Therapy Culture Issues - Essay Example

Are we living in a therapy culture? Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 21st May, Are we living in a therapy culture? Introduction Therapy culture can be defined as individuals taking up therapy sessions for getting their problems solved. Living in a therapy culture can be an agreed upon fact as everywhere around us we see that all kinds of general problems are being considered as highly important and people want to take up therapy sessions to cure their everyday problems. Therapies are becoming the in thing in the people’s lives and they are becoming highly dependent and have developed strong beliefs in curing themselves by taking up therapy sessions. Therapy cultures are being considered as highly important cultures and the demand for such sessions are increasing day by day. The different types of general problems are also increasing for employees day by day. According to Furedi (2003), the therapy concepts are not linked with dilemmas that are peculiar or indifferent states of mind of the individuals. Therapy is being taken as dealing with dilemmas that are common and state of minds that are being observed in normal human beings on a usual basis. There was a time therapy was considered as typically being applied on some unique cases but now every human being is gradually becoming prone to therapies. The states such as depression, stress, anxieties that are general, different types of phobia, and shyness are some of the common problems that are faced by majority of the individuals (Howard 2005). The author Furedi (2003) also discusses that the individual experiences that are faced are being categorized as medical and psychological issues and this may directly relate with the emotional mind set of the individuals. Therapy concepts are not just visiting psychologists and having chat sessions with them, therapy is becoming an inbuilt concept in society that is making mandatory compulsions on individuals for remaining competitive in the society and cope up with realities of life. Therapeutic claim making has become one of the most interesting debates currently. Furedi (2003) suggests that individuals are mostly interested in acknowledgements that state that they need formal recognitions and approaches to cure themselves. The society pressurizes the individuals to consult psychologists and counsellors to have sessions and discuss about their problems so that their therapy sessions can start with them. Cameron (2000) argues in his book that people are ready to make therapy claims very easily by observing their conditions. It the psychological thought that they have developed that they may get well if they take up therapy sessions for solving their problems. In practical scenario’s the people may not need therapy sessions but due to the society pressure and the gradual embedding of the therapy culture in all types of individuals in the society, everyone is coming in the fold of pressure and are forced to believe in this for getting cured. Therapy sessions usually do not act as recovery sessions rather it is just that they want someone to listen to their problems. Their problems are transferred to other individuals in the form of conversations. This type of conversation with an expert allows them to feel that they are under special treatment and may recover soon of their problems (Gamson 1999). The problems can be relating with spouses and other colleagues. The problem may not be major but it may be taken quite seriously by the individual because hyping up small issues is becoming a normal practice for majority of the individuals. Why this may be happening is because of the sensitivity factor being increased in the people. People are becoming hyper-sensitive with passing time and they are losing the skills to take things lightly. Depression, tension and stress are all genuine problems that are in the lives of all young and old people. All famous and non famous personalities have these types of problems and they are cured with time. As can be observed, many famous and top notch personalities that are very rich suffer from depression and stress and are seen to be taking their turns towards drugs and other ways to relieve them of their depression. There are many personalities that have been observed to lose their control in depressions and this has caused them their lives. Fame and money do not always bring in happiness. The reasons for happiness have been changed for individuals. Happiness before was easy to have and did not include in itself worldly pleasure, now individuals are becoming highly materialistic with time and they find happiness in materialistic things. Due to such materialistic cultures, to remain happy is becoming difficult for human beings. With all the high tech products and services in the market, the urge to buy these are becoming extremely important for the individuals. This causes stress and depression to those individuals that do not have such purchasing power and therefore are attracted towards the therapy culture immensely. Difficult and highly expensive things are becoming the sources of happiness for the individuals which are not a positive sign at all. The depression and other types of such traumas are the by products of this type of materialistic life. Those that do not adhere to these means tend to believe that they are suffering from psychological disorders and need to visit psychologists for treatments. Even youngsters are observed to be facing such issue that are break ups, failures in exams, inability for career progressions, no friends, no social life, struggling at home and university are some of the genuine problems faced by youngsters. In recent times it can be observed that the therapeutics has started earning a lot since the number of patients has drastically increased. The therapy culture is in the process of being embedded deeply in the society and in few years time the ratio may increase more than ever. The therapy culture also invades the media of majority of the societies. All individuals especially youngsters are highly attracted towards the media and the media figures as well. If strong media personalities are found to be taking therapy sessions, the fans of that personality will also start such practices that can prove to be highly harmful for individuals in their personal grooming sessions. Media personalities control the lives and interests of many of the individuals and therefore the media has played an important role in the therapy culture that is pertaining around in the society amongst people. Individuals who are having problems of emotionalism usually adapt towards the therapy sessions. Counselling sessions are one of the most commonly used therapy sessions by the individuals. The therapy culture allows individuals to talk about their emotions to the experts in therapy sessions and the experts then give them advice on how to proceed on with their life. Constantly indulging in seeking advice from experts becomes a habitual practice for the individuals when they are feeling down due to any reason. The role of education is important for individual since the beginning and education is what grooms the personality of the individual. Self confidence and self esteem is developed due education but it can be distorted sue to constant therapy sessions. In a way the therapists will start ruling the lives as their decisions may be constantly imposed on the people. Their advices at times may not be feasible for all individuals to implement and this may result in further stress or depression of not able to implement the required level of change that should be present through the various therapy sessions. Social life and social trends among the younger generations are changing drastically and the impact of therapy culture may de-motivate the self confidence and self ability aspects of the individuals to a very large extent (Nikolas 1999). This type of de-motivation may allow the personality of the individuals to distort and they may not be having strong personalities or confidence to face the world. Conclusion In the light of the above discussion, it can be stated confidently that we all presently are living in a therapy culture. This culture has become one of the most addictive cultures and at a very high rate is taking more and more individuals into its addiction. Taking therapy and medications according to therapies at times may cause side effects rather than helping to cure the problem. Depression tablets are one of the most common medications taken to relieve stress and it may cause immense amount of harm as well to the individuals. This may not be a positive sign, as individuals are losing their self esteem and confidence ability at a very drastic pace. To become dependent on other human beings, to be in a state of receiving sympathy from other people is becoming a necessity for people and this may be the main cause of damaging societies at a very large extent. Control on the therapy culture is highly important to sustain the well being of the society. Therapy culture has spread and embeds in the society to a very large extent and to ignore this perspective can be very difficult for all individuals. All individuals need to develop self controlling abilities in times of distress and depression. One’s own can result in positive effort of self control. Others cannot help much in the self control ability of the individual. References Cameron, Deborah (2000). Good to Talk ? Living and Working in a Communication Culture, London. Furedi, Frank (2003). Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age, Routledge. Gamson, Joshua (1999). Freaks talk back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity. Chicago University Press. Howard, Alex (2005). Counselling and Identity: Self Realisation in a Therapy Culture. Palgrave Macmillan. Nikolas, Rose (1999). Governing the Soul; The shaping of the Private Self. Free Association Books. Read More