September 22, 2025 • 25 mins
Exploring the Psychological Depths of Liminal Spaces
In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston digs into the concept of liminal spaces — those transitional zones, both physical and psychological, where we feel suspended between the past and the future. The discussion explores various examples such as airports, traffic jams, dead malls, subways, hospitals, and even digital environments. These spaces challenge our sense of time, memory, and self, creating both potential for transformation and risks like anxiety and disorientation. By understanding and navigating these in-between moments, we can harness their power for creative breakthroughs and personal growth.
00:00 Introduction to Liminal Spaces
01:55 The Concept of Liminality
02:51 Modern Life and Liminality
04:06 Airports: The Ultimate Liminal Space
06:21 Dead Malls: Ghosts of Movement
08:42 Traffic and Transit: Daily Liminal Encounters
12:56 Hospitals and Hotels: Ambiguous Comfort
15:02 Digital Liminality: The Eternal Scroll
17:23 Psychological Implications of Liminal Spaces
22:23 Navigating Liminal Spaces
24:26 Conclusion: Embracing the In-Between
References
Arnett, J. J. (2004). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. Oxford University Press.
Augé, M. (1995). Non-places: Introduction to an anthropology of supermodernity (J. Howe, Trans.). Verso.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
Boss, P. (2007). Ambiguous loss theory: Challenges for scholars and practitioners. Family Relations, 56(2), 105-111.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. Harper Perennial.
Evans, G. W., Hygge, S., & Bullinger, M. (1995). Chronic noise and psychological stress. Psychological Science, 6(6), 333–338.
Goffman, E. (1963). Behavior in public places: Notes on the social organization of gatherings. Free Press.
Lin, Y. H., Lin, Y. C., Lee, Y. H., Lin, P. H., Lin, S. H., & Chang, L. R. (2019). Time distortion associated with smartphone addiction: Identifying predictors and consequences. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 115, 84–90.
Raichle, M. E., MacLeod, A. M., Snyder, A. Z., Powers, W. J., Gusnard, D. A., & Shulman, G. L. (2001). A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 98(2), 676–682.
Smallwood, J., & Schooler, J. W. (2006). The restless mind. Psychological Bulletin, 132(6), 946–958.
Smith, S. M., & Vela, E. (2001). Environmental context-dependent memory: A review and meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 8(2), 203–220.
Thomassen, B. (2009). The uses and meanings of liminality. International Political Anthropology, 2(1), 5–27.
Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53(1), 1–25.
Turner, V. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-structure. Aldine.
Ulrich, R. S. (1984). View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science, 224(4647), 420–421.
van Gennep, A. (1909). The rites of passage. University of Chicago Press.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Leslie Poston (00:12):
Welcome back to PsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston. Picture it.You're in an airport terminal at
2AM. Your flight doesn't boardfor hours.
The gift shops are closed. Theseats are uncomfortable, and
everything feels just a littletoo quiet. You're not where you
(00:32):
were and not yet where you'regoing. You're just there waiting
and suspended. Or maybe you'resitting in your car at a red
light that seems to lastforever, watching other drivers
stare blankly ahead, or walkingthrough an abandoned shopping
mall where echoing footsteps arethe only sound breaking the
(00:54):
silence of the emptystorefronts.
Maybe you're an asylum seeker ora refugee, stuck in a holding
pattern with no place to settlein and a place where you don't
speak the language, trappedsilently in the waning game of
red tape and bureaucraticstalling. This week, we're
talking about liminal spaces.Those strange in between zones,
(01:17):
both physical and psychological,that feel like you're standing
on the threshold of somethingelse. They show up in airports,
traffic, hospitals, on thesubway, in dead malls, and even
in your own mind. And they canmess with your sense of time,
memory, emotion, and self inways that are both fascinating
(01:38):
and unsettling.
Let's unpack why these inbetween spaces feel so powerful
and why understanding them mightbe more important than ever as
we move through a time ofdeclining systems and constant
uncertainty and change. The termliminal comes from the Latin
(01:59):
liven meaning threshold.Anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep
coined it in 1909 to describethe middle phase of rites of
passage when someone leaves oneidentity behind but hasn't fully
transitioned to the next. Thinkadolescence or grief or waiting
for a delayed diagnosis. It'sthe part where your sense of
(02:20):
self is blurry and uncertain.
Victor Turner took this furtherin 1969, suggesting that
liminality breaks down socialroles, allowing for what he
called communitas, a temporarybond among people in the same
transitional state. Thinksoldiers in basic training or
strangers stuck together in anairport during a storm. The
(02:43):
roles shift. You're unmooredfrom normal expectations. But
here's where it gets a littlemore psychologically
interesting.
Bjorn Thomason's research showedthat liminality isn't just about
ancient ritual it's woven intothe fabric of modern life. These
transitional states occur duringbreakups, job changes, long
(03:04):
commutes, pandemics, andcountless other moments where
we're betwixt in between.Environmental psychologist Marc
Colger gave us another criticalpart of the concept of non
places. These are spacesdesigned for transit rather than
dwelling. Places with noidentity, no history, no
(03:25):
meaningful social relations.
