To think therapy culture is turning self-reflection into self-obsession?

One the big problems with that is that people can't focus on the basics because they're constantly in survival mode. That's the society we have.

Edit re your edit: coping skills are vital in trying to get out of survival mode.

I don't think we have a therapy culture but I do think society does tend to go to extremes on many issues like for eg sexual repression to 'sex positivity' in one fell swoop and we're not really prepared for a sensible balance. I think this is the case here too - we've gone from mental health being taboo and stigmatised to at times unhealthy levels of introspection. As pp said it's money-making for some people. Informed by my own experiences but I don't think we always need to talk openly and freely about everything and analyse everything. I think there is a place for the stuff upper lip where it's appropriate. Hopefully we reach a happy medium at some point where it's not taboo, is as accepted as valid in the way physical illnesses and variations are, and people have better resources to find what works for them.

I do hate going to vote for student representatives at uni and instead of seeing why they're qualified for the position or what they'll bring to it, they list their labels. We DO have a culture where labels replace personality, qualifications and experience instead of signify personality, qualifications and experience.

I agree to an extent.

Therapy can be useful, but really I think the reason so many people are mentally unwell is because of 1. lack of community, and 2. lack of being involved in something bigger than themselves like a religion or a charitable cause and 3. Lack of basics like sleep, time outside, poor nutrition etc.

I think therapy can sometimes cause people to attach too much to the contents of their mind, as opposed to building a meaningful life. Some people genuinely have a chemical imbalance or inherited condition which doesn’t really apply.

For common anxiety and depression, if people focused on the basics (food, sleep, water, fresh air) plus having community and meaning in their life then I think majority would massively improve within 6 months or so.

Coupled with this, is a lack of accountability. People say they can’t get better because they’re on an NHS waiting list for CBT. Honestly and truly what do you think 6 sessions of CBT are going to do? They will at best teach you a few coping skills to arrange your thoughts. At best!

Is that you Dame Katy Denise?

@miuri I have witnessed this often; parents projecting their own fears or concerns onto the child, as opposed to the child being given space to feel it for themselves.
We're definitely in a time where everything is overanalysed. That in itself is overwhelming for anyone, especially children/teens. So glad to hear another professional relates.

I’m also a therapist and I agree 100 percent with this.
When i work with children and teens I often encounter an attitude from parents that I need to fix issues which would’ve been day to day stressors 20-30 years ago, such as friendship issues, exam stress, low mood.
We all experience low mood. We all experience stress.
Often I’m sat opposite children who seem confused about why they’re there. Often it’s because they’re angry (usual teenage rebellions not using violence against parents)

I agree. I think it can of course be helpful but it can also make people incredibly selfish.

Like others, I would draw a big distinction between actual therapy - which varies in quality, but can be an amazing and life-changing intervention - and 'therapy speak'. I think the latter is very harmful and absolutely does encourage navel gazing and self-centredness. My personal bug bear at the moment, which is probably due to my social media algorithms, is the people with young children who boast about how they are parenting perfectly and 'healing the trauma' of their own parents' various imperfections - often while filming their children for public consumption for their own validation. I think many of them are going to get a huge shock when their children grow up...

Qualified therapist here. I do think we're in a society nowadays, where mental health and wellbeing is shoved down people's throats. People can't seem to have a down day, as do we all and is a normal part of life, it comes down to having poor mental health, not just common, everyday mood swings.

Everything is excessive and I think there's a lot of online gurus out there who promote it, in order to extort money from people who are or can become vulnerable. It is a normal part of life to have ups and downs, doesn't necessarily mean someone has depression, needs anti depressants or to see a therapist.

Our ability to be a little resilient to normal life issues has been derailed by people who benefit often financially, by inflating a negative outlook for every glitch or circumstance. It makes me so cross to see how much people pay for therapy these days also. It should be accessible for all who need it, not a privilege for upper class society.

Interesting reading thank you, I stand corrected.

Therapy-speak and therapy are two very different things. And I do think that therapy-speak has become prevalent (look on MN, where very DH or MIL who behaves in contravention to the OP is a narcissist). It's become very fashionable among the Tik Tok generation to pathologise everything - they can't make a phone call because it 'gives them anxiety' or they can't socialise because it's 'triggering'. They've picked up a smatter of therapy-speak, poorly understood and use it to avoid doing anything vaguely uncomfortable.

So not therapy culture then.

Clearly on this thread there are far too many ignorant posters basing their views and pontifications on their hours spent on social media.

Maybe become better informed about diagnoses and the reality of MH , mental illness and therapy in this country.

I couldn't agree more. I know people who have simply honed discontentment like a fine art, simply expressing unhappiness and anxiety for reasons they can't define. In one case the children are already affected by seeing it. Her parents paid for therapy which she terminated after a few sessions. She complained that she didn't like being challenged.

And how about these highly regarded professionals

• Prof Tamsin Jane Ford – Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Head of Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, plus six other professors.
• Adrian James, Medical Director for Mental Health and Neurodiversity, NHS England
• Dr Sunil Gupta – GP Clinical Adviser, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
• James Brown – Founder, ADHD adultUK and Associate Professor in Biosciences, Aston University
• Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/adhd-under-diagnosed-and-under-treated,-says-nhs-expert-report

And NHS England

www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/report-of-the-independent-adhd-taskforce-part-1/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg5vp62dnnro.amp

Is Prof Edmund Sonuga-Barke, a fellow at the Academy of Medical Sciences and an ADHD expert at King's College London good enough?

Nope experts in the field as reported and quoted
by the BBC

Ahh 'experts' like anonymous posters on Internet forums. You've convinced me.

Experts in the field and consultants.

Well known by who?

They really haven’t. It’s well known adhd and autism are under diagnosed in this country.

This. The amount of people who say 'I struggle to concentrate at work, I must have undiagnosed ADHD' - no you're just bored of work like the rest of us!

I actually think proper therapy has a useful place in the world but we're getting to a situation now where everyone has a diagnosis and would like some kind of special treatment.

I don't know that world.
The only people who I know that go to therapy are usually suffering from trauma.
I seen.the setup on American TV shows.
I don't think it is normal culture here, it wouldn't be a bad thing.
Therapy is expensive and public list therapy lists are eendless.

Yes, and a lot of not taking accountability 😂

I was done when a friend told me my child is better behaved because a c section (under general) is easy and her baby had trauma because he had a natural birth and that's why he's the way he is. No, couldn't be anything to do with the way she was raising him at alllllllllllllll. Birthing trauma 😘

Just sitting there watching all these online instagram tick tick videos about trauma and how everything is a trauma response and how they're victims and nothing is their fault. Lord. Doing specific parenting seen online then confused why their kid is feral. Then blaming everything, everyone, including husband. Loooool.

I say this as someone with a diagnosis and I get on with life and my kids are raised tough 😂

Real therapy is great, I'm ridiculously resilient thanks to what they've taught me and I pass it on to my kids - they're extremely well grounded and ahead of their year groups. Younger one even went up one year early because she wasn't doing well with the lower class - I truly thank therapy for it as it gave me tools to pass on to my kids. Things that hold back their peers don't hold them back because they have coping skills early and age appropriate.