Just to clarify what I said at the beginning of the video regarding therapy and psychoanalysis. I was refering to the psychology easily accessible and consumable, the sort of psychology that we see in mainstream media which for me, too often reinforces reductive biases. I'm not saying that the entirety of psychology is doing that #notalltherapists and I've worked with and used the work of psychologists and psychoanalysts in past videos. The reason why I don't want to go to therapy unless I really need to is because I don't feel like I need it at the moment and I don't want to have to find a therapist that won't promote reductive self-help stuff or gendered perspectives like it has been the case for too many of my friends. I know too many people for whom therapy has been a major factor of their depoliticisation and that is very frustrating to me. Sorry if that wasn't clear, I hope it's clearer now. I know that there are people/therapists working hard to change the problems of psychology or psychoanalysis, I personally know some of them and they agree that they are still a minority, that there's still a lot of work to do to change the relationship between psychology/psychoanalysis and the systems that have oppressed/oppress people!
i can imagine the backlash for saying that, it sounds super counter intuitive with what everyone is saying right now. but the key here is foucault, since you're coming that perspective, it makes sense, but i think the disclaimer is very advisable since there's so many psychiatrists who are aware of its dangers, and i dont think it does any good preventing people from speaking, which i think is the whole point of therapy. and you're youtube channel as well.
It seems like you were talking about CBT and all these liberal-capitalist friendly branches of psychology as if they are the only one that exists. Many other existencialist, jungian and even psychoanalyts talk about the “Emancipation of Self” as you mentioned and were tottaly right. Also you really don’t need to be in therapy, I really hate the statment of “everyone should”. Also not every branch in psychology will use the DSM as a bible or patologize every aspect of life… I feel this is an western specially norte american thing.
Psychoanalysis is very rarely practiced anymore, at least in the states. Psychoanalysis sort of died in the 20th century because it is basically impossible to validate through scientific research. There are of course still psychoanalytic therapists but they are comparatively few and have been looked down upon by the wider community of therapists. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy -- which seeks behavioral change in the areas that cause the client distress and is not very concerned with the source of their problems -- reigns supreme. Though, there's been a resurgence in trauma-focused therapy (perhaps *too* much) since tiktok got so obsessed about it in the last few years. I can't really blame therapists for that as much though; if their clients show up demanding to delve into their past I suppose they have to meet the demand or not make end's meet. And, most therapists aren't peddlers of self help and actively discourage their clients from consuming self help that isn't scientifically backed (which is most of it). However, as someone who's been in and out of therapy for like 10 years, I *can* confirm that a lot of therapists suck. Therapists are people too and going to a therapist isn't going to magically fix your problems like people think. They're less like doctors and more like personal trainers for your mental health (and they run the gamut in quality and education just like personal trainers do.) About 1/3 of the therapists I've seen have been so bad they've been, at best, a horrible waste of money, or at worst, actively harmful to my wellbeing; about 1/3 have been pretty meh and not really any more helpful than writing in a journal for an hour a week would be; and about 1/3 have been very good for me and helped me in ways I could not have helped myself. So I definitely understand if people don't want to take that gamble. However I think it's misguided to base your assumptions on a dying field of psychology so I wanted to educate. In the US at least, there are a variety of licenses that allow someone to practice therapy. The one people get from studying psychology in college, the LPC - licensed professional counselor - is actually the worst. Psychology programs in the united states tend to be very research-focused and do not adequately prepare students for performing therapy (which, most often, is what they go on to do.) The LPC license alone doesn't even qualify a therapist to diagnose mental illnesses in some states. It's really stupid. But, social workers with the LCSW -- licensed clinical social worker -- are also licensed to practice therapy. They tend to be *better* prepared by the social work programs to do client-facing work, they often have *more* classes on therapy, they have longer residency periods, and they also are trained to consider the whole person and all the social factors that go into making them who they are. It's ironic that the program that best prepares therapists to do therapy in the US is not a psychology program. But it makes sense because social work licensing boards and programs are much more concerned with the human side of things than highly medicalized and academic psychology. In the past it's been unfortunately less common to find LCSW's practicing therapy but the word is spreading and it's growing in popularity. My personal experience has been that LCSW's have been more helpful for me. I'm not sure if there's anything analogous in France but I know the american psychology academic world has a big impact on the rest of the world (for example the DSM-V being used in europe). Also fwiw people take the DSM-V too seriously. It's just a bunch of made of words. Some of it's got good science behind it but most of it doesn't. People treat psychological diagnosis like intrinsic fundamental truths but they are, as Alexander Avila says, social constructs. That's the big secret you learn when you get a psychology degree haha. It's all made up. (I don't really have sources to provide for these things but I have a degree in psychology and my best friend / roommate got a degree in social work at the same time as me, so I learned a lot about both.)
Im not talking about the research in psychology (that I regularly use for my videos) but rather the practice of psychology by therapists. How psychology is mediated to the general public through therapy, through mainstream media and the problems associated with it, its abuses, self-helpy vibe and essentialist tendencies. I’ve seen too many therapists mixing actual psychology with psychoanalytical concepts and their own biases to come up with problematic advice, but they still get to be called ‘therapists’, they do have a psychology degree. I’ve had too many conversations with people who came out of therapy saying things that sounded a lot like psychoanalysis not just in France… So yes psychology and psychoanalysis are two different fields of research but the way average people approach them is way more fluid imo, and that’s a shame and partly the fault of certain therapists who constantly mix the two
Queer psychoanalytic psychotherapist here! Just a few comments in response to your video. I spend a lot of time thinking and dealing with self-diagnosis as it comes into my office, and I think that is some concept creep coming in here. I think it would be helpful to tease out a few points that help me think about self-diagnosis. First, not all diagnoses are alike. Being diagnosed with cancer is not the same as being diagnosed with PTSD. Cancer has a specific etiology that can be proven through testing cells for the presence of cancer. I could not run a similar test to do the same with PTSD. It is a syndrome, meaning that it is a collective of symptoms we give a name to. This creates many problems that will inevitably impact how people with this diagnosis see themselves, how clinicians/other professionals interact with them, and how the symptoms manifest. There is a concept called “illness negotiation,” which in my opinion is vastly understudied. When a patient goes to the doctor, they will inevitably discuss some symptoms and not others due to what they perceive as being “worthy of medical attention.” Someone might go to the doctor and complain of nausea but leave out a pain in their shoulder because they deem those irrelevant or disconnected. People want to make their pain legible to others and so they mould their symptoms (consciously and unconsciously) to their understanding of what will be legible to others. When we translate this into mental health, I will get people describing their symptoms to me in a way that I can tell leads them into wanting a specific diagnosis. People come in with self-diagnoses to me all the time. What I often see is not a complete or holistic picture of what they are struggling with, but rather, a desire for me to see their pain as “valid”. Part of my process is teasing out as much of what they perceive is happening to them as possible. I want them to move beyond diagnostic criteria and become attuned to their own selves and bodies. I do not tend to think diagnostically. My patients are not collections of symptoms but rather beings with body-minds that interact with a toxic social environment. All in all, I worry about self-diagnosis as a way of using “the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house.” Diagnosis is a product of a biomedical model which is deeply ingrained in highly systematized, Eurocentric perspectives on the world. Rather than diagnosis, I recommend that people spend time thinking about all of their symptoms and how they relate to the world around them. When I am more financially unstable, I feel more “depressed.” Often my depression comes with stomach problems, fatigue, nausea, headaches. These symptoms are psycho-somatic, but that doesn’t make them any less real. I do not need a diagnosis of the problem because the problem is multifactorial, grounded in my life, history, genes, and circumstances. Our bodies and minds are not separate, and our body-minds can not be separated from our contexts. I think that recognizing the relationships between our bodies, minds, and environments is the key to liberatory health care.
Great insight, however, I would debate the notion of not needing a diagnosis. Nancy McWilliams (a female psychoanalyst by the way, who is a central figure in contemporary psychodynamic thinking) writes about how a good diagnosis can help us assess the patient and create a treatment plan more accurately. This is tremendously rewarding for the patient and the therapist as well, for it provides a steady foundation to build upon. Nonetheless I believe it is important to emphasize that a) psychoanalytic diagnosis is different from a descriptive diagnosis of psychopathology and collections of symptoms as it focuses on understanding the dynamics of the patient's inner world b) good therapists don't label their patients with diagnosises for it is worthless without exploring the patient's relation to their own symptoms and how they feel or think about their problems. Even though therapists usually diagnose, they don't do it for the sake of diagnosing. They do it for a better understanding of the patient.
@@Bobekoma Thanks for your comment. I'm a big fan of Nancy McWilliam's book Psychoanalytic Diagnosis. When I say I don't tend to think diagnostically, I mean in the biomedical sense of needing "a biocertification." I think diagnostically in the sense that when people come in, I want to get a sense of what they're coming in with. I've worked with patients who have been diagnosed with "borderline personality disorder," but I think of "borderline" more as a touchpoint to explore the patient's psyche and explore literature than expecting it to tell me something profound about a patient. It's absurd to not think diagnostically at all, but I will say that in my supervision/consultations/etc., I can not think of many times in which I or colleagues have used DSM diagnoses to further treatment. I think I was responding more to how diagnosis was being conceptualized in this video/mainstream discourse rather than the more expansive way you're describing.