Think highway rest stops, chainhotels, or those sterile medical
waiting rooms. They facilitatemovement but resist meaning
making, which creates aparticular kind of psychological
tension. Psychologically,liminality isn't just about
physical spaces. It's acognitive and emotional state.
(03:48):
When we're in liminalsituations, our brains struggle
with the lack of clearboundaries, familiar cues, and
predictable outcomes.
This uncertainty can triggereverything from creative
breakthroughs to existentialanxiety, often within the same
experience. Airports are thegold standard of liminal spaces.
(04:10):
There's quite a bit of researchbacking up why they feel so
psychologically intense. Youarrive early, wait endlessly,
get processed through securitycheckpoints, and lose all sense
of normal time. Clocks areeverywhere, but time feels
meaningless.
You're surrounded by people butemotionally detached. The chairs
(04:33):
are bolted to the floor. There'sno privacy. No true comfort.
Cognitive science tells us thisdisrupts chronesthesia, your
brain's ability to mentallyproject itself backward and
forward in time.
Research shows us that when welose temporal anchors like
routines or meaningful spatialcues, our internal sense of time
(04:55):
goes a little haywire. In anairport, that function becomes
scrambled. You're nowheretemporally. And that does
something profound to your mind.But there's more happening
neurologically.
Studies have shown that thestress of airport environments
can trigger cortisol responses,similar to those found in other
high anxiety situations. Thecombination of surveillance,
(05:19):
crowds, noise, and theunderlying tension of impending
travel creates a state ofpsychological suspension. You're
alert but unable to act, presentbut not grounded. This is why
airports are common sites ofintense emotional reactions.
People cry at the gate, havepanic attacks in the security
(05:39):
line, or experience suddenclarity about life decisions
while staring out the terminalwindows.
The liminal nature of airportsstrips away our usual
psychological defenses, leavingus emotionally raw and
cognitively vulnerable. Andhere's something else that's
interesting (05:56):
this vulnerability isn't always negative. Many
people report having profoundinsights, making important
decisions, or feeling unusuallyopen to connection while
traveling. The liminal state canbreak down our normal
psychological barriers, creatingspace for transformation. But it
can also leave us feelinguntethered and anxious.
(06:21):
If airports are about movement,dead malls are about the ghost
of movement, especially mallsfrom the 80s and 90s America,
once vibrant social hubs nowdecaying monuments to
capitalism's promises. Photos ofthese empty structures circulate
online and evoke a strangefeeling that psychologists are
(06:43):
just beginning to understand.You recognize the architecture
immediately the escalatorsfrozen mid flight, the pastel
tiles, the artificial plants,the food court with its empty
tables. But the people are gone.The music is silent and it feels
like stepping into a dream youforgot until this moment.
(07:03):
Environmental psychologyresearch tells us this taps into
context dependent memory. Ourhippocampus stores memories in
relation to our environment.Sight sounds, smells, spatial
relationships. When we encounteran abandoned but familiar
setting, our brain tries toretrieve emotional and social
data from the past. But with thehuman activity stripped away,
(07:26):
there's a profound mismatch.
Researchers call this temporaldissonance. Your body is in the
present, but your brain isreaching backward for emotional
context that no longer exists.That cognitive tug of war
creates what can be described asan intensely liminal experience:
a memory without grounding, afeeling without clarity. Dead
(07:50):
malls also represent somethingpsychologically complex about
American consumer culture. Theywere designed as artificial town
squares, complete with benches,water features, and climate
control.
But unlike real town squares,they existed primarily to
facilitate consumption, notconnection. When that economic
(08:11):
function disappeared, the socialmeaning collapsed as well,
leaving behind what some culturecritics call ruin porn spaces
that are beautiful in theirdecay but haunting in their
emptiness. The popularity ofdead mall photography and
exploration speaks to ourcollective fascination with
these failed utopias. They'reliminal not just spatially but
(08:34):
temporally, representing arecent past that feels both
familiar and impossibly distant.Let's zoom in to something more
mundane but equally powerful: sitting at a red light. (08:45):
undefined
Or, worse, being stuck in bumperto bumper traffic. You're
trapped in a metal box,surrounded by people you'll
never meet, waiting for a systemoutside your control to let you
move. These moments might seemtrivial, but they're
psychologically significant.When your mind has nothing
(09:05):
immediate to focus on,neuroscience tells us it
activates the default modenetworka collection of brain
regions that become activeduring rest. This network is
responsible for daydreaming,future planning, self
reflection, and oftenrumination.
I talked about it in more depthin the episode on why you get
your best ideas in the shower.Talking about it just a bit
(09:27):
here, research on the defaultmode network shows that these
idle moments are actuallyperiods of intense neural
activity. Several studies revealthat boredom related mind
wandering can lead to bothcreative insights and emotional
distress sometimes within thesame red light cycle. This is
why traffic can be such anemotional minefield. You're
(09:49):
physically constrained butmentally free floating.
Your thoughts can spiral intoanxiety about work deadlines,
relationship problems, orexistential concerns, but you
might also suddenly solve aproblem that's been bothering
you for weeks or have a creativebreakthrough about a project.
