inflammation that also feels amazing. Some of the endorphins
Speaker 1: that will be experiencing are natural opioids, natural pain relievers
Speaker 1: that we know are extremely addictive. So that combination of
Speaker 1: the rush of adrenaline then the emotional and physical comfort
Speaker 1: of endorphins may encourage us to keep going back. Now,
Speaker 1: this can be a dangerous process, and something that always
Speaker 1: comes up in discussions about tattoos is regret. If you're
Speaker 1: getting a tattoo after tattoo after tattoo, are you making
Speaker 1: the best decisions? Are you being wise about what you
Speaker 1: want on your body permanently? Now, this is always going
Speaker 1: to come into this discussion, and you'll frequently hear it
Speaker 1: from like older generations or people who feel uncertain about tattoos.
Speaker 1: They'll ask you like, are you sure you want this
Speaker 1: on your body forever? Like you know that this is forever? Right?
Speaker 1: Are you sure that thirty year old you or fifty
Speaker 1: year old you or eighty year old you, is that
Speaker 1: version of yourself going and love it as much as
Speaker 1: you do? Now? Like, how do you know this is
Speaker 1: a smart decision? I'm going to answer that question for
Speaker 1: you right here, right now. You don't. You don't. And
Speaker 1: there is potential regret in absolutely everything. So chances are
Speaker 1: you might look at that tattoo at some point and say, Eh,
Speaker 1: that wasn't the best decision. But I don't think we
Speaker 1: need to fear regret all that much. I don't think
Speaker 1: it's actually the worst thing that you can ever experience.
Speaker 1: I even think about the tattoos that I don't like now,
Speaker 1: I still enjoy them for what they meant to me
Speaker 1: back then. They're kind of like skull in a way.
Speaker 1: You know, they make a good story. They tell something
Speaker 1: about my experience, and they bring me a very strange
Speaker 1: but very valued connection with my past self, Like I
Speaker 1: can tap into exactly what she was thinking at that time,
Speaker 1: which I find quite special. And you know, tattoos are
Speaker 1: going to change as you get older. They aren't gonna
Speaker 1: look the same. They're going to be shaped by age,
Speaker 1: and that is something that you can that you should
Speaker 1: be remembering. But also these days, like they're not permanent.
Speaker 1: I saw that image of Pete Davidson recently when I
Speaker 1: was in LA, Like I saw the billboard that he
Speaker 1: did for a Reformation, like all of his tattoos gone.
Speaker 1: Like it's possible. It's expensive, but it's possible. Probably not
Speaker 1: what you should be considering, though, Like if you're getting
Speaker 1: a tattoo and you're thinking, oh, whatever, I can remove
Speaker 1: it someday, not the mindset you should go in with,
Speaker 1: because it is still a painful process and it still
Speaker 1: will leave a mark and like this is you should
Speaker 1: be thinking of it as permanent. If you want to
Speaker 1: get like a semi permanent tattoo, like go and get
Speaker 1: those ones that you can like put on with a
Speaker 1: wet cloth, Like if you're going and thinking I can
Speaker 1: get this removed one day, you know, the easiest way
Speaker 1: for that to happen is to just not get it
Speaker 1: right now. So I want to briefly talk about some
Speaker 1: tips for making the right decision about a tattoo, because
Speaker 1: it's important, you know, if you want to get one,
Speaker 1: I think that's amazing. I really like mine. I find
Speaker 1: them like very decorative, very fun, good conversation starters. But
Speaker 1: you want to make smart decisions, like you don't want
Speaker 1: your first tattoo to be like an all out like
Speaker 1: snake down your entire body, or maybe you do, but
Speaker 1: this is what you should be thinking about. The most
Speaker 1: common reasons people regret their tattoos, according to a recent
Speaker 1: piece of research, is that it was impulsive. So around
Speaker 1: thirty five percent of people say I regret it because
Speaker 1: it was impulsive, it didn't have a significant meaning, or
Speaker 1: they thought it would make them look cool and it doesn't.
Speaker 1: What we do find is the more thoughtful and careful
Speaker 1: you are about a tattoo, the less likely you are
Speaker 1: to regret it. So, if you are thinking about getting
Speaker 1: something on your skin before you do, print off that tattoo,
Speaker 1: the tattoo design that you have, put it somewhere that
Speaker 1: you'd see it every single day to make sure you
Speaker 1: don't get sick of it. And I think it's like
Speaker 1: recommended to do this for like three to six months.
Speaker 1: You know, if this is a tattoo you genuinely want
Speaker 1: and then you're going to love, You're still going to
Speaker 1: want it in six months, You're still going to want
Speaker 1: it in a year. And this is a great insurance
Speaker 1: for you to say, Okay, if I had to look
Speaker 1: at this every single day, would I still want it? Secondly,
Speaker 1: when you start, start small, start with somewhere not visible.