The original meaning of a word can contain valuable hints but is rarely a reliable explanation for anything, since words change their meanings constantly, often quite quickly. In the case of hysteria its most frequent uses are clearly gender neutral (e.g."mass hysteria") or it can mean sthg. completely different altogether e.g. enormously funny ("hysterical"). This trend of labelling the word itself as misogynistic per se I find nonsensical.
If you'd get up to speed with the history of clinical psychology or with psychiatry, you'll find out that hysteria is primarily a mental disorder attributed to women. It could essentially be seen as a catch-all disease for women's ails And although Rachel Maines' hypothesis is disputed, which is that doctors of the past would treat them by bringing them to orgasm with a vibrator, it is true that heterosexual sex or pregnancy tended to be the prescribed treatment. While there were some attempts across history to correct this way of thinking about women, it was as late as Freud that it remained prevalent. According to him it was an "expression of the impossibility of the fulfillment of the sexual drive because of reminiscence of the Oedipal conflict". And although it would be recognized that traumatic encounters could be the cause of this, it was not the trauma which would bring you hysteria. It would be the fact you wouldn't be able to enjoy sex, due to the trauma, which was portrayed as the main issue which had to be fixed Isn't it funny how explaining away the problems women have, by attributing it to their wandering womb or other sex-specific organs, was a thing for two entire decades? It was only in 1980 that hysteria was taken out of the DSM. And a bunch of mood disorders, much less tied to gender-specific wording, took its place Words used to categorize and diagnose people are tied to theories and ways of thinking. Even if the meaning of words change quickly, the ways of thinking and the theories behind them are slower. In science, after all, you build upon precedence and tradition
The history of hysteria is actually very interesting, and a great case study for how cultural perceptions change through time and civilisations. The Ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was basically the female equivalent of being an incel. You see, gender stereotypes regarding sexuality were somewhat reversed back then. People believed men to be cold and detached, while women were passionate and sensual. Therefore, they believed women were lustful creatures who always wanted sex, while men were more intellectual and thought sex was beneath them. So, according to their hysteria theory, if a woman went for too long without sex, she would start showing symptoms of emotional instability and could even become infertile. If memory serves, one of the symptoms Aristotle mentioned was "unwillingness to take a husband". Hysteria was basically a precursor to the "Crazy Cat Lady" concept.
@@umbertouno You're neglecting an awful lot of history. Hysteria had been a catch-all diagnosis for whenever women had problems until as late as Freud. In fact, a common prescription was hetero intercourse or pregnancy And even when it started to become recognized hysteria may be caused by traumatic encounters, the trauma would not be the main issue. The main issue for woman's well-being would be that, because of the trauma, they weren't able to enjoy intercourse as usual It was only as recent as 1980 that hysteria, and all associated theory stemming from the 'wandering womb hypothesis', was removed from the DSM. Now the far less misogynistic ideas that are mood disorders prevail Idk about you, but in the context of categorizing people and diagnosing them, the word 'hysteria' seems to have had the same idea behind it for two millenia. It is only when we stopped trying to control or dismiss 'deviant' women by diagnosing them with some disorder, that we don't commonly associate it with its actual mysogenistic meaning anymore Maybe it is common for words to change quickly in their meaning, idk. But this is certainly far less so when it comes to science, where we often draw from and build upon the work of our predecessors
When medical systems fail people build their own communities to provide information and healthcare. I'm aware of this being common for ADHD, autism, trans healthcare and endometriosis in the UK; I'm sure there are other communities who have to do this too.
@@herseriallife I'm not advocating this and it's not legal, but people do share meds and purchase them on the dark web and distribute them amongst themselves because they're desperate. Again I'm not saying people should do this, I'm just saying it happens.
I know how privileged I am. I’m fortunate to live in a big city in France so I had a lot of practitioners to choose from and have a good insurance through work. But it took me years to find them and seeing many people who didn’t want to treat me or didn’t know how to…
I self-diagnosed with CPTSD because it's not a "real" diagnosis, not in the DSM. But the label answered a lot of questions for me and made my life make sense. And while medication and talk therapy never helped me, I've been with a somatic experiencing therapist who focuses on emotional regulation skills via the physiological manifestation of emotions. I have stopped having panic attacks, i sleep better, i am self actualizing because of this. I feel like i finally have some mastery over my body. I think psychology is good when it is firmly rooted in the body and doesn't treat the mind as something separate from the body. I think the ghost of Christian mind-body dualism justifies a lot of horror, and makes medical autonomy that much harder to access.
Same here, 41 and I am better then ever, and still healing spectacularly fast by practicing qgong and tai chi, body and mind practices, along with psychoeducation, peer support and writing (not journaling as it is not every day, not part of a routine, just when I need to). I have an official bipolar diagnosis, I ve been through psychiatry and out of it, started with a forced hospitalisation in a mental hospital 10 years ago, lots of psychiatric mistreatment and torture, stayed on therapy and medication for 4 years, then tapered off meds and started psychoeducating myself. I self diagnosed my cptsd, also self diagnosed my autism. I strongly believe that learning about cptsd is life changing for every single person!!! It s learning simple things that we all should know and understand about trauma and the human condition, and ex Pete Walkers audiobook here on yt on cptsd is a sufficient (and brilliant) source on how to navigate life while slowly healing and blooming. And then simple body movements do miracles!!! Trauma can be brought out and talked about, and it can be a therapeutic path, but it s a veeery weird path, presented as the only one and the normal one within western cosmology. They are crazy, we re not.💪💪❤
@@fbxnsame here! 🤝 Pete Walkers’s books on cPTSD & “The Tao of Fully Feeling” were also a huge revelation for me, on one of the first pages “What you may have been misdiagnosed with” I checked almost every box… “various anxiety and depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, codependency, depressive and dissociative disorders, obsessive/compulsive” tendencies…. This quote really paints the picture for me: “Reducing cPTSD to ‘panic disorder’ is like calling food allergies chronically itchy eyes.” There is so much solace to be found with psychological educators who showcase raw data & evidence to empower individuals to understand, manage and drive their healing themselves (with and without ‘professional’ support) - instead of further enforcing the rampant gatekeeping found in medicine & psychology. In case anyone’s interested; some of the brightest guiding lights I’ve found over the years(titles not listed): Pete Walker, Nicole LePera (aka “The Holistic Psychologist”), Nedra Glover Tawwab, Patrick Teahan, ….
This hurts so badly. I’m actively getting worse, I’ve been in pain for over 2 years, and there’s nowhere for me to go at this point. All they know is that it’s *probably* one of two things, but that’s it. I just have to take OTCs and go for massages my parents’ insurance thankfully covers. I kept on getting told it was anxiety. I am no closer to an answer as when I started. Self diagnosis is the natural result of a medical system that makes the patients out to be the villains. Not only for mental illness, but if I keep on going answerless for the lengths of times most girls and women end up having to endure (7 years is average diagnosis time for lupus), I’m going to lose it.
That last problem is pretty acute here in the US. We're constantly inundated with for profit medical information and the descriptions of the symptoms that make up a disease are often so generic and vague they read more like an astrology prediction than a medical tool.
Specifically for mental health, the Rosenhan experiment basically confirmed that psychology is mostly shooting in the dark and hoping you get lucky. The criteria for mental illnesses are mostly meaningless and the drugs are basically a crapshoot
To clarify, I was merely pointing out that for profit medicine will often make the symptom lists vague to make as many people as possible say "that could be me," in the same way astrology predictions do, and then ask their doctor for the medicine. I was not commenting on the veracity or quality of legitimate medical diagnoses.
i’m studying to be a mental health therapist for children specifically so i’ve been very aware of the pros and cons of being in a position like that are. therapists and psychologists have a lot of power and bad ones are very difficult to deal with. i’ve had my fair share of bad therapists but i’ll never forget when my first therapist asked me if i was perhaps trans after i vented about hating my body and preferring to look like a boy. there was no beating around the bush, no rationalizing my feelings by assuming i had “penis envy” or whatever, just complete understanding. i was only 12 but it really made me rethink my worldview. gender had always been confusing for me and i had never had someone be so blunt about it. it didn’t confuse me but rather made me think about myself a little more. this was a refreshing introduction to therapy. i’m also autistic and spent years seeking a diagnosis and finally got one at 17. the limits disabled people face without a valid diagnosis is unfortunate. accessibility is everything.
As a child of Act-up activists, it always warms my heart to hear about it. But it also makes me realize how little we hear about their work, so thank you for mentioning it in your brilliant video, as always.
I thought I had endometriosis for most of my life, had most of the symptoms. Few years ago I came across an old vid on RUclips made by a singing teacher; she talked about the importance of posture and how it affects every aspect of our lives. For the first time I heard the term "alterior pelvic tilt". I've been working on fixing this and can proudly say, most months I am painfree. The merging of sciences is key to everyone's health. Doctors are not only pharma focused and dismissive of their patients, they are also dismissive of the practices developed over centuries. As a society, we're not in our wisest era..