Traffic jams create a particularkind of forced meditation. Not
(10:11):
the peaceful kind, but arestless, often agitated
contemplation. You're in aliminal state between
destinations, but you're alsosuspended between mental states.
Your commute becomes a dailyencounter with the psychology of
waiting, patience, andinvoluntary introspection.
There's a social dimension, too.Road rage often emerges from
(10:33):
this liminal frustration. Thedisplaced aggression that comes
from being simultaneouslyisolated and crowded, moving and
stuck, purposeful and powerlesscan explode at other drivers.
Public transit, especiallysubways, creates a unique flavor
of liminality. You arephysically close to dozens of
(10:57):
strangers, but emotionallydisconnected from all of them.
Everyone stares into phones,books, or the void. It's a form
of collective dissociationtogether, yet utterly alone.
Goffman described this as civilinattention, a learned behavior
of politely ignoring strangersto maintain a social order.
(11:20):
Subways force this intooverdrive. The lighting is
harsh, the seats are hard, andthe environment is
simultaneously overstimulatingand numbing.
Research on heart ratevariability shows that the noise
pollution and crowding at subwaysystems can increase
physiological stress, even whenpeople appear outwardly calm.
(11:42):
Evans and colleagues found thatcommuters in noisy transit
environments showed elevatedcortisol levels and decreased
cognitive performance. Theirbodies were responding to stress
even when their minds hadadapted to ignore it. Being
underground adds another layerof psychological complexity.
Subways disorient our circadianrhythms and spatial awareness.
(12:05):
Without natural light or cleargeographical markers, time
becomes harder to track. Manycommuters report feeling
emotionally dulled or mentallynot there during their daily
subway rides. Urban psychologytells us this creates transit
dissociation, a state wherepeople psychologically remove
themselves from the immediateenvironment as a coping
(12:28):
mechanism, who are present butnot present, traveling but not
really moving through space inany meaningful way. The subway
becomes a daily practice andliminal endurance learning to
exist in a space that's neitherhome nor destination, neither
private nor public, neithercomfortable nor entirely
uncomfortable. It's apsychological holding pattern
(12:51):
that millions of people navigatemultiple times a day.
Hospitals and hotels representanother category of liminal
space. Places that promisecomfort and care but deliver
something more ambiguous.They're designed to look
neutral, even soothing, withtheir carefully chosen color
(13:12):
palettes and generic artwork.But underneath that surface
hospitality lies a deep sense ofnot belonging. Environmental
psychologists call thisambiguous territoriality.
You are given a temporary spacea hospital room, a hotel room
but not given true ownership orcontrol. You are expected to
(13:34):
rest, heal, or sleep but withinstrict institutional limits.
You're a guest, a patient, atemporary occupant, but not a
person with full agency overtheir environment. Family
therapist Pauline Bosses'concept of ambiguous loss that
we talked about in the griefepisode also helps explain the
psychological impact of this. Inhospitals, patients often
(13:58):
experience grief for theirformer health, former identity,
or uncertainty about theirfuture.
In hotels, travelers might feela subtler loss of routine,
belonging, or emotionalgrounding. Research on hospital
design shows us thatenvironmental factors
significantly impact healing andpsychological well-being. Views
(14:20):
of nature, natural light, andfamiliar design elements can
reduce stress and improverecovery times, but many
institutional spaces stillprioritize efficiency over
psychological comfort, creatingenvironments that feel liminal
by design. These spaces messwith our sense of self because
they lack what environmentalpsychologists term symbolic
(14:43):
permanencethe visual and spatialmarkers that help us understand
who and where we are. Thegeneric nature of institutional
decor, the unfamiliar sounds andsmells, the disrupted routines
all contribute to this sense ofpsychological displacement.
Now let's talk about a newerform of liminal space: our
(15:07):
phones and the digitalenvironments we inhabit.
Doomscrolling, idle browsing,and the endless feedthese all
represent a form of digitalliminality that's increasingly
dominating our psychologicallandscape. Psychologically,
infinite scroll creates what canbe called an eternal present.
You're not fully engaged withmeaningful content, but you're
(15:30):
also not truly resting orreflecting. You're suspended in
a state of passive consumptionwhere time distorts and
attention fractures.
We've covered the psychologicalimpact of doomscrolling in more
depth in previous episodes,discussing both its benefits and
drawbacks to our psyches.Studies show that heavy
(15:52):
smartphone use can severelyimpair time perception, create
persistent attention residue,and dull emotional awareness.
People leave scrolling sessionsfeeling like no time has passed
or, conversely, like hoursdisappeared without a trace.
Either way, they're temporallydisoriented. This digital
(16:13):
liminality operates differentlyfrom physical liminal spaces.
Instead of waiting to move fromone place to another, you're
suspended in an algorithmic loopdesigned to prevent arrival
anywhere. The scroll never ends,the feed constantly refreshes,
and there's no naturalconclusion to the experience.
(16:34):
Apps have become the new liminalarchitecture, and our brains can
sometimes feel stuck in digitalhallways that lead nowhere.
Unlike traditional liminalspaces that eventually resolve
you know, flights bored, trafficmoves, transitions complete
digital liminal spaces aredesigned to be perpetual. You
(16:55):
never actually arrive at thecontent you're seeking because
the algorithm's job is to keepyou seeking.