Speaker 1: Also just important to see how your body reacts to it,
Speaker 1: whether like you actually like the process and you're not
Speaker 1: halfway through a tattoo in so much pain regretting it
Speaker 1: and it's somewhere really really visible. I think that's just wise.
Speaker 1: Don't get tattoos when you're drunk. Oh my lord. I
Speaker 1: have friends who have done this. Not only did they
Speaker 1: end up looking really bad, because their blood was really thin,
Speaker 1: so it leaked. But it really comes down to the
Speaker 1: impulsive nature of this. This might be a controversial one,
Speaker 1: and it mind sound hypocritical considering I got my first
Speaker 1: tattoo when I was eighteen, But if I had to
Speaker 1: go back, I would say, don't get a tattoo before
Speaker 1: you turn twenty, please. Like I don't know why. That
Speaker 1: feels like a good distinction. But the longer you can wait,
Speaker 1: the better. I think getting a tattoo young, and I
Speaker 1: still think like eighteen, nineteen twenty is quite young. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying it's going to increase your chair regretting it.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying that getting a tattoo a little bit
Speaker 1: older might reduce your chances of regretting it and finally
Speaker 1: be safe. And if it costs more, that's not a
Speaker 1: bad thing. This is like a permanent accessory for you.
Speaker 1: Think about how much you would spend on a really
Speaker 1: nice pair of jeans, really nice pair of shoes, on
Speaker 1: a handbag like this, Think about cost per wear. Here.
Speaker 1: You're going to be wearing this every single day of
Speaker 1: your life, so it is an investment. Go to a
Speaker 1: good tattoo artist. I have seen so many terrible tattoos
Speaker 1: in my day, and on Reddit and on Pinterest and
Speaker 1: on Instagram. You don't want to be that. Just because
Speaker 1: you want the tattoo really badly right now, you will
Speaker 1: still want it in three months when you have a
Speaker 1: little bit more money. Trust me, it really makes all
Speaker 1: the difference. I am so lucky that one of my
Speaker 1: best friends is a tattoo artist and I trust her
Speaker 1: more than anyone. And you can really tell the difference
Speaker 1: between someone who is really passionate about their craft and
Speaker 1: does everything right and someone who is doing tattoos for
Speaker 1: five dollars at like somewhere on a strip. More So,
Speaker 1: those would be my most significant important tips. Also, maybe
Speaker 1: some advice to younger Gemma to baby Gemma around what
Speaker 1: she should have done differently. You know what, though, I
Speaker 1: want to finish out this episode by saying, it is
Speaker 1: your body. It is your body to have regrets about.
Speaker 1: It is your body to modify. It is your body
Speaker 1: to express and to demonstrate with and to decorate. So yes,
Speaker 1: make smart decisions, but don't consider disappointing people as part
Speaker 1: of it. Don't consider what other people are going to
Speaker 1: think too much. So in this consideration of getting a tattoo.
Speaker 1: If it's something that's important to you, if it's something
Speaker 1: that you think will ground you, if it's something that
Speaker 1: you think will help with healing, and will you know,
Speaker 1: perhaps psychologically shift how you see yourself. That is always
Speaker 1: going to be worth it in my mind. And if
Speaker 1: you just like it and you want a tattoo, do
Speaker 1: it like you're young. If you're worried about other people's opinions,
Speaker 1: get it somewhere no one can see. Make it quite
Speaker 1: an intimate part of you. I actually think it's quite
Speaker 1: a beautiful rite of passage. It's something that was on
Speaker 1: my bucket list when I'm a kid. I'm glad that
Speaker 1: I've done it. And for all the thoughts about it, again,
Speaker 1: it just comes down to personal preference and what's going
Speaker 1: to make you feel good and what's going to make
Speaker 1: you feel happy in the form and the vessel that
Speaker 1: you're in. So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Now,
Speaker 1: the people who make it this far know that they
Speaker 1: will always get a little emoji. So for your emoji,
Speaker 1: choose the emotion that you would most want tattooed on
Speaker 1: your body. Let's confuse the people who don't listen to
Speaker 1: the end, but then pretend they do because they see
Speaker 1: the emoji. What are you most likely to want to
Speaker 1: get from the little Emoji list? And if you have
Speaker 1: a tattoo, let me know. Do you regret any of
Speaker 1: your tattoos and why? Let's kind of share the word,
Speaker 1: share the knowledge so someone else might not make the
Speaker 1: same mistake. I've already told you mine. I regret two
Speaker 1: of mine, my twenty two and my one post breakup,
Speaker 1: but I still love them, so I hope you still
Speaker 1: love yours as well. But please share below, make sure
Speaker 1: that you are following and you leave a five star review. Also,
Speaker 1: if you have further questions, stories, I don't know comments
Speaker 1: about this episode, you can always message me at that
Speaker 1: Psychology podcast on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: Until next time, though, stay safe, please be kind, be
Speaker 1: gentle to yourself, and I will talk to you very
Speaker 1: very soon. H