Therapy Talk: Psychological Discourse and Dissent in Six Popular Concepts

Catalog description

Sometimes derided as “psychobabble”, the language of psychotherapy has come to pervade Western cultural spaces from corporate retreats to TikTok. Concepts such as trauma, narcissism, and attachment have escaped the psychotherapist’s office and, in the words of sociologist Eva Illouz, now form “the most important cosmology of the modern self… an anonymous, authorless, and pervasive worldview.” This course will address six contemporary psychological concepts, from ADHD to “toxic families”, exploring their origins and social implications. We will explore each concept as a clinical entity – seeing like a psychologist – before we change lenses to see the concept from historical and critical perspectives arising both inside and outside the field. What social need does each concept address? What therapies are employed in response to each? How do these concepts and therapies translate across cultures? What populations get labeled and impacted by these concepts for good or ill? To what extent are these concepts “real”? Students will choose one concept to explore historically, cross-culturally, clinically, or through a mix of these approaches. Readings may include works by Nancy McWilliams, Virginia Satir, Christopher Lasch, Marsha Linehan, George Vaillant, Judith Herman.