This can create a new kind ofpsychological exhaustion.
Traditional liminality involvedwaiting with purpose. You were
in transition towards somethingspecific. Digital liminality
often involves waiting withoutpurpose scrolling without a
(17:17):
destination and consumingcontent without satisfaction.
Here's where the psychology ofliminal spaces can get even more
interesting.
They're not inherently good orbad. They're what we call
psychologically potent, whichmeans they can facilitate both
breakthrough and breakdown,often simultaneously. Research
(17:40):
on creativity and flow shows usthat breakthrough insights often
emerge during or after periodsof ambiguity and uncertainty.
When our normal cognitivepatterns are disrupted, as they
are in liminal spaces, we becomemore cognitively flexible. New
ideas can emerge when oldframeworks collapse.
(18:01):
Many artists, writers, andinnovators deliberately seek out
liminal experiences. They travelto unfamiliar places, work in
transitional environments, orput themselves in
psychologically uncertainsituations because these
psychological states can unlockcreative potential. The
discomfort of not knowingbecomes a catalyst for
(18:23):
discovering. Therapists whopractice dialectical behavior
therapy or acceptance andcommitment therapy often work
with clients to developtolerance for liminal emotional
states. Instead of rushing toresolve uncertainty or
discomfort, they help peoplelearn to sit with ambiguity and
(18:44):
explore what emerges from thespace.
But there's a shadow side.Extended or involuntary
liminality can producedissociation, anxiety,
depression, or even identitydiffusion, a fracturing of the
sense of self. When people feelperpetually in between, never
arriving anywherepsychologically solid, it can
(19:06):
become destabilizing rather thancreative. The key difference
seems to be agency and timeboundedness. Chosen liminality
with clear endpoints can betransformative.
Imposed or endless liminalitycan be traumatic. Here's the
(19:27):
uncomfortable truth about modernlife: We're increasingly living
in liminal spaces, bothliterally and metaphorically,
and the psychologicalimplications are enormous. No
one likes talking about itanymore, but the COVID-nineteen
pandemic has been perhaps thelargest collective liminal
(19:48):
experience in human history. Inthe beginning of this ongoing
pandemic, everyone was suddenlysuspended between their old life
and an uncertain future. Normalroutines disappeared.
Social roles became ambiguous.Time felt distorted. The
psychological impact is stillbeing both created and measured,
(20:10):
but early research suggests ithas already fundamentally
altered how many people relateto uncertainty and change.
People who are disabled orotherwise still practicing good
health practices like maskingare still stuck in another kind
of liminal limbo as the worldtries to force a normality that
won't return. But this pandemicis just amplifying existing
(20:34):
trends.
Sociologist Sigmund Bowman'sconcept of liquid modernity
describes a world wheretraditional structures careers,
relationships, communities haveall become fluid and temporary.
Nothing stays stable long enoughto provide lasting psychological
anchoring. The gig economycreates employment liminality.
(20:57):
People are always between jobs,between projects, between
sources of income. Climatechange creates environmental
liminality.
We're suspended between theworld we knew and an uncertain
ecological future. Social mediacreates social liminality. We're
always between authenticconnection and performative
(21:18):
display. Research on emergingadulthood shows that this
liminal existence has become alife stage. People in their
twenties and thirties who mightotherwise financially be able to
do some of these markers ofadulthood marriage,
homeownership, or careercommitment, though homeownership
is increasingly rareare insteadliving in an extended period of
(21:41):
exploration and uncertainty.
And this isn't necessarilynegative, but it requires new
psychological skills. Previousgenerations could rely on
relatively stable socialstructures to provide identity
and meaning. Current generationsmust learn to find stability
within instability, to createmeaning within uncertainty, to
(22:03):
build identity during perpetualtransition. Some researchers
argue that liminal tolerance,the ability to remain
psychologically healthy duringperiods of uncertainty, is
becoming one of the mostimportant mental health skills
of the twenty first century. Sowhere does this leave us?
(22:23):
If liminal spaces areincreasingly unavoidable, how do
we navigate thempsychologically? First,
recognition. Understanding thatthese in between feelings aren't
character flaws or signs ofweakness they're normal
responses to abnormalsituations. The discomfort you
feel in an empty mall, theanxiety that emerges during a
(22:44):
long commute, the disorientationof scrolling through your phone
these are understandablereactions to psychologically
challenging environments.Second, intentionality.
Instead of trying to escapeliminal experiences, we can
learn to work with them. Thismight mean using waiting time
for reflection rather thandistraction, approaching
(23:05):
uncertainty as opportunityrather than threat, or treating
transitions as spaces for growthrather than obstacles to endure.
Third, boundaries. While someliminality can be creative and
transformative, endlessliminality can be destructive.
Creating islands of stabilitywithin a sea of uncertainty
(23:28):
becomes critical forpsychological health.
Finally, community. Turner'sconcept of communitas suggests
that shared liminal experiencescan create unexpected
connections. The strangers stuckwith you in an airport delay,
the fellow commuters on a brokendown train, the TikTok
communities navigating similarlife transitions. These
(23:50):
temporary bonds can providemeaning within meaninglessness.