I agree psychology is full of extremely bunk essentializing. As an autistic person who has suffered much stigma, despite a lifetime of masking it in an attempt to preserve my dignity at school & work, I have found the collective work of the Autism content-producing community to be very inspiring!
as a therapist, I fully agree with the oppression caused by the pathology paradigm. I'm learning to center social justice in my work and using approaches like narrative therapy and somatic work. It's very liberating to say the least.
Just as a note on the psychologist part, there i once heard that "I don't need to feel good in an unfair world, i need to change the world in order to feel good" Of course, that is if it's only about a mood, about not feeling good with what you get, but it would be wrong to try to take pills in order to NOT feel bad (or supressing feelings) about the unfair things Of course, mental healt should always be a priority and we need to distinguish between some psychosis and some mood, which i think is the main point about "i don't go to therapy unless I REALLY need it" And of course, one doesn't go to therapy because there's something bad in my brain/mind/personality, but because i want to feel better.
It sounds like the "therapy" Alice is avoidant of is Psychodynamic, pathologising and very medicalised. In the UK most therapy is currently 'counselling' and not carried out by a medical professional, the people receiving therapy have to be called clients not patients. There are many different modalities and I think Humanistic, Integrative, Pluralistic and even Gestalt are far more common in the UK than Psychodynamic. Good counselling seeks to address the inherent power imbalance between therapist and client and the client is considered an equal collaborator with autonomy and agency over their therapy (imo). I also love Foucault and have issues with traditional medicalised psychiatry practices.
This is a good distinction to make. Psychoanalysis AKA psychodynamic theory AKA Freudian psychology is a largely *outdated* and sexist approach to psychology. During my study of psychology in U.S. undergrad in ~2010, even the textbooks seemed to dismiss it, although (IMO) they didn't seem to give enough criticism to evolutionary psychology for similar sexist roots.
I'm a therapist that learned Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy from the Albert Ellis institute in New York. I'd say it's highly regarded (and rightfully so imho) but two things really stood out to me. The first was that almost all the international students from Europe, the Middle East and Africa came from a background in psychodynamic. None of the North American students were. When I was in grad school the joke was that the whole psychodynamic school was dying on the ground. They technically offered some classes in it but no one thought it would be around in 20 years and you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of practices in any major city. We were well and truly shocked that internationally, it seems to be the default. I didn't know if this was still the case, because it doesn't seem like that could be true in 2024, but it didn't seem like it could be true back in 2011 either.
That's because France is reeeaaally behind in the psychology/psychiatry fields (kinda stayed in the 80's when we were "at the top") so a loooot of practitioners are still very much into Freudian theory. It's gotten better (I was lucky to never really have any meeting with them) but mostly in the private sector. In the public one (called CMP: Medico-psycological centers) you've got like 1 therapist whose not into freud
I'm a brazilian psychologist and I study mostly soviet psychology (Vigotski, Leontiev, Bozhovich, Luria, Rubinstein and so on). Personally and professionally, I found their theory so rich just by the fact they study the psychology as a historical and cultural product, not as an essence (like many psychology theories defend). This allow me to build a relation with my "patients" where our social experience is a determinant of our struggles, emotions, thoughts, etc. It's really therapeutic when people find out the "problem" is not "within them" and there are other ways to approach our questions. I recommend reading those authors I mentioned if anyone seeks for different, social and political ways of understanding the psychological life.
100% THIS! As someone who was treated "as the problem" instead of someone "facing a problem" for years before I had better therapy, the difference is real--especially with systemic oppression. Like how a lot of people are depressed or anxious right now. It's not always because they have an imbalance or is something "wrong" about them, a lot of it is just regular human reaction to the shite happening around them. Such as constant bad news blaring, climate change, political unrest, hate crimes, etc. I def think a large part of it is due to capitalism normalizing violence and oppression, so they have to always say there is something wrong with you if you can't adjust, instead of ever admitting that the world is not just and people have reactions to scary events out of their control that affect them. Hope that makes sense! lol
Also, just wanted to add that seeing someone's experiences as valid is a huge part of what you are saying. I think personally too much of therapy in modern day is about blaming someone for not using tools they didn't have, rather than looking at the context. Like for instance, "You should never lash out" vs "Why did you lash out? Let's see if we can find ways to help avoid that and get better coping skills when it can't be avoided." Like, it takes into consideration that people face racism, ableism, sexism, queerphobia---so if they have a distrust of the world, it's not because something is inherently wrong with them, it's because they are constantly put into fear mode and under threat and are reacting accordingly.
I think the confusion might be my own, so I’m going to rewatch, but I’m struggling to see how the community activism of the Black Panthers correlates to modern “self-diagnosis”, which is generally an individual behavior in collaboration with Dr Google.
All the people that self diagnose are part of a digital/non politically organised community united by the necessity for costly treatment/diagnosis. It doesn't have to be outright activism, but they are doing pretty much the same by trying to take care of themselves and giving advice to each other, since the medical system marginalises them by not giving them real access to diagnosis. I get it, I have struggled with and ed for almost a decade and never got it diagnosed because it is taboo to name them in Latam. I've had serious physical symptoms that came from it and it has never been acknowledged. Also, not having that diagnosis has prevented me from getting specialised treatment in other places... Diagnosis are immensely important
like neurodivergent professionals, researching and studying _ from inside - the whole thing, and publishing their work? Just because you don't know it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
You can be denied residency in most countries if you get an autism diagnosis its still very stigmatized If you ever plan on moving countries it might be strategically important to not get diagnosed for anything that could be seen as a disability I know one person personally who couldnt move to new Zealand with autism because they where worried that she was gonna go on social security because of the autism
In Chile they refuse to give you job opportunities if they see "neurodivergent" in your profile, which should be illegal because it is discrimination and it violates your right to keep your medical record private
I have a degree in psychology, I work in the field, and I’m pursuing graduate work. So YES I have a lot of reason to defend the field. With that being said… No one can deny that the field psychology was started by straight white men with power. Before psychology actually started doing peer reviewed research, we had a bunch of weirdos like Freud making up a bunch of trash. Eventually psychology began at least trying to do scientific experiments. Unfortunately since only white men were allowed in the field, they controlled what issues could be studied and how those results could be applied. Psychology has come a long way from those early days. It 10000000% has a long way to go. BUT Equating the field of psychology to Freud and psychoanalysis is always a “red flag” to me. I do not know a single professional in my field that has ever used or bought into the ideas that you mentioned in the beginning. That isn’t to say they don’t exist, but it is certainly not taught or encouraged. Community health is mental health. I do agree that barring large groups of people and ignoring a persons experience never leads to great health outcomes. I love the idea of patient involved research. I think basic health care and therapy protocols should be common knowledge. Black people, women, and the lgbtq+ community still have hefty health disparities. This is a very important conversation to have.
Interesting. One of the things I have been learning in my own health journey recently was the progressive changes occurring in the health sciences, like this thing called a Biopsychosocial approach. It seems so obvious, but when you look at the broader history of events leading to medical advancement today, regular people went with basically nothing, while experiencing the worst of the enviourmental and social impacts of our economic systems
Psychoanalysis is unfortunately still shockingly common in France's mental health care, so there's a bit of a difference in frame of reference, I think.
@@Rhaifha Ah so maybe it's a French problem, not a universal one. I don't think many therapists here in Germany would ever tell you about feminine energy or something like that.
I'm a therapist in France and I confirm completely, psychoanalysis is the main approach to psychology here. Most people confuse the terms "psychology" and "psychoanalysis" and Freudian concepts are a part of the everyday language, it's all over the media as well. This being said, I personally don't use psychoanalysis in my work.
Apparently Germany is still quite influenced by psychoanalysis. It is much more subtle and insidious - and vicious- than feminine energy. One can reject Freud and still being into psychoanalysis BS. I study psychology, in France. And psychoanalysis really is like a poison. Even those speaking of not giving in psychoanalysis as a while are tainted by it. It's a whole thing, not just the gender BS and Freud, or even Jung and Lacan.
