On this episode of the Modern Wisdom podcast, Freya India discusses how therapy culture has emerged as a potent force, particularly among young women. India explores how this secular form of self-exploration now fills a role traditionally occupied by religion, offering belonging and a sense of purpose.
However, India also raises concerns about therapy culture's influence. She argues it encourages the medicalization of ordinary human experiences and frames romantic partners as obstacles to personal growth. India warns that the inward focus of therapy culture may prevent individuals from fully engaging with life's complexities, fostering isolation and hindering relationships.
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Freya India discusses how therapy culture has become a dominant force among the youth, especially young women, replacing the role traditionally filled by religion in providing belonging and a sense of purpose. While young women are increasingly moving away from organized religion, therapy culture's secular practices like positive affirmations and self-exploration provide an alternative form of comfort and community.
India argues that young women have come to view their entire lives through the lens of therapy culture, routinely categorizing problems and experiences as medical or psychological issues rather than ordinary human experiences. She notes the increasing use of therapeutic language like "attachment styles" and "trauma" in everyday conversation to pathologize normal emotions and struggles.
India highlights concerns that therapy culture may exacerbate tendencies for women to ruminate, encouraging endless analysis of issues instead of actionable steps. She criticizes the way therapy culture discourages vulnerability and dependence, traits historically valued in relationships, labeling them as weaknesses.
According to India, therapy culture often frames partners as barriers to women's "healing" and "mental health," pushing them towards self-love in isolation rather than addressing issues in relationships. She warns that this mindset may prevent women from benefitting from constructive criticism and hinder relationship growth.
The discussion explores how the breakdown of traditional support networks like mentors and religion has left a void that therapy culture fills, especially for young women lacking adult guidance. Social media platforms are seen as reinforcing and normalizing therapeutic worldviews, while also enabling self-diagnosis and pathologization of normal experiences.
Williamson and India express concerns that therapy culture fosters excessive introspection, preventing individuals from engaging with life's complexities. They suggest it may lead to self-labeling like "anxiously attached," hindering growth and promoting permanent self-analysis over real relationships. Therapy culture's inward focus could also cause people to view others as obstacles rather than support.
Additionally, they raise alarms about youth engaging in risky online behaviors like OnlyFans due to lack of adequate guidance, mentioning how online influences and relaxed parenting may increase vulnerability to harmful trends.
1-Page Summary
Freya India brings attention to a significant cultural shift where therapy culture is becoming a dominant force among the youth, particularly young women, taking over the role that traditional religion used to fill in providing comfort, belonging, and a sense of purpose.
India notes that for the first time in history, young women are less religious than young men, a strong indication of the move away from organized religion. Therapy culture, especially among young women, has begun to fill the void left by religion. This new cultural paradigm mimics religious practices but translates them into secular equivalents: positive affirmations act as a substitute for prayer, and instead of seeking salvation, individuals are encouraged to embark on a healing journey. Intrusive thoughts are reframed rather than resisted as temptation in a religious context.
Therapy culture seemingly offers the comfort and community found in religion, but without the demands or restrictions on personal freedom that traditional religion, such as Christianity, might impose. It is presented as a more manageable approach that provides security and faith through self-exploration and authenticity rather than self-sacrifice and adherence to communal doctrines.
India argues that young women, in particular, have adjusted their lenses to view their entire lives, relationships, and emotional experiences through the norms of therapy culture. Problems and experiences, irrespective of their nature, are often categorized as medical or psychological issues, rather than being seen as ordinary elements of human life. This medicalization extends to the way individuals speak, with an increasing reliance on therapeutic language, incorporating terms like "attachment styles" and "trauma" into everyday conversation.
India notes that young girls often use the precepts of therapy culture as a means of exerting control over their lives ...
The Rise and Nature of Therapy Culture
Freya India sheds light on the potential negative effects of therapy culture on women, particularly young women, in relation to their mental health and personal growth within relationships.
India discusses how therapy culture may exacerbate the natural tendency for women, especially anxious young girls, to ruminate.
She expresses that therapy culture is particularly harmful to women because it encourages the disposition to ruminate, which is more natural for women. Co-rumination, where women dwell on problems with friends, is worsened by platforms like Reddit that serve as "rumination machines." India notes that young women can become caught up in endlessly analyzing problems, like attachment styles and toxic relationships, instead of taking actionable steps.