The goal isn't to eliminateliminal spaces.
That's impossible in ourcontemporary world. The goal is
to develop psychologicalliteracy about them, to
understand their effects on ourminds and emotions, and learn to
navigate them with greaterawareness and skill. Because
here's the paradox (24:10):
liminal spaces are uncomfortable
precisely because they hold somuch potential. They're the
space where change happens.Growth occurs where new
possibilities can emerge.
The threshold isn't just a placeof waiting, it's a place of
becoming. Thanks for spendingtime in the in between with me
today. I hope this explorationof liminal spaces helps you
(24:33):
notice and understand thepsychological complexity of
those transitional moments weall navigate daily. Whether
you're sitting at an airportterminal, stuck in traffic,
wandering through an empty mall,or just feeling suspended
between one phase of life andthe next, remember that these
experiences are more than mereinconveniences. They're glimpses
(24:53):
into the fundamental humanexperience of transition,
uncertainty, and change.
Thanks for listening toPsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston, signing off andreminding you to stay curious
about the spaces between,because that's where the most
interesting psychology happens.And don't forget to subscribe so
you never miss a week, and sendthis to a friend if you think
(25:14):
they'd like it.
Welcome back to PsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston. Picture it.You're in an airport terminal at
2AM. Your flight doesn't boardfor hours.
The gift shops are closed. Theseats are uncomfortable, and
everything feels just a littletoo quiet. You're not where you
(00:32):
were and not yet where you'regoing. You're just there waiting
and suspended. Or maybe you'resitting in your car at a red
light that seems to lastforever, watching other drivers
stare blankly ahead, or walkingthrough an abandoned shopping
mall where echoing footsteps arethe only sound breaking the
(00:54):
silence of the emptystorefronts.
Maybe you're an asylum seeker ora refugee, stuck in a holding
pattern with no place to settlein and a place where you don't
speak the language, trappedsilently in the waning game of
red tape and bureaucraticstalling. This week, we're
talking about liminal spaces.Those strange in between zones,
(01:17):
both physical and psychological,that feel like you're standing
on the threshold of somethingelse. They show up in airports,
traffic, hospitals, on thesubway, in dead malls, and even
in your own mind. And they canmess with your sense of time,
memory, emotion, and self inways that are both fascinating
(01:38):
and unsettling.
Let's unpack why these inbetween spaces feel so powerful
and why understanding them mightbe more important than ever as
we move through a time ofdeclining systems and constant
uncertainty and change. The termliminal comes from the Latin
(01:59):
liven meaning threshold.Anthropologist Arnold Van Gennep
coined it in 1909 to describethe middle phase of rites of
passage when someone leaves oneidentity behind but hasn't fully
transitioned to the next. Thinkadolescence or grief or waiting
for a delayed diagnosis. It'sthe part where your sense of
(02:20):
self is blurry and uncertain.
Victor Turner took this furtherin 1969, suggesting that
liminality breaks down socialroles, allowing for what he
called communitas, a temporarybond among people in the same
transitional state. Thinksoldiers in basic training or
strangers stuck together in anairport during a storm. The
(02:43):
roles shift. You're unmooredfrom normal expectations. But
here's where it gets a littlemore psychologically
interesting.
Bjorn Thomason's research showedthat liminality isn't just about
ancient ritual it's woven intothe fabric of modern life. These
transitional states occur duringbreakups, job changes, long
(03:04):
commutes, pandemics, andcountless other moments where
we're betwixt in between.Environmental psychologist Marc
Colger gave us another criticalpart of the concept of non
places. These are spacesdesigned for transit rather than
dwelling. Places with noidentity, no history, no
(03:25):
meaningful social relations.
Think highway rest stops, chainhotels, or those sterile medical
waiting rooms. They facilitatemovement but resist meaning
making, which creates aparticular kind of psychological
tension. Psychologically,liminality isn't just about
physical spaces. It's acognitive and emotional state.
(03:48):
When we're in liminalsituations, our brains struggle
with the lack of clearboundaries, familiar cues, and
predictable outcomes.
This uncertainty can triggereverything from creative
breakthroughs to existentialanxiety, often within the same
experience. Airports are thegold standard of liminal spaces.
(04:10):
There's quite a bit of researchbacking up why they feel so
psychologically intense. Youarrive early, wait endlessly,
get processed through securitycheckpoints, and lose all sense
of normal time. Clocks areeverywhere, but time feels
meaningless.
You're surrounded by people butemotionally detached. The chairs
(04:33):
are bolted to the floor. There'sno privacy. No true comfort.
Cognitive science tells us thisdisrupts chronesthesia, your
brain's ability to mentallyproject itself backward and
forward in time.
Research shows us that when welose temporal anchors like
routines or meaningful spatialcues, our internal sense of time
(04:55):
goes a little haywire. In anairport, that function becomes
scrambled. You're nowheretemporally. And that does
something profound to your mind.But there's more happening
neurologically.