Such a great video! I'm always amazed by the amount of sources and subjects you manage to cover and connect together. Thank you so much for your work, watching your videos is a great way to stay critically engaged when you don't have much time to read :)
I‘m not one to comment on videos, but I feel like I have to. I‘m studying psychology and apart from always loving your videos the title of this one in specific caught my attention because I thought it was going to be about self diagnosis concerning mental health - which is a very complex issue. Because of the thumbnail and the way you are talking about your attitude towards psychology at the beginning of the video (which I’d like to comment on as well), even though you do not mention self diagnosis in mental health later, one can get the impression that it was - as are your other examples - a completely positive thing, which it is not. I do think participative research is what we should strive for. But what is happening on TikTok etc. is not scientific nor unproblematic. Knowledge should be shared, but misinformation cannot be tolerated. Before I dive deeper, I must comment on your take on psychology, so that we are on the same page about what it is and is not. I know you said (once) you mean psychoanalysis in particular, but the impression remains that psychology as a whole is reenforcing for example sexism and that therapy is something that tries to fit you in a neat, conventional box. That just isn’t true. I never once in my studies heard the terms feminine or masculine energy, daddy issues or anything likewise. Freud and Co. are so much more prominent in the public’s opinion of what psychology is than in actual psychology. Sure, we talked about him briefly at the beginning of my studies. But we critically discussed his „science“ (which is for the most part bullshit btw) and acknowledge him only insofar as he did shine a light on the importance of early childhood. Yes, the history of psychology is also dark. But in our education we focus a lot on proper research methods, ethics and critical thinking. For example, the categorization of mental illnesses is kind of arbitrary, but it helps to find out which therapeutic methods work for which symptom clusters. And here I‘d like to make the connection to what I was previously mentioning. Diagnoses for mental health problems can be a helpful tool. But is is one to be treated with caution - by anyone, psychotherapists/psychiatrists (yes, there is a difference) as well as those potentially concerned and others. A diagnosis can be helpful - to understand better and have a word for what is going on with you - but also harmful, e.g. due to (self-)stigmatization. Every mental health problem is unique in its symptom complex, history of development and so on. Diagnoses on the other hand are and have to be a reduction of these complexes to common clusters, so we can group them and research what is helping against these symptoms. They cannot and should not represent you on an individual level. All of us are way to complex creatures for that. And psychotherapy does try to account for that, as its goal is to help you feel better, in a way that works for you, not your therapist. I’m sorry, I know this was a lot and had little to do with what you actually spent most of the video talking about, but I am really passionate about this topic and couldn’t leave it like that.
yes, for all the calm delivery and positive intent - this is light in depth of knowledge. there are multiple forms of therapy, but the general consensus is incorrectly that it is all CBT. The tie in to philosophy is just not accurate of what happens in a clinical context.
I'm glad you said something. As someone who's been in and out of therapy for years, I was so confused when she started talking about energy, Freud, and daddy issues. I've never once heard a therapist talk about any of that. Not saying there aren't any that do, but her comment made me question what year it was. 😆 I was diagnosed with bipolar and every therapist and doctor I've had has worked with me to find the right meds (which were quite literally a life-saver), my specific triggers and additional coping mechanisms. I've also never felt like I was put into a box-they took the time to get to know me as a person and we worked out together how that contributed to the manifestation of my symptoms. They've also really helped me figure out how to piece my life back together after self-destructive behavior during episodes and set up a safety plan. Is therapy different for people that don't go to it necessarily for a specific diagnosis that they have? I'm genuinely curious.
Exactly - thank you for taking the time and effort to write all of this. As an activist with ASD who's also going to therapy and used to take medication, psychology is very important and helpful to me despite its history. It's too black and white to say that just because of one popular psychology figure (Freud) that the entire field itself is bullshit, almost equating it to astrology. I've never heard of daddy issues etc. as well throughout my years being in therapy. I've also encountered different types of psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists. They're all very varied and have their own standpoints in their respective fields. Some of them hold diagnoses important, while others prefer to focus on the symptoms. Their treatments are also different - some used psychodynamic therapy, some used CBT, and so on. Maybe Alice doesn't need therapy, but for some of us it's essential. Our ideology alone won't help us cope with our mental health struggles.
I was thinking the same, the title and the first few minutes threw me tf off. It wasn't as bad as I thought by the end but it's not really the nuanced take Alice usually goes for. Glad I found this by scrolling down.
My therapist ten years ago was an older woman who was generally very helpful, however when I mentioned once being asexual, she went off about Sleeping Beauty Syndrome (my phrasing) and how young women wait for someone to "wake them up" and change their lives or something like that. I never brought up asexuality again lmao
Omg "my life changed when I found Foucault" hahaha this is totally relatable, I was presented with Foucault during my bachelor and he's become a huge source of inspiration for me, too. I think that might explain why you're my favourite video essay channel!
I notice a lot of comments are unhappy with a number of issues about this video. I think maybe some of that is warranted (e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis is not the norm in many places), but most of what is said in these comments misses the point. I watched this video shortly after waking up, before my normal critical faculties were fully engaged, and as a result, the message hit me hard. I haven't read Foucault, but I've encountered his ideas many times before. But with this video I had a visceral sense of how healthcare institutions and the knowledge structures they use are rooted in domination and subjectification. It is through this lens that Alice's critique of psychoanalysis and other healthcare issues must be viewed. To me this raises the interesting question of how other forms of psychotherapy, especially of the kind typical in the U.S., also may be an expression of power. My guess is that therapy today has a more ambiguous relationship with the task of enforcing conformity than was the case in the past, and is still the case with psychoanalysis, at least as Alice has experienced it. That said, I would be very surprised if psychotherapy as an institution does not in fact function to reinforce dominant power structures in the U.S.
I am of the same sentiment as well. If I could also add I noticed the same in the comments around the collectivism behind the “self help” from Black communities being reduced to activities every person does instead of connecting the reasons why(which Alice listed a few of the major reasons) Black communities had to self diagnose themselves and using their community to create treatment that did not subjugate but holistically create treatment that did not address the issue but also the underlying systemic problems to have a full view of healthcare (advocacy education and support). Any case I enjoyed reading your comment
really good points there but psychology isnt all psychoanalysis and yes many of modern concepts have built upon the foundations of freud and other psychodynamic proponents but at the same time they worked to dismantle the wrong assumptions made by freud (and he was wrong often) although i totally agree that the institution of psychology (including most medical institutions) has its problems there are actual benefits to a diagnosis but not everyone needs a "proper" diagnosis. self-diagnosis can be good but theres also the question of what kind of information or misinformation was used to come to a certain conclusion. edit: after your video and alexander avila's i guess it's time to check out foucault
As someone who study psychology, it shocks me that you said that therapist talked about “feminine energy”, “daddy issues” and “female attachment patterns” cuz even tho science is sexist, I’ve never heard those therms other than on social media or common conversations. Maybe it’s a cultural difference or something (im from Chile) but those therms aren’t studied on academy
I'm so glad you touched on Endometriosis. After years I've finally found someone who said that it could be that, and that they can arrange for a surgery to have a look (which I'm terrified of, so I haven't set it up yet). But when I go to the doctor to complain about my symptoms, they look at me and ask me what I think it is - and then run tests for completely different ilnesses, which I only found out later. Trying to go to the doctors and actually achieving something feels neigh impossible in the UK at the moment, I often feel like we've just wasted each others time which is super frustrating. I'm truly hoping for a better future, but I'm worried it will get worse first
Same here, but I'm from the US. I'm still trying to convince my doc to let me have the surgery to diagnose it. Since even with symptoms more under control, without a diagnosis, it means I have zero recourse for possible legal protections or more understanding when I need to take a day off. Not that I should NEED that to be treated as a person who has medical needs and needs time off when in pain, but that people are less likely to argue when you have a diagnosis and proof you are physically unwell. Obviously doesn't get rid of everything and plenty of people will be rude even with a diagnosis, but it makes that just a little less likely.
Politely, I feel like there's a common trend in self-diagnosis discourse wherein psychology is discussed using primarily antiquated concepts, like the Jungian anima/animus concepts alluded to in the video. The field evolved beyond that decades ago but the idea of the field held in the minds of people who, often by their own admission, have never actually engaged with psychology directly, is defined by whacky psychoanalysis stuff lol. Like dream regression or whatever might be common in movies and with unlicensed "therapists" but it's not really something that's well-regarded in the field. Often, self-diagnosis is a social problem created by the inaccessibility of medicine and an opportunistic, predatory business attempting to sell a bunch of what is essentially dumb mysticism to desperate people.
Exactly. I've seen a lot of this kinda stuff happening with female autism. Since they often get misdiagnosed with other conditions--then given medications for it so $$$--and are denied actual accommodations much of the time. Hoping that with growing research and acceptance that more people will realize you don't have to be some little white boy to be autistic.
I'm reading quite a few comments on how equating psychoanalysis to psychology/psychiatry as a whole is inaccurate, but I think it's important to point out here that there is a cultural difference in these perspectives. AFAIK in *France* psychoanalysis is still very actively and commonly used. One might even call it the default. So there's a difference in frame of reference here.
Then why were her examples from the historical US and not contemporary France? If she just wanted to talk about France, that's fine, but the essay was all over the place. Edit: And in a reply she made no indication that she was addressing the situation in France specifically. She said she was criticizing the pop culture view of psychology. So is this a pop culture critique or about real medical interventions or something else? Like I said, it's all over the place. There's maybe two or three separate videos here, each of which might've been good on its own, but as presented, they're just incoherent.
