Recently, whether I’m talking to friends or watching one of my favorite shows, Love is Blind, I can’t help but notice how much everything is starting to sound like “therapy speak”. I like, I think, I feed really hard off like people’s energy; I would kind of maybe consider myself like an empath. Gaslighting, drama, OCD, toxic boundaries, emotionally dumping–these words used to occupy professional mental health settings, but now they’ve been dropped into the mainstream and have lost much of their meaning. This specific form of semantic expansion of psychological terms was dubbed “concept creep” by scholar Nick Haslam in 2016. self and the market responded this is when the term self-care was coined and people began to think of therapy as a lifestyle choice now in the 21st century the conversation around mental health has exploded and we’re seeing a lot of positive changes like more awareness and less stigma but with so many people talking about mental health it’s easy to lose track of the real issues and instead focus on superficial things like the latest wellness trend or a new type of therapy that’s all the rage for now
In the past, mental health was something people would not openly discuss. However, in 2023 it feels like society has gone too far and many conversations about mental health are now becoming meaningless. So how did we go from not talking about mental health to discussing it so much?
In the late 19th century, Dr. Sigmund Freud discovered that certain ailments could be treated by talking about them instead of medical treatments. He hypothesized that we all have a subconscious where unacceptable thoughts, memories, and motives are stored. This idea of the subconscious birthed the field of psychoanalysis.
In the 1950s, Edward Bernays used psychoanalysis to drive consumer behavior through successful ad campaigns. This success shifted marketing firms’ openness to using psychoanalysis as a tool to shape or manipulate buyer behavior.
In the 1970s, the field of psychology and the techniques of psychoanalysis took off with the coming of age Boomers. This period was marked by an increase in emphasis on the self. Oprah normalized therapy vibes and popularized the idea that suffering happens for a reason. Dr. Phil continued this tradition with hyper-dramatized pseudo-therapy sessions.
In the 1990s, self-help books saw a 96% increase in sales. People wanted to become better by fixing the self and the market responded by coining the term “self-care” and people began to think of therapy as a lifestyle choice.
In the 21st century, the conversation around mental health has exploded, leading to more awareness and less stigma. However, with so many people talking about mental health, it’s easy to lose track of the real issues and instead focus on superficial things like the latest wellness trend or a new type of therapy.