Studies have shown that thestress of airport environments
can trigger cortisol responses,similar to those found in other
high anxiety situations. Thecombination of surveillance,
(05:19):
crowds, noise, and theunderlying tension of impending
travel creates a state ofpsychological suspension. You're
alert but unable to act, presentbut not grounded. This is why
airports are common sites ofintense emotional reactions.
People cry at the gate, havepanic attacks in the security
(05:39):
line, or experience suddenclarity about life decisions
while staring out the terminalwindows.
The liminal nature of airportsstrips away our usual
psychological defenses, leavingus emotionally raw and
cognitively vulnerable. Andhere's something else that's
interesting (05:56):
this vulnerability isn't always negative. Many
people report having profoundinsights, making important
decisions, or feeling unusuallyopen to connection while
traveling. The liminal state canbreak down our normal
psychological barriers, creatingspace for transformation. But it
can also leave us feelinguntethered and anxious.
(06:21):
If airports are about movement,dead malls are about the ghost
of movement, especially mallsfrom the 80s and 90s America,
once vibrant social hubs nowdecaying monuments to
capitalism's promises. Photos ofthese empty structures circulate
online and evoke a strangefeeling that psychologists are
(06:43):
just beginning to understand.You recognize the architecture
immediately the escalatorsfrozen mid flight, the pastel
tiles, the artificial plants,the food court with its empty
tables. But the people are gone.The music is silent and it feels
like stepping into a dream youforgot until this moment.
(07:03):
Environmental psychologyresearch tells us this taps into
context dependent memory. Ourhippocampus stores memories in
relation to our environment.Sight sounds, smells, spatial
relationships. When we encounteran abandoned but familiar
setting, our brain tries toretrieve emotional and social
data from the past. But with thehuman activity stripped away,
(07:26):
there's a profound mismatch.
Researchers call this temporaldissonance. Your body is in the
present, but your brain isreaching backward for emotional
context that no longer exists.That cognitive tug of war
creates what can be described asan intensely liminal experience:
a memory without grounding, afeeling without clarity. Dead
(07:50):
malls also represent somethingpsychologically complex about
American consumer culture. Theywere designed as artificial town
squares, complete with benches,water features, and climate
control.
But unlike real town squares,they existed primarily to
facilitate consumption, notconnection. When that economic
(08:11):
function disappeared, the socialmeaning collapsed as well,
leaving behind what some culturecritics call ruin porn spaces
that are beautiful in theirdecay but haunting in their
emptiness. The popularity ofdead mall photography and
exploration speaks to ourcollective fascination with
these failed utopias. They'reliminal not just spatially but
(08:34):
temporally, representing arecent past that feels both
familiar and impossibly distant.Let's zoom in to something more
mundane but equally powerful: sitting at a red light. (08:45):
undefined
Or, worse, being stuck in bumperto bumper traffic. You're
trapped in a metal box,surrounded by people you'll
never meet, waiting for a systemoutside your control to let you
move. These moments might seemtrivial, but they're
psychologically significant.When your mind has nothing
(09:05):
immediate to focus on,neuroscience tells us it
activates the default modenetworka collection of brain
regions that become activeduring rest. This network is
responsible for daydreaming,future planning, self
reflection, and oftenrumination.
I talked about it in more depthin the episode on why you get
your best ideas in the shower.Talking about it just a bit
(09:27):
here, research on the defaultmode network shows that these
idle moments are actuallyperiods of intense neural
activity. Several studies revealthat boredom related mind
wandering can lead to bothcreative insights and emotional
distress sometimes within thesame red light cycle. This is
why traffic can be such anemotional minefield. You're
(09:49):
physically constrained butmentally free floating.
Your thoughts can spiral intoanxiety about work deadlines,
relationship problems, orexistential concerns, but you
might also suddenly solve aproblem that's been bothering
you for weeks or have a creativebreakthrough about a project.
Traffic jams create a particularkind of forced meditation. Not
(10:11):
the peaceful kind, but arestless, often agitated
contemplation. You're in aliminal state between
destinations, but you're alsosuspended between mental states.
Your commute becomes a dailyencounter with the psychology of
waiting, patience, andinvoluntary introspection.
There's a social dimension, too.Road rage often emerges from
(10:33):
this liminal frustration. Thedisplaced aggression that comes
from being simultaneouslyisolated and crowded, moving and
stuck, purposeful and powerlesscan explode at other drivers.
Public transit, especiallysubways, creates a unique flavor
of liminality. You arephysically close to dozens of
(10:57):
strangers, but emotionallydisconnected from all of them.
Everyone stares into phones,books, or the void. It's a form
of collective dissociationtogether, yet utterly alone.
Goffman described this as civilinattention, a learned behavior
of politely ignoring strangersto maintain a social order.
(11:20):
Subways force this intooverdrive. The lighting is
harsh, the seats are hard, andthe environment is
simultaneously overstimulatingand numbing.
Research on heart ratevariability shows that the noise
pollution and crowding at subwaysystems can increase
physiological stress, even whenpeople appear outwardly calm.
(11:42):
Evans and colleagues found thatcommuters in noisy transit
environments showed elevatedcortisol levels and decreased
cognitive performance. Theirbodies were responding to stress
even when their minds hadadapted to ignore it. Being
underground adds another layerof psychological complexity.