Thank you for your thoughtfully researched videos, Alice. I'm autistic with a formal diagnosis I received at 4 years old (at the time, my diagnosis was "Asperger's Syndrome" which has been reclassified in the DSM-5 under the umbrella "Autism Spectrum Disorder"). One critical benefit of self-diagnosis I have seen in the growing online autism community is that, given that autism often expresses itself in our ability to function socially within our communities, we often learn to completely hide our behaviors, feelings and reactions that are perceived as abnormal. Historically, clinicians have diagnosed us based on these behaviors, so for those of us who were never diagnosed and learned to mask our autism, there is a long "unmasking" process where we teach ourselves to reveal our true selves. For many of us, we will never receive a diagnosis and the support we need if we do not first self-diagnose and recognize the need to unmask before pursing an (often expensive) formal diagnosis. Some studies have shown that learned autistic masking has a higher prevalence in autistic women (I am a man), and that, much like the practice of diagnosing "hysteria," autistic women - when they _have_ received a psychiatric diagnosis - have historically been misdiagnosed with deeply stigmatized personality disorders. Today, I see that late-diagnosed autistic women are using social media to share knowledge about ASD and encouraging people with similar experiences as theirs to consider whether the label of autism helps them make sense of their experience as a necessary starting point in developing self-compassion, coping skills, language to convey their experiences to others, and possibly eventually getting a formal diagnosis to receive support that they otherwise would not. Edit: My therapist is neurodivergent (formally, ADHD) and has radical views on body politics. I have never had a therapist tell me I needed to disengage with activism or political values, and my personal growth has never put me in a position to wonder if I should stop caring about these things. I do understand where you're coming from with those comments, however. My experience with psychiatry has been one of being medicalized and "treated." I have gotten the strong impression that if I ever disclosed my political values to a given psychiatrist, they would try to diagnose me based on them. That has not been my experience in therapy, but I'm sure there are therapists who come from such a place.
My twin sister has endometriosis- it took years (from 13-14 to 27 until they finally found these chocolate cysts)- her periods were profoundly painful- this is why sonograms should be included in comprehensive and regular gynaecological exams : if you have painful periods especially
The title and thumbnail of this video are so misleading… and so many subjects that have no place in this video. First of all, the problem with self-diagnosis is that it is super valid, BUT it doesn’t provide access to appropriate care! So good you find out you have endometriosis through self-diagnosis, then what? You know what’s wrong but you can’t self-prescribe yourself the proper medicine, justify your need for accommodations at work, or self-operate on yourself! And the 2 first examples aren’t self-diagnosis: they needed to test black people in order to diagnose them, not self testing… same for aids, the only way to know if you have it is a blood test! And where’s the part about self-diagnosing PTSD, ADHD and BP, which is mainly why I clicked on this video? Autism is just quickly mentioned but self-diagnosing of neurodivergent is actually the best example for this subject. And finally, psychology and psychiatry are 2 different professions and treatments, and your experience of it should not be generalized and used to deter people to undergo therapy and/or consult a health care professional to get a diagnosis. I agree that there are a lot of old school ignorant psychiatrists, at least in France, but psychologists are very competent and capable to test and diagnose you (although you’ll have to have the diagnosis confirmed by an MD if you chose to make it official)…
I was surprised to see bipolar disorder mentioned in the thumbnail because that's generally considered one of the harder mental illnesses to diagnose. There's a lot of overlap with other disorders, and some symptoms can go unnoticed. It's definitely not something one should self-diagnose except in a preliminary "let me ask my doctor" kind of way.
For the first two examples, she means that metaphorically, that the whole of the system is acting like one person getting self diagnosed, and being unable to get medicated but arrested to even voice out the results…
Thanks for mentioning the bureaucratic hell of not having a diagnosis, it almost never gets mentioned. Without the diagnosis you cannot get specialised treatment or meds.
What you're saying is missing/misleading is actually her point if you consider the whole discussion. At the end of the video she summarizes that the problem is that medicine is a market. So self-diagnosing doesn't always help much (as you argue yourself). At the same time modern medicine is rife with systemic bias and arrogance. I think you got angry and stopped the video before the end.
the fact that im starting to anxiously wait for new videos. I remeber this exact year I went to a gynecologist in this new country and explained that I need these exact same medications because I have been using them for 8 years and any time any doctor tried to change them or cut them my body reacted violently... long story short, he cut one medicine and changed the other.... so I resourced the medications from somewhere else because I could not get them without a prescription from a native doctor... why would a doctor not trust his own peers and the patients explanations is beyond me. now after one year, im facing the same problem of not having access to my medicine
Therapy is so vast, that cannot be placed in only one box. It is also very personal, but I completely disagree with the general thought that self-help will get you through trauma, and that self-diagnosis is the only way out of in the end ...patriarchy and labels. It's been now 7 years that I am in Therapy, I am a dancer, and I connect so much with my therapist method. I've been through many traumas in life, some of them completely removed from my memory because too scared of facing them. After a life time I have been taking consciousness of the loop that my family was and is living in. I've break the cicle, and finally got to a place where I can feel free and safe. When you grow up in a toxic and abusive environment, it is very difficult to self-recognize what is normal, but with Therapy is never came to a point of labeling or "oh yes you have definitely daddy issues". This is bad therapy. To me, for somebody that never even tried Therapy, at least 4 sessions, it is very ignorant to say such. I see self help as something to feel good with, but it has nothing to do with Therapy.
I live in a country where about 1% of adult with ADHD are professionally diagnosed and as such receive the help they need. The path to get diagnosed, which is unlikely no matter what (1%, is, after all, 1%), is not only expensive, but actually requires you to self diagnose thoroughly to help therapists assess you as part as the official health path, but more critically and unofficially, so that you can walk your gatekeeping GP through the diagnosis - said GP knowing in all likelyhood jack about the condition, because it's not their job and was acquainted with the condition during the dark ages - so that they may then redirect you to mental health practitionner who may or may not be competent (again 1% of the population with ADHD means scarcity of both patients and specialists). What people need to understand, and especially health professionals, is that at the end of the day, they are not always on the side of science, they are not always on the side of the patients, they need to understand the limitations of the health care system they are conducting and stop pretending they can or do take care of everything because that is simply not true. The debate is not and never was about self help vs professional help. What happens, everywhere around the world is that you start with self help, maybe you get professional help on top of it versus you get nothing at all. In my country, it is painfully true that if you suspect you have ADHD, you will not get adequate professional help even if you look for it. Self diagnosis is the only diagnosis you'll get, self help is all the help you'll get and it won't get better, as the failures of our health system are due to increase both in number and intensity. I have no knowledge about other mental or physical conditions, but i suspect that story i gave about ADHD in my country is common both with other conditions and in other country.
17:20 it took me from the age of 17 to age 30! before an ob/gyn would take me seriously. It wasn't until the lesions were so huge that they were blocking my bowels!! I was defeated by the medical system, then I was angry when I finally got care
About endometriosis, even the diagnosis protocol varies from country to country. I was diagnosed in France using a pelvic ultrasound exam. Later when I was in the US I was told by a gynaecologist that the only way to diagnose endometriosis was with a laparoscopy, which is way more invasive. I was very surprised that one country's official method was an act of surgery, the other just an act of medical imagery. Also in France I undergo a checkup every year with an MRI, to monitor if my current hormonal treatment has positive effects on the lesions or if it has to be adjusted. At some point I was living in Canada and asked my obgyn if i could get a prescription for my yearly MRI, she looked at me as if I'd just said the dumbest thing and went "We don't do that here". So I asked "What do we do here?" She answered "But you're feeling okay now, right? So there's no need! I could prescribe the MRI but you're going to pay more than a thousand dollars for it". The fact she said there was no monitoring of this chronic condition unless it worsened and you were in more pain than before, saddened me :/
I was diagnosed in the U.K (~ 2006), which required a laparoscopy. No monitoring offered here, it’s surprising and impressive to me that this is done in France. I had initially been on the depo-provera injection for maybe four years for management of the condition. It was horrifying to read recent news reports about medical studies finding this treatment increases the risk of meningioma, a brain tumour, by up to five-fold. I was then on Yasmin contraceptive pill for maybe eight years but decided to just stop taking it. Who knows what is happening inside me. It is truly criminal and unjust how understudied and under-resourced women’s health and the female body is.
I self diagnosed with EDS long before I received official confirmation that I had it. The diagnostic criteria is available online for free. I filled it in and I objectively meet all the criteria. It explained so much of my pain over the years. I wasn't making it up pr exaggerating. I also have scoliosis, which I self diagnosed before receiving official confirmation from an X ray. Today my physio suggested that my curvature was just postural. I am yet to find a posture where my curve disappears.
What a great educational video essay, Alice. It was a heavy topic but you broke it down very well. Thanks for putting this out. You're the best Social Scientist/Activist out here.
What's unfortunate is that Freud literally wrote an essay called "Wild Psychoanalysis" about how forcing patients into gender binaries was not valid application of psychoanalysis. In my view Foucault's criticism of psychoanalysis is more about misused psychoanalysis rather than psychoanalysis proper. As Freud says: "The patient must, through preparation, himself have reached the neighbourhood of what they have repressed" as opposed to being explicitly told what their problem/solution is by the analyst directly. Psychiatry and therapy are incredibly different than the psychoanalysis of Freud himself. It's important not to conflate them.