India criticizes current therapy culture, as seen on platforms like TikTok, which discourages traits such as vulnerability, dependence, and emotional responsiveness by labeling them as weaknesses. In contrast to historic values that encouraged giving and dependence in relationships, therapy culture advises women against being needy and promotes independence. Pathologizing dependence while glorifying independence, she explains, misunderstands that depending on a partner can also lead to self-discovery.
Therapy culture has implications for the ways young women perceive their relationships and their journey of self-development.
India describes how therapy culture, along with certain feminist messaging online, instructs young women who desire romantic relationships and dependency that these natural inclinations are problems, pushing them towards self-love and healing in isolation. She articulates how this often results in young women punishing themselves for desiring a partner and for being emotionally sensitive.
Furthermore, ...
The Gendered Impacts of Therapy Culture
The discussion on therapy culture reveals a growing trend, as individuals look for guidance amid a decline in traditional support structures and community, further amplified by the pervasive influence of social media.
The guests reflect on the changing landscape of support and guidance for younger generations, particularly Gen Z.
Freya India suggests that the lack of adult guidance has led young women to turn to online platforms for personal advice. The absence of mentors who intimately know these young women has resulted in foregoing traditional community support in favor of seeking online assistance.
The retreat of religion from public and personal life is discussed as leaving young women particularly bereft of community and belonging. India suggests that the decline of religious affiliation among Gen Z may intensify the search for belonging, a void that therapy culture could be filling.
Analysis of the role of online environments and social media reinforces the notion that these platforms are shaping young people's perspectives and experiences in relation to therapy culture.
Chris Williamson and Freya India talk about how young people, especially young women, are constantly exposed to therapy language and advice on platforms like TikTok. India notes the sensational nature of engagement-focused platforms, where "trauma-informed therapists" create content that introduces and normalizes a therapeutic viewpoint.
The discussion highlights the dangers of online trends t ...
Factors Contributing To the Spread of Therapy Culture
Freya India and Chris Williamson discuss the potential risks and drawbacks of modern therapy culture, noting that it often results in excessive self-focus and may lead both minors and adults to avoid real-world challenges.
India and Williamson discuss how therapy culture could result in individuals becoming overly introspective, ignoring real-world challenges, and too focused on self-analysis. They express concerns about young people delaying marriage and children in the pursuit of perfect control over mental health or productivity routines. They critique that therapy culture may foster an unhealthy self-focus and avoidance of life's complexities.
India notes that young girls might think they have a disorder, encouraging a mindset that shuts down natural reactions and avoids dealing with real relationship challenges. Williamson suggests that adopting therapeutic labels could deny individuals the opportunity to change patterns they don’t like within themselves. The guests agree that therapy culture might lead to self-labeling, such as being "anxiously attached," preventing personal growth and encouraging identifying with a condition rather than experiencing emotions in the moment.
India and Williamson touch upon therapy culture promoting solitude and avoiding distractions, leading to a lifestyle that neglects dealing with real-world relationship dynamics and challenges. India criticizes therapy culture for lacking an endpoint and suggests that its permanent nature leads individuals to avoid challenging situations instead of growing from them.
The conversation implies that therapy culture can encourage an inward focus to such an extent that other people become seen as distractions or annoyances in personal ambition and self-development. This can cause both men and women to adopt self-optimization behaviors that view others as obstacles rather than support.
India discusses how therapy culture may turn constructive feedback or challenges from partners or friends into perceived offenses, preventing people from viewing these figures as sources of support and growth. The discussion continues as they address the concept that therapy culture could be teaching individuals, especially young people, to view others as hindrances to their self-development.
India and Williamson express concern about the lack of adult guidance for youth, suggesting it could lead to harmful trends such as children becoming addicted to pornography and underage girls using false identification to post explicit content on OnlyFans. They mention that a shift in role models from influencers like Zoella to those promoting OnlyFans indicates a lack of proper mentorship or warnings about potential risks.
India talks about the dangers of young people, espe ...
Potential Risks and Drawbacks of Therapy Culture
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