Subways disorient our circadianrhythms and spatial awareness.
(12:05):
Without natural light or cleargeographical markers, time
becomes harder to track. Manycommuters report feeling
emotionally dulled or mentallynot there during their daily
subway rides. Urban psychologytells us this creates transit
dissociation, a state wherepeople psychologically remove
themselves from the immediateenvironment as a coping
(12:28):
mechanism, who are present butnot present, traveling but not
really moving through space inany meaningful way. The subway
becomes a daily practice andliminal endurance learning to
exist in a space that's neitherhome nor destination, neither
private nor public, neithercomfortable nor entirely
uncomfortable. It's apsychological holding pattern
(12:51):
that millions of people navigatemultiple times a day.
Hospitals and hotels representanother category of liminal
space. Places that promisecomfort and care but deliver
something more ambiguous.They're designed to look
neutral, even soothing, withtheir carefully chosen color
(13:12):
palettes and generic artwork.But underneath that surface
hospitality lies a deep sense ofnot belonging. Environmental
psychologists call thisambiguous territoriality.
You are given a temporary spacea hospital room, a hotel room
but not given true ownership orcontrol. You are expected to
(13:34):
rest, heal, or sleep but withinstrict institutional limits.
You're a guest, a patient, atemporary occupant, but not a
person with full agency overtheir environment. Family
therapist Pauline Bosses'concept of ambiguous loss that
we talked about in the griefepisode also helps explain the
psychological impact of this. Inhospitals, patients often
(13:58):
experience grief for theirformer health, former identity,
or uncertainty about theirfuture.
In hotels, travelers might feela subtler loss of routine,
belonging, or emotionalgrounding. Research on hospital
design shows us thatenvironmental factors
significantly impact healing andpsychological well-being. Views
(14:20):
of nature, natural light, andfamiliar design elements can
reduce stress and improverecovery times, but many
institutional spaces stillprioritize efficiency over
psychological comfort, creatingenvironments that feel liminal
by design. These spaces messwith our sense of self because
they lack what environmentalpsychologists term symbolic
(14:43):
permanencethe visual and spatialmarkers that help us understand
who and where we are. Thegeneric nature of institutional
decor, the unfamiliar sounds andsmells, the disrupted routines
all contribute to this sense ofpsychological displacement.
Now let's talk about a newerform of liminal space: our
(15:07):
phones and the digitalenvironments we inhabit.
Doomscrolling, idle browsing,and the endless feedthese all
represent a form of digitalliminality that's increasingly
dominating our psychologicallandscape. Psychologically,
infinite scroll creates what canbe called an eternal present.
You're not fully engaged withmeaningful content, but you're
(15:30):
also not truly resting orreflecting. You're suspended in
a state of passive consumptionwhere time distorts and
attention fractures.
We've covered the psychologicalimpact of doomscrolling in more
depth in previous episodes,discussing both its benefits and
drawbacks to our psyches.Studies show that heavy
(15:52):
smartphone use can severelyimpair time perception, create
persistent attention residue,and dull emotional awareness.
People leave scrolling sessionsfeeling like no time has passed
or, conversely, like hoursdisappeared without a trace.
Either way, they're temporallydisoriented. This digital
(16:13):
liminality operates differentlyfrom physical liminal spaces.
Instead of waiting to move fromone place to another, you're
suspended in an algorithmic loopdesigned to prevent arrival
anywhere. The scroll never ends,the feed constantly refreshes,
and there's no naturalconclusion to the experience.
(16:34):
Apps have become the new liminalarchitecture, and our brains can
sometimes feel stuck in digitalhallways that lead nowhere.
Unlike traditional liminalspaces that eventually resolve
you know, flights bored, trafficmoves, transitions complete
digital liminal spaces aredesigned to be perpetual. You
(16:55):
never actually arrive at thecontent you're seeking because
the algorithm's job is to keepyou seeking.
This can create a new kind ofpsychological exhaustion.
Traditional liminality involvedwaiting with purpose. You were
in transition towards somethingspecific. Digital liminality
often involves waiting withoutpurpose scrolling without a
(17:17):
destination and consumingcontent without satisfaction.
Here's where the psychology ofliminal spaces can get even more
interesting.
They're not inherently good orbad. They're what we call
psychologically potent, whichmeans they can facilitate both
breakthrough and breakdown,often simultaneously. Research
(17:40):
on creativity and flow shows usthat breakthrough insights often
emerge during or after periodsof ambiguity and uncertainty.
When our normal cognitivepatterns are disrupted, as they
are in liminal spaces, we becomemore cognitively flexible. New
ideas can emerge when oldframeworks collapse.
(18:01):
Many artists, writers, andinnovators deliberately seek out
liminal experiences. They travelto unfamiliar places, work in
transitional environments, orput themselves in
psychologically uncertainsituations because these
psychological states can unlockcreative potential. The
discomfort of not knowingbecomes a catalyst for
(18:23):
discovering. Therapists whopractice dialectical behavior
therapy or acceptance andcommitment therapy often work
with clients to developtolerance for liminal emotional
states. Instead of rushing toresolve uncertainty or
discomfort, they help peoplelearn to sit with ambiguity and
(18:44):
explore what emerges from thespace.