If that's the case...I wonder what exactly made him think all people were attracted to their mothers. Cuz that is a wild miss to have, in a list of supposed hits.
@@Vesperad0 I mean he didn't think "all people were attracted to their mothers" really. It was more he thought (exclusively with boys to Freud) that there was a stage of psychological development where the boy identifies the father as prohibiting the satisfaction gained from the mother (through breastfeeding, loving etc). But then overcomes that hostility towards the father and over-attachment to the mother as they develop into society. Of course it's not a hard "rule" it's more of a framework to understand the development of the psyche with regard to parent-child relationships.
@@Tehan123 oh, really? Good to know, I guess I misinterpreted from tons of people and sources detailing Freud as the "boys like their moms" guy. The more you learn I suppose!
I love both Alexander Avila's and Matt Berstein's sociopolitical and queer commentary, I've watched both the self-diagnosis and the interview w peter staley (which made me cry honestly) And I love this channel as well so it's great to see the inspirations and the common threads between all of them
This is a spot on and relevant analysis, Alice. It's one that a lot of people, evidently, are reluctant to accept (and I'll admit I've been there, much like in your earlier video on self help), but the association between excessive pathologising of the self and problematic neo-liberal ideologies are all too apparent. Another great video, wish there were more people like you on the internet!
As an autistic person I love learning about witches and madness from myths and legends because it resonates with me. We still love norms so much and it’s sad because it leads to exclusion and intolerance. It’s the same when I think about marriage and kids social pressure makes it so I will never know where I as an individual stand in regards to it.
Anyone else having their comments flagged with a comment saying "Let's move this conversation off this platform" but get no clarification as to why or even saying if the guidelines were broken? I got some flagged, even after I added trigger warnings and better spacing, and when I tried to ask why or figure out if I could fix it, via replying, the comments under it would all disappear and then a different comment of mine would just get flagged the same way. I'm not sure if this is automated, or if I somehow broke a guideline--but I honestly don't know. I've read the guidelines and I don't think it breaks any of them to discuss my personal experiences. I saw others sharing their stories of a similar vibe and topics, and I was talking about my story as a disabled person with professional diagnosis and self-diagnosis in my journey, only talking about my own experience, and it was flagged. Really not sure why, and I'd like to know if anyone else is getting this since I can't see it on any other comments and have never gotten that before. I don't know if I broke any guidelines, but it would nice to have that clarified, and possibly be able to be fixed, instead of shutting down my comment about my personal story. Especially since it's on topic and similar comments are also on here.
I wish more people were taught that psychologists are like philosophers- no two agree completely. It may be harder to find, but there are therapists out there who will be a good fit for anyone. You just have to interview them, like choosing a doula.
self-diagnosing may be liberating in some cases but I think it's always good to know the histories of the psychological pathologies we may suspect with have (as Alice mentioned, mental illnesses are not ahistorical but shaped by social conditions and for ideological purposes). So while we as women generally understand that 'hysteria' has been a condition used to belittle, silence or even lock up women who articulated their pain (or anger), a lot of women now would find a self-diagnosis of bpd liberating. But there's a continuum between hysteria and bpd, although they don't map exactly onto one another, since times have changed and gendered expectations have too. See the quote below from Bruce Cohen:
As a significant "feminised" category of mental illness, however, HPD [histrionic personality disorder] was superseded in the DSM-III by the introduction of the controversial BPD, a label which has been increasingly applied to women, with around 75 per cent of all cases estimated to be female. Seen as a milder form of schizophrenia and lying on the "borderline" between neuroses and psychoses, the concept has been used in psychiatry since 1938. Like other personality disorders, BPD has a notoriously low reliability level even by the generally poor standards of the DSM, and even within the profession is considered by many as yet another "wastebasket" category (though as Bourne ruefully remarks, the ambiguity of such personality disorders makes them particularly useful in policing deviance in the new century). One member of the DSM-III task force stated at the time of constructing BPD that "in my opinion, the borderline syndrome stands for everything that is wrong with psychiatry [and] the category should be eliminated". The chair of the task force, Robert Spitzer, admitted with the publication of DSM-III that BPD was only included in the manual due to pressures from psychoanalytically oriented clinicians who found it useful in their practices. Such practices have been documented by Luhrmann who describes psychiatrists' typical view of the BPD patient as "an angry, difficult woman-almost always a woman-given to intense, unstable relationships and a tendency to make suicide attempts as a call for help.' Bearing significant similarities to the feelings of nineteenth century psychiatrists towards hysterics, Luhrmann's study reveals psychiatrists' revulsion of those they label with a personality disorder: they are "patients you don't like, don't trust, don't want . . . One of the reasons you dislike them is an expungable sense that they are morally at fault because they choose to be different." Becker reinforces this general view of the BPD label when she states that "[t]here is no other diagnosis currently in use that has the intense pejorative connotations that have been attached to the borderline personality disorder diagnosis." A bitter irony for those labelled with BPD is that many are known to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood, something they share in common with many of those Freud labelled as hysterical a century earlier; a psychiatric pattern of depoliticising sexual abuse by ignoring the (usually) male perpetrator, and instead pathologising the survival mechanisms of the victim as abnormal. By the mid-1980s, the hysteria diagnosis had disappeared from the clinical setting while BPD had become the most commonly diagnosed personality disorder. BPD is now the most important label which psychiatric hegemony invokes to serve capital and patriarchy through monitoring and controlling the modern woman, reinforcing expected gender roles within the more fluid, neoliberal environment. Nevertheless, as Jimenez (emphasis added) reminds us, the historical continuity from hysteria to BPD is clear: "Both diagnoses delimit appropriate behavior for women, and many of the criteria are stereotypically feminine. What distinguishes borderline personality disorder from hysteria is the inclusion of anger and other aggressive characteristics, such as shoplifting, reckless driving, and substance abuse. If the hysteric was a damaged woman, the borderline woman is a dangerous one
Not sure if my earlier comment went against guidelines, but I love this video and was trying to talk on my personal experience with both diagnosed issues and self diagnosis within my life. I got a good therapist that supports me for real (which as I understand is very difficult when from an oppressed group, like the disabled community), so it's going well. I definitely agree with this, and have had to deal with so much BS, from gaslighting, to misdiagnosis, etc. Things are wild.
As a self-diagnosed autistic, I really appreciate this video. I do plan on seeking out a professional diagnosis because it is the only way I feel I will be taken seriously by future employment in terms of accommodations etc. But I wish it didn't have to be this way!! I have also had friends who study psychology that say that I should be evaluated professionally as they don't trust self-diagnosis, which is quite invalidating. The idea that we as individuals cannot understand our own minds, and that we need to be validated by an institution which has historically segregated and discriminated against us (and continues to today), does not sit well with me.
Hi, I really enjoy your videos, but I'd like to point out something. While the things you mentioned about psychology and self-help can happen, I believe it's more common in certain cultures, like the United States, to pathologize and medicalize all aspects of life. I think this might have contributed to your perspective on the topic. However, your statement about psychoanalysis being inherently wrong is inaccurate. While Freud's early work may have reflected the societal norms of his time, including binary, sexist, and heteronormative views, the field has significantly evolved, especially after Lacan's contributions. Lastly, I'd love some recommendations for books to get started with Foucault's work.
Exactly! It's so misinformed to judge the whole field of psychoanalysis in one sentence, as if it remained stagnant with Freud. Many feminist theories, post-structuralist theories, and anthropological studies engage in dialogue with contemporary psychoanalysis, which continues to challenge the pathologizing and individualizing aspects of liberal psychology
I agree so much! Even then, Freud is surprisingly progressive when you actually read him firsthand, (for example in Wild Psychoanalysis) especially compared to the work of others at the time. I also don't understand why Freud is judged by modern standards instead of by the standards of what other psychologists were doing at the time. (And for years afterwards. Just look at Walter Jackson Freeman II...)
The thumbnail suggested you'd be talking about mental health diagnosis, which is an interesting discussion in addition to what you did. Anyway, fantastic video - as always - and I hope we can have a follow-up on mental health.
I legit had to fight my doctor to approve the appointment for me to see a gynecologist and have my insurance cover it, and even then my insurance may not cover it. It has been a lifelong battle. My doctor literally said to me "even if you have a diagnosis there is nothing we can do anyway." He considered seeking treatment to be a waste of time (even though only MY time would be "wasted") because there is no cure. Health activism is activism. The healthcare system has to constantly be put in check.
Another good example of these types of community care networks is the phenomenon of 'diy hrt'. There are semi criminalised decentralised networks of transsexuals who share hormones amongst each other, because access to these hormones is denied them by the segregated 'trans healthcare clinics'
I will say that your argument was superb. However, I'm sort of confused as to why the mental illness self-diagnosis was the highlight of the thumbnail - when you didn't really discuss it in isolation. I think that the starting statements on being anti-therapy/pro-self acutualisation broadly mischaracterise the use of psychology as a tool. Yes, we live in a system where mental identity is medically fixed and essentialised - but your points didn't really go into the alternative of no diagnosis. It would have been interesting to explore the faults of the mental health system instead of pointing at historical and Foucaltian logic.
