Therapy Has Created a Generation Of ‘Victims’ According to Experts
April 2, 2024 in News by RBN Staff
source: gatewaypundit
A significant effort has been made to get more Americans talking about their emotions in recent years.
Despite this, experts are now beginning to wonder if the popularity of therapy may possibly be linked to America’s rising depression rates.
Their argument is that, regardless of how well-meaning the treatment is, it can lead to a victim mentality where people become fixated on their feelings and disconnected from the real world, increasing their depression.
Around a quarter of US adults said they had visited a therapist or psychiatrist in 2022, which is twice as high as 20 years ago and far higher than the around 3 percent in the UK.
Therapy speak has become so common it has permeated mainstream culture in the US. Clinical words used during counseling like ‘gaslighting’, ‘trauma’ and ‘microaggressions’ have become household terms.
Professor Robert Dingwall, a social scientist and adviser to the UK government, told DailyMail.com that looking on at the situation in America, there is a concern among sociologists that people are being referred to therapy at the slightest sign of hardship in their life.
‘There is a tendency to medicalize everyday problems in pursuit of commercial interests,’ he said, whether it be rejection from a partner or a failed job interview.
‘This is something that people have been saying for 50 or 60 years, a concern that’s been expressed by both psychiatrists and sociologists.’
This fosters a victim mentality, said Shawn Smith, a clinical psychologist based in Colorado.
Clinical psychologist Shawn Smith recently highlighted the concerning trend of fostering a victim mentality within certain circles. In medical sociology, this observation adds fuel to the ongoing debate regarding the benefits and drawbacks of therapy and related treatments.
According to the DailyMail.com report, Mr. Smith expressed his apprehension regarding therapy’s impact on America’s youth. He suggested that therapy might inadvertently encourage excessive self-absorption, hindering young individuals from actively engaging with the world around them and forming meaningful connections and pursuits.
More US adults have received mental health diagnoses than adults in any other high-income countries, according to the Commonwealth Fund, leading people to wonder if Americans are that much sicker or just being over diagnosed.
Comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher recently hit out at the rise in Americans with mental illnesses and said: ‘PTSD is for people who fought in Iraq, not for people who want to bring their dog on a plane.’
‘The way we know people are depressed is, there’s this turning inward… and usually, you will see a relentless scrutiny of the self, of one thoughts, and one’s feelings and one’s presentation,’ said Dr Smith.
In the last few decades, the stigma surrounding mental illness has significantly decreased, with a significant 87% of Americans saying mental health disorders are nothing to be ashamed of, as per the American Psychological Association’s report.
Professor Dingwall goes on to suggest that non-mentally ill individuals, meaning those who have an intention to abuse the system, may become more likely to seek therapy as society accepts it more readily.
