But to make it condensed, I would say there's a very real chance all the rise of therapy, esp. in the US, really is shifting our need to burn off our surplus. We have shifted into making a very formal product out of the 'objective friend who will hold confidences'.
This increased consumption has probably been a net positive as it's come at the expense of less positive consumption products (i.e. getting drunk with the buds every Friday night at the pub) but also some things that we could do well to try to add more back into our lives (i.e. actually going out with the buds every Friday night).
I don't think we are being fooled into this. It's a purposeful decision mostly coming from the consumers rather than the producers who know exactly how to ask for it in ways that make it hard for insurance companies and other gatekeepers to deny them.
But remember, the reason you can read something like The Odyssey and say "I can relate to many of these emotions even though I've never been a king and butchered dozens of men who were flirting with my wife when I got home" is because back then there were people with plenty of 'surplus' and they spent the time mulling over a lot of things we mull over today. Today we have interns at HBO serve me Game of Thrones and Sopranos, back then it might have been slaves and bards but between keeping ourselves alive and eventually running out of life we had a lot of time to kill.
This may be the most deluded thing you've ever contributed as a comment to something I've posted.
Remember, dogs never need therapists :)
But to make it condensed, I would say there's a very real chance all the rise of therapy, esp. in the US, really is shifting our need to burn off our surplus. We have shifted into making a very formal product out of the 'objective friend who will hold confidences'.
This increased consumption has probably been a net positive as it's come at the expense of less positive consumption products (i.e. getting drunk with the buds every Friday night at the pub) but also some things that we could do well to try to add more back into our lives (i.e. actually going out with the buds every Friday night).
I don't think we are being fooled into this. It's a purposeful decision mostly coming from the consumers rather than the producers who know exactly how to ask for it in ways that make it hard for insurance companies and other gatekeepers to deny them.
But remember, the reason you can read something like The Odyssey and say "I can relate to many of these emotions even though I've never been a king and butchered dozens of men who were flirting with my wife when I got home" is because back then there were people with plenty of 'surplus' and they spent the time mulling over a lot of things we mull over today. Today we have interns at HBO serve me Game of Thrones and Sopranos, back then it might have been slaves and bards but between keeping ourselves alive and eventually running out of life we had a lot of time to kill.