I’m so weird because I attended university classes every other day. That school child habit remained. Idk how you’re supposed to work and graduate simultaneously. Also, I had FOMO which was my Hamartia.
I went to a talk about ADHD. The speaker said it’s as important to identify with your disorder as it is to be diagnosed with it. I wondered if it was a fluke but I have since heard it repeated by different speakers at different events. Toxic validation is very present (especially in the UK) and damaging to people who really need help, or they wouldn’t be looking for such extreme answers. I don’t think it’s coincidence the hysteria is at its peak in US and UK; two countries where the medical services are failing the majority
I really relate to being a subject to sexism in psychology. When I was depressed in HS I went to the school councelor and she listened to my issues (self-injury, constant dissociation, apathy) and said "well you're a pretty girl so everything is fine! you'll grow out of it like I did". I am now in university, socially transitioned, away from transphobic parents, and medicated for bpd. Happier than ever. Being a "pretty girl" would've killed me. Psychologists really need better education.
Another great video! Love that sweater/jacket, too. I had a friend of mine who suffered through endometriosis for basically our entire friendship until she finally got the surgery recently, and her recounting how long it took for her to convince her doctors this wasn't cramps was actually insane, I was shocked and aghast. To add on, I know from my own experinces and from hearing from people in my family that work in healthcare that insurance companies in the US are also big factors for the perpetuation of sexism and racism as it relates to health. Often times insurance companies have a big say in the decisions around what treatment plans should be taken. A insurance provider could just say that this issue isn't covered and deny coverage which then changes the calculus for the paitents and doctors. To my eye these insurance vampires also help perpetuate bias and stereotypes that are already there. Its insidious as fuck
I’m only 6 minutes in and I’m disappointed by your lack of research into psychology and psychotherapy. What you describe is more akin to outdated stereotypes and there is so much to criticize about therapy as it is done now (without all the Freud bullshit) that I was quite excited about your video as someone who both studied psychology and is in therapy. The ideas of treating the mental health issues of the masses brought about by external factors signify the individualization of social problems. On top of that, if therapy is supposed to help you function better in a broken society, it does effectively have to mould you into someone who can partake in the capitalist system we live in, and that includes shaving away the parts of you that do not fit. Now most therapists I know or have heard of do try to go against this notion but it’s inherent in the system of psychotherapy. But these points can only be made effectively if you first of all look up what therapy is, what the common types are and then build from there.
of course i know that, I've worked with a lot of psychologists and use them regularly for my videos, I'm talking about the psychology that is heavily consumed (on social media, on TV), the tropes it perpetuates, the psychologization of social realities, etc. It is frustrating to me to see how psychology largely participates in desensitivising people from what is going on in the world and turn in on themselves, and I know many psychologists and therapists are aware of that and working on doing something better but at the moment what I see in mainstream culture isn't that and I think we should be aware of it
@@AliceCappelle to clarify, I’m unsure why as a thumbnail you used ADHD and PTSD diagnoses as examples? They are barely present in the video and therefore it feels misleading.
@@AliceCappelleimho, you cannot bring changes to your external life or everything going on in the world that you would like to change until and unless you have dived within first and in order to do that effectively and consistently, you must go through desensitization to the external world as long as you are looking within, which is something you seem to be dismissing as unimportant for some weird reason. It's not like you lose the part of you that cares about what's going on around you if you stop to focus on what's inside of you, if anything, I would say it has the opposite effect of revitalizing you and allowing you to get involved in society in an even more efficient and healthier way that does not come at the cost of your mental health.
@@AliceCappelleso it sounds like you’re mainly talking about pop psychology but also somewhat the antiquated field of psychoanalysis as well as current psychotherapy (CBT, I’m guessing). Those things are very different from one another and making one blanket statement criticizing them all is next to impossible to do coherently. And since you’ve needed to make a disclaimer I fell like you may have realized this yourself. I’m normally a big fan of yours and I’ve recommended your videos to other people because usually the quality of your essays seems high to me as someone who knows very little about your usual choice of subject. So please take these criticisms from me and other people to heart.
What you are describing at the beginning sounds very old school psychology, or something new age that is psychology-adjacent. It put me off of the entire video to be honest. I don't know, it was also a little disconnected fron the thesis.
@@e.o.s.4768 Unlike psychoanalysis, things like CBT are actually evidence-based (meaning eg they make testable hypotheses which can be subjected to randomized controlled trials). You can have criticisms of psychology and medical practices without saying whacky, easily dismissed things.
@@e.o.s.4768 In your rush to make a snarky response, you failed to read what I actually wrote, which was that "they [modalities like CBT] make testable hypotheses" etc., not that they are hypotheses. Reading carefully would've cleared up your confusion. Can you point to studies that show CBT only works "for a while" because it "gaslights" people?
@@e.o.s.4768can you please explain “self-gaslighting”? How would you define CBT? I don’t really follow, and frankly I don’t get the sense you have studied CBT.
Anyway, CBT isn’t the only treatment and it’s not because it’s not an appropriate treatment to you, that both professions should be vilified. And I agree entirely with the initial comment!
My gf is a successful psychotherapist for queer people in Milan and she says psychoanalysis is bs. In her view dynamic psychotherapy did it's best to update everything Freud put together and Lacan cryptically ellaborated on, but remain the equivalent of homeopathy: 18th century concepts trying to remain relevant. So forget psychoanalysis and go to therapy, we all need it and can grow through it. ^^
The problem with "self-actualization" as a life concept is that it mostly works for when we're young, since as we grow older we realize our personalities are mostly simply a bundle of behavioral patterns in interaction with our surroundings, mathematically predictable in essence. That being said, I do believe in self-actualization, just that we don't have a choice but to self-actualize, anyway.
Let me preface this by saying that I love you, Alice, you're great. I'm a mental health social worker who treats veterans with PTSD. I have ASD+ADHD, so what I do is actually somewhat harder for me than for other clinicians. I had to watch your video in parts, because after a long day in clinic, I found some of it demoralizing. The state of the psychotherapy field you describe is somewhat antiquated. Psychiatrists act somewhat paternally because they're physicians, not MH clinicians. That's a problem specifc to medical culture. The rest of us are taught to be relational and collaborative with patients, and to treat them as subjects, not objects. We all have our criticisms around the DSM, and understand that it's quite arbitrary in many respects, and a diagnosis is shorthand (i.e., ideal, not ontological) for certain clusters of symptoms, and not a label, or meant to be taken as an identity, at least not the whole of one's identity. I actually like it when people come to me with their suspicion about a diagnosis, because it means they've been examining their thoughts and behaviors and have bothered to do some research. If what they've observed doesn't match the criteria or theoretical understanding for the condition, I explain it, and then we examine what's going on together. I think this is very typical of current best practices in psychotherapy and counseling science. I will say, every time anyone goes to a medical provider of any kind, they have a diagnosis on the chart, for billing purposes. These are often provisional and not fixed. But sometimes people do seek a diagnosis on letterhead, and that can be confirmation of their experience and that someone else sees what they're seeing and that they're not crazy. The other thing, here in America, is that having a diagnosis on record affords protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which can help get adjustments to educational and working arrangements and protect a person from being unfairly fired or disciplined for their condition. So there is, for some people, both psychological and practical purposes for seeking a formal diagnosis. On the other hand, if those don't apply, so long as what they're reading and hearing resonates deeply, self-diagnosis is legitimate, especially when clinicians now are not easy to get in with, or if your circumstances are manageable without help. As for Freud and psychoanalysis, it's now very unusual and niche, and analysis tends to be a hobby for rich neurotics. It's now such a marginal school of thought that if I use a psychoanalytical term with a colleague (I fish from the Jungian end of the pond), I can almost see their eyes rolling backwards in their head. I don't know about France, particularly with your single-payer system, but over the course of the '60s-'70s-'80s the behaviorists won, and listing anything other than CBT or one of its daughter modalities on a treatment plan is likely to get pushback from the insurance companies. Even working in government-provided healthcare, I am constantly pushed to use "evidence-based treatments," which does not include psychoanalytical therapy (though daughter system object relations theory does get a pass, given what we now know about early childhood attachment). Anyway, all the foregoing aside, I love the channel and the cultural critique, please keep it up.
Forget Foucault, time to dive into some Lacan and his return to Freud, as relevant today as it ever was. A bit disappointing to see psychoanalysis conflated with over-medicalisation or CBT psychology. But then Foucault was always misguided when it came to his understanding of psychoanalysis.
In a previous video she talked about a book about how the black panthers politisized their bodies. I meant to screenshot thr book but never did. Does anyone remember which book it was?
According to Werner Bonefeld (an exponent of anti-capitalist, dialectical critical theory): "what I am missing in his work is Denis Diderot's insight into the power of the master, which according to him rests in his repressed servant Jacques. Of course, Foucault writes about forms of subjectivity in historically changing constellations of power. But the subjectivities that he summons are, in fact, personifications of the very conditions that govern them."
