This is a thoughtful article and interesting topic for discussion. I agree with the main thrust, albeit with a reframe.
Obviously, therapy isn't the solution to all of life's problems. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Is it over- or under-prescribed? That's reasonable to debate. I also think it's reasonable to debate whether "therapy culture" at large, distinct from actual therapy (think: TikTok gurus), is positive or negative. My own view is that therapy is generally positive and more people would benefit from it than have access to it. I am pro-therapy. Also - using the army as a supportive example of what you want to see doesn't make sense considering their suicide problem. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/magazine/suicide-military-austin-valley.html. I'm sympathetic, though, to ways that "therapy culture" is noxious.
That being said, there is an important deeper issue you are touching on. In some cases, people go to therapy seeking things that our existing culture and institutions are failing to provide. Therapy is not a substitute for fraternal spaces, fellowship, intermediating institutions, and the like. A steelman of your argument is that therapy is an easy go-to answer that perhaps inhibits us from facing these harder institutional and cultural issues.
My gentle reframe is a "yes and." Presenting this as implicitly zero-sum will result in people litigating therapy. Instead, I think the answer is: Do both. Go to therapy and also understand its limitations. AND, in the mean time, let's collectively address the institutional and cultural voids in a world that is rapidly changing, the voids causing many of our issues. Which begs the question: What would it look like to do this? Exploring this question, rather than litigating mental health, is where I believe this conversation can become very productive.
Thank you for your comment and feedback. I should clarify that when I use the term "therapy culture" as distinct from therapy I mean the phenomenon in my generation where people insist that everyone have a therapist and that friends don't talk about their personal problems with each other because it's considered an emotional burden.
My opening sentence is probably too dramatic since I try to specify when I think psychiatric care is the best option. I just think there are certain cases when something else is more helpful, namely when we lack the environmental prerequisites to live well (e.g. being unsure of how to achieve career goals or lacking relationships). In such cases, I think we owe it to ourselves to fix our circumstances instead of forcing ourselves to accept them
“you need to rely on people who are genuinely a part of your life, and if they don’t yet exist, go find them.”
If only there was some kind of sage who could help me troubleshoot the ineffective strategies for relating to others that I have developed as a symptom of being raised in a culture defined by separation, isolation, and lack. The inept strategies for compromising, communicating and collaborating that have contributed to my continued isolation by pushing people away or inspiring me to flee. And maybe we could come up with a licensing system so I don’t get taken advantage of by a stranger claiming wisdom but recruiting for some freaky cult….😅
But seriously, I agree theres a problem here. Just like putting up a fence and charging people to use your “property” detached people from collaborating in the physical commons, there has been a kind of enclosure of those social commons in which we’d have traditionally found both friends and wise elders. After all a therapist is basically a village elder with a degree that hopefully means they’re good at it.
And yeah, maybe a lot of therapists suck. But based on everything you’ve written here, I think we’re on the same team and I feel pretty strongly that it would be more efficacious to point these high caliber analytical guns at forces that *aren’t* ostensibly working to alleviate suffering, promote awakening, and reduce unskillful, ineffective and unhealthy behavior…
In answer to your opening statement (what a hook!) surely there is something that hasn’t done *any* good that can claim the title of Worst Thing Ever, right?
I think for a lot (#NotAll) of people can better learn how to make friends by watching YouTube videos about it than by seeing a therapist. Or better yet, people should seek advice from people who know their real selves such as their family members or the friends they do have. The credentialing system doesn't generate much confidence in me, and Pew recently released a poll showing people are more comfortable discussing issues with people who actually know them. It's gotten to the point where people consider it a red flag if you don't have a therapist, and people spend years and years seeing one without any objective in mind just because it's now considered part of being a good person
This is a thoughtful article and interesting topic for discussion. I agree with the main thrust, albeit with a reframe.
Obviously, therapy isn't the solution to all of life's problems. I don't think anyone would disagree with that. Is it over- or under-prescribed? That's reasonable to debate. I also think it's reasonable to debate whether "therapy culture" at large, distinct from actual therapy (think: TikTok gurus), is positive or negative. My own view is that therapy is generally positive and more people would benefit from it than have access to it. I am pro-therapy. Also - using the army as a supportive example of what you want to see doesn't make sense considering their suicide problem. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/19/magazine/suicide-military-austin-valley.html. I'm sympathetic, though, to ways that "therapy culture" is noxious.
That being said, there is an important deeper issue you are touching on. In some cases, people go to therapy seeking things that our existing culture and institutions are failing to provide. Therapy is not a substitute for fraternal spaces, fellowship, intermediating institutions, and the like. A steelman of your argument is that therapy is an easy go-to answer that perhaps inhibits us from facing these harder institutional and cultural issues.
My gentle reframe is a "yes and." Presenting this as implicitly zero-sum will result in people litigating therapy. Instead, I think the answer is: Do both. Go to therapy and also understand its limitations. AND, in the mean time, let's collectively address the institutional and cultural voids in a world that is rapidly changing, the voids causing many of our issues. Which begs the question: What would it look like to do this? Exploring this question, rather than litigating mental health, is where I believe this conversation can become very productive.
Thank you for your comment and feedback. I should clarify that when I use the term "therapy culture" as distinct from therapy I mean the phenomenon in my generation where people insist that everyone have a therapist and that friends don't talk about their personal problems with each other because it's considered an emotional burden.
My opening sentence is probably too dramatic since I try to specify when I think psychiatric care is the best option. I just think there are certain cases when something else is more helpful, namely when we lack the environmental prerequisites to live well (e.g. being unsure of how to achieve career goals or lacking relationships). In such cases, I think we owe it to ourselves to fix our circumstances instead of forcing ourselves to accept them
“you need to rely on people who are genuinely a part of your life, and if they don’t yet exist, go find them.”
If only there was some kind of sage who could help me troubleshoot the ineffective strategies for relating to others that I have developed as a symptom of being raised in a culture defined by separation, isolation, and lack. The inept strategies for compromising, communicating and collaborating that have contributed to my continued isolation by pushing people away or inspiring me to flee. And maybe we could come up with a licensing system so I don’t get taken advantage of by a stranger claiming wisdom but recruiting for some freaky cult….😅
But seriously, I agree theres a problem here. Just like putting up a fence and charging people to use your “property” detached people from collaborating in the physical commons, there has been a kind of enclosure of those social commons in which we’d have traditionally found both friends and wise elders. After all a therapist is basically a village elder with a degree that hopefully means they’re good at it.
And yeah, maybe a lot of therapists suck. But based on everything you’ve written here, I think we’re on the same team and I feel pretty strongly that it would be more efficacious to point these high caliber analytical guns at forces that *aren’t* ostensibly working to alleviate suffering, promote awakening, and reduce unskillful, ineffective and unhealthy behavior…
In answer to your opening statement (what a hook!) surely there is something that hasn’t done *any* good that can claim the title of Worst Thing Ever, right?
I think for a lot (#NotAll) of people can better learn how to make friends by watching YouTube videos about it than by seeing a therapist. Or better yet, people should seek advice from people who know their real selves such as their family members or the friends they do have. The credentialing system doesn't generate much confidence in me, and Pew recently released a poll showing people are more comfortable discussing issues with people who actually know them. It's gotten to the point where people consider it a red flag if you don't have a therapist, and people spend years and years seeing one without any objective in mind just because it's now considered part of being a good person
And therapy’s cousin, positivity culture: https://jakeseliger.com/2024/06/24/uncomfortable-truth-how-close-is-positivity-culture-to-delusion-and-denial/