But there's a shadow side.Extended or involuntary
liminality can producedissociation, anxiety,
depression, or even identitydiffusion, a fracturing of the
sense of self. When people feelperpetually in between, never
arriving anywherepsychologically solid, it can
(19:06):
become destabilizing rather thancreative. The key difference
seems to be agency and timeboundedness. Chosen liminality
with clear endpoints can betransformative.
Imposed or endless liminalitycan be traumatic. Here's the
(19:27):
uncomfortable truth about modernlife: We're increasingly living
in liminal spaces, bothliterally and metaphorically,
and the psychologicalimplications are enormous. No
one likes talking about itanymore, but the COVID-nineteen
pandemic has been perhaps thelargest collective liminal
(19:48):
experience in human history. Inthe beginning of this ongoing
pandemic, everyone was suddenlysuspended between their old life
and an uncertain future. Normalroutines disappeared.
Social roles became ambiguous.Time felt distorted. The
psychological impact is stillbeing both created and measured,
(20:10):
but early research suggests ithas already fundamentally
altered how many people relateto uncertainty and change.
People who are disabled orotherwise still practicing good
health practices like maskingare still stuck in another kind
of liminal limbo as the worldtries to force a normality that
won't return. But this pandemicis just amplifying existing
(20:34):
trends.
Sociologist Sigmund Bowman'sconcept of liquid modernity
describes a world wheretraditional structures careers,
relationships, communities haveall become fluid and temporary.
Nothing stays stable long enoughto provide lasting psychological
anchoring. The gig economycreates employment liminality.
(20:57):
People are always between jobs,between projects, between
sources of income. Climatechange creates environmental
liminality.
We're suspended between theworld we knew and an uncertain
ecological future. Social mediacreates social liminality. We're
always between authenticconnection and performative
(21:18):
display. Research on emergingadulthood shows that this
liminal existence has become alife stage. People in their
twenties and thirties who mightotherwise financially be able to
do some of these markers ofadulthood marriage,
homeownership, or careercommitment, though homeownership
is increasingly rareare insteadliving in an extended period of
(21:41):
exploration and uncertainty.
And this isn't necessarilynegative, but it requires new
psychological skills. Previousgenerations could rely on
relatively stable socialstructures to provide identity
and meaning. Current generationsmust learn to find stability
within instability, to createmeaning within uncertainty, to
(22:03):
build identity during perpetualtransition. Some researchers
argue that liminal tolerance,the ability to remain
psychologically healthy duringperiods of uncertainty, is
becoming one of the mostimportant mental health skills
of the twenty first century. Sowhere does this leave us?
(22:23):
If liminal spaces areincreasingly unavoidable, how do
we navigate thempsychologically? First,
recognition. Understanding thatthese in between feelings aren't
character flaws or signs ofweakness they're normal
responses to abnormalsituations. The discomfort you
feel in an empty mall, theanxiety that emerges during a
(22:44):
long commute, the disorientationof scrolling through your phone
these are understandablereactions to psychologically
challenging environments.Second, intentionality.
Instead of trying to escapeliminal experiences, we can
learn to work with them. Thismight mean using waiting time
for reflection rather thandistraction, approaching
(23:05):
uncertainty as opportunityrather than threat, or treating
transitions as spaces for growthrather than obstacles to endure.
Third, boundaries. While someliminality can be creative and
transformative, endlessliminality can be destructive.
Creating islands of stabilitywithin a sea of uncertainty
(23:28):
becomes critical forpsychological health.
Finally, community. Turner'sconcept of communitas suggests
that shared liminal experiencescan create unexpected
connections. The strangers stuckwith you in an airport delay,
the fellow commuters on a brokendown train, the TikTok
communities navigating similarlife transitions. These
(23:50):
temporary bonds can providemeaning within meaninglessness.
The goal isn't to eliminateliminal spaces.
That's impossible in ourcontemporary world. The goal is
to develop psychologicalliteracy about them, to
understand their effects on ourminds and emotions, and learn to
navigate them with greaterawareness and skill. Because
here's the paradox (24:10):
liminal spaces are uncomfortable
precisely because they hold somuch potential. They're the
space where change happens.Growth occurs where new
possibilities can emerge.
The threshold isn't just a placeof waiting, it's a place of
becoming. Thanks for spendingtime in the in between with me
today. I hope this explorationof liminal spaces helps you
(24:33):
notice and understand thepsychological complexity of
those transitional moments weall navigate daily. Whether
you're sitting at an airportterminal, stuck in traffic,
wandering through an empty mall,or just feeling suspended
between one phase of life andthe next, remember that these
experiences are more than mereinconveniences. They're glimpses
(24:53):
into the fundamental humanexperience of transition,
uncertainty, and change.
Thanks for listening toPsyberSpace. I'm your host,
Leslie Poston, signing off andreminding you to stay curious
about the spaces between,because that's where the most
interesting psychology happens.And don't forget to subscribe so
you never miss a week, and sendthis to a friend if you think
(25:14):
they'd like it.
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