PsychCast Psychosomatik Podcast

The use of “therapy speak” in psychotherapy, by therapist or by patient, is a form of avoidance. It is the substitution of abstractions and cultural clichés for the details of personal experience. These quotations are from Ralph Greenson in “The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis” (1967). It was written nearly 60 years ago. Nothing new under the sun: “The use of clichés, technical terms, or sterile language is one of the most frequent indications of resistance." “The patient who says ‘I was [activated]’ when he means ‘I was furious’ is… avoiding the imagery and sensations of fury as compared to the sterility of [activated].” “The use of cliché isolates affects and evades emotional involvement.” —Ralph Greenson, 1967

Many seem unable to view mental/emotional difficulties in any way but through a moralizing lens. On the right, the moralizing mentality often takes the form, “Straighten up, don’t be weak” (and I’m morally righteous because I’m not weak) On the left, the moralizing mentality often takes the form, “My diagnosis is an identity” (and I’m morally righteous because I belong to a marginalized/oppressed community) On the surface, these attitudes seem opposite. At a deeper level, they are the same: they reflexively adopt a moralizing stance. And that moralizing stance—both versions of it— are fundamentally incompatible with psychological understanding and the work of psychotherapy. Those are two examples of how a moralizing attitude slips into discussions of mental health. What are other examples?

“I think 30% of the people who want to be in that self-improvement/wellness space are underqualified. I think there are 40% sheer grifters. Everything they say is predatory advice-giving. I made a decision to not be anywhere near that space” —Brené Brown, on self-help influencers

Amazing how often psychoanalytic ideas get rebranded and repackaged—in watered down, hokey packaging—and the same people who disparage psychoanalysis think it’s a new breakthrough and can’t get enough of it 🤔

“In a large meta-analysis of 562 randomized controlled trials… we found no indication that the effects of therapies have improved over time” —from Cuijpers et al (2023), Five Decades of Research on Psychological Treatments of Depression