Self-actualization is an individualist trap. By keeping mental wellbeing and life satisfaction as an aspirational goal that only the "enlightened" can reach, we consider our circumstances more or less fair since there's a rational endpoint. We didn't do this to ourselves until the modern era. Prior to that, we were actualized as part of our communites and all our physical needs were fulfilled as a consequence of that.
The world is becoming increasingly individualist, though, so even in what should be considered your communities, your peers, etc, some people don't feel identified and attached to it enough, not caring about it, changing cities, countries. That said, what you said could also be considered a collectivist-trap - one in which your needs won't be meet by your group also. Instead, they might be met by a certain group along with your collaboration, though. "Self-actualization" as in a self-help stance is indeed a trap. But if you grow and can't provide much utility for your group and vice-versa, don't have your needs met you should better Self-allocate to a different group, city, country.
Could you do an episode on biosociology, or sociobiology? This is about how diversity of character traits is a biological necessity for human survival. Yet in our modern times we have such big organisations that we find mostly ambitious sociopaths at the top, caring mothers unpaid or underpaid as coffeelady at the bottom, and guardian types, read paranoia types in conspiracy groups. Imagine a primitive village run by capitalist entrepreneurs, who think their kill of a buffalo means meat only for them, and the rest must prove their loyalty and work hard to be just worth some scraps? Or consider our society with only money driven people at the top, and no wise elders who think of the whole in the room. I think many would be interested in this dynamic and also how it effects topics like the role of woman, under appreciation of artists (except successful ones), etc.
I have an official diagnosis to 1) tell the goverment why I can't do most work 2) get people at the work I can do to accept me for the strange goofball I am 3) get benefits that everybody should have in a just society, like a basic income when all goes to hell and help with finding a suitable workplace.
I don't know if it's related, but I've self diagnosed myself with peri-menopause. For now it's mostly mental issues, there's no changes to my physical cycle. But I live in France, and my gynecologue freely admitted that there is a strong possibility that my anxiety and brain fog and "feeling mentally off" could be related to it, the doctors now are more than aware how the cycle affects the brain and how disruptions in it affect it. But my gyno told me that there was nothing she could do, no tests she could run, no treatment she could give, until my cycle was physically interupted. I don't know if this is a policy in France or not, but this is what I was told. People in my circle keep telling me "no, you're totally on the spectrum", or "nah, it's ADHD" or both, but won't listen when I say I don't think it's that, I take online tests for both and the tests come back "negligible", and so I kind of get annoyed, I mean I do ask people who knew me when I was a kid specific questions to see if I behaved a certain way for ADHD or autism to be it, ADHD would be more likely from what they said, but I'm not leaving it at that and saying "yep, that'sthe problem, that's what I have". With my age (43), peri-menopause makes more sense, beceause the awareness that something was wrong really hit around age 39. I mean I have read that peri-menopause can wreck havoc if you do actually have ADHD, it can make it much much worse. But I still don't feel it's that.
I've also tentatively self diagnosed with peri-menopause, although my cycle has been driving me up the wall twice over the last 6 months. Good luck to you, I hope it goes smoothly and that eventually there will be way of telling what's happening and how to deal with it better
Although the history lessons are interesting.. They seem a bit out of place when talking about a topic that is prevalent in modern society (self diagnosis) so idk maybe its me but i failed to see the point of the video because it wasnt "pros and cons of self diagnosis" since the self diagnosis of those cases (aids, etc) is vastly different from what is happening today with adhd and so on
There's an ad right here on RUclips for a weight loss medication whose company states "get our medication without a prescription!" Now, I don't know how serious this medication is, but it strikes me as pretty reckless to advertise something like that on a site where young, impressionable kids, or people with eating disorders, or both.
This video bringing in intersectional perspectives into the topic (unlike Alexander's video) is why I remain subscribed. Because something that was ridiculed (and in so doing furthers enshrining ⚪ supremacist hegemony) in that other video... Is the fact that there's a big problem with self diagnosing within ⚪ people, as they use their "diagnosis" as a cudgel to silence non⚪ people. It happens far too often. This happens sometimes with formal diagnoses too, but is much more common with the self diagnosed.
I usually compare a diagnosis I seek out with my self diagnosis. Self diagnosis doesn’t sit very well with me because of epistemological problems. How can you be sure of it if you are not an expert yourself? And even you are an expert are you sure you are able to perceive the full picture? So I mostly check how much what the external diagnosis fits with my experience and how much of it my experience contradicts. Not saying it is wrong, the case you described fits perfectly its pros but we must be careful with it. It calls for a lot more of personal responsibility.
I agree with personalized medicine. I agree that biases exist. I agree we should research our own health. Self diagnosis just seems the wrong direction. Just like homeschooling is not the solution...
As Brugmans, student of Heymans, noted: Women tend to be described in contrast to men, whereas men are described simply as is. As if men are the norm, and women are a peculiarity or off-shoot from regular human-ness. No wonder the common trope 'no one understands women' became so common
Using Freud to discredit modern psychological advancements is like using Tycho Brahe to discredit Einstein. Funnily enough, only people who don't have a formal background in psychology do so. 😂😂
Lots of comments on psychoanalysis and Freud and essentialism, which, is valid, but not much on different types of psychoanalysis like Lacanian analysis, Kleinian analysis, and etc. Worth checking on feminist and Marxist perspectives on Lacanian analysis and also Juliet Michelle’s book “Psychoanalysis and Feminism.”
Hey i think it is great you made a video about this topic. There would be a lot more to talk about the autism / audhd / adhd movement of neurodivergent/disabled people. Look at Devon Prices work, he is an autistic/trans author and activist. The social model of disability is also very intersting to research
Just to clarify what I said at the beginning of the video regarding therapy and psychoanalysis. I was refering to the psychology easily accessible and consumable, the sort of psychology that we see in mainstream media which for me, too often reinforces reductive biases. I'm not saying that the entirety of psychology is doing that #notalltherapists and I've worked with and used the work of psychologists and psychoanalysts in past videos. The reason why I don't want to go to therapy unless I really need to is because I don't feel like I need it at the moment and I don't want to have to find a therapist that won't promote reductive self-help stuff or gendered perspectives like it has been the case for too many of my friends. I know too many people for whom therapy has been a major factor of their depoliticisation and that is very frustrating to me. Sorry if that wasn't clear, I hope it's clearer now. I know that there are people/therapists working hard to change the problems of psychology or psychoanalysis, I personally know some of them and they agree that they are still a minority, that there's still a lot of work to do to change the relationship between psychology/psychoanalysis and the systems that have oppressed/oppress people!
i can imagine the backlash for saying that, it sounds super counter intuitive with what everyone is saying right now. but the key here is foucault, since you're coming that perspective, it makes sense, but i think the disclaimer is very advisable since there's so many psychiatrists who are aware of its dangers, and i dont think it does any good preventing people from speaking, which i think is the whole point of therapy. and you're youtube channel as well.
It seems like you were talking about CBT and all these liberal-capitalist friendly branches of psychology as if they are the only one that exists. Many other existencialist, jungian and even psychoanalyts talk about the “Emancipation of Self” as you mentioned and were tottaly right. Also you really don’t need to be in therapy, I really hate the statment of “everyone should”. Also not every branch in psychology will use the DSM as a bible or patologize every aspect of life… I feel this is an western specially norte american thing.
Psychoanalysis is very rarely practiced anymore, at least in the states. Psychoanalysis sort of died in the 20th century because it is basically impossible to validate through scientific research. There are of course still psychoanalytic therapists but they are comparatively few and have been looked down upon by the wider community of therapists. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy -- which seeks behavioral change in the areas that cause the client distress and is not very concerned with the source of their problems -- reigns supreme. Though, there's been a resurgence in trauma-focused therapy (perhaps *too* much) since tiktok got so obsessed about it in the last few years. I can't really blame therapists for that as much though; if their clients show up demanding to delve into their past I suppose they have to meet the demand or not make end's meet. And, most therapists aren't peddlers of self help and actively discourage their clients from consuming self help that isn't scientifically backed (which is most of it).
However, as someone who's been in and out of therapy for like 10 years, I *can* confirm that a lot of therapists suck. Therapists are people too and going to a therapist isn't going to magically fix your problems like people think. They're less like doctors and more like personal trainers for your mental health (and they run the gamut in quality and education just like personal trainers do.) About 1/3 of the therapists I've seen have been so bad they've been, at best, a horrible waste of money, or at worst, actively harmful to my wellbeing; about 1/3 have been pretty meh and not really any more helpful than writing in a journal for an hour a week would be; and about 1/3 have been very good for me and helped me in ways I could not have helped myself. So I definitely understand if people don't want to take that gamble. However I think it's misguided to base your assumptions on a dying field of psychology so I wanted to educate.
In the US at least, there are a variety of licenses that allow someone to practice therapy. The one people get from studying psychology in college, the LPC - licensed professional counselor - is actually the worst. Psychology programs in the united states tend to be very research-focused and do not adequately prepare students for performing therapy (which, most often, is what they go on to do.) The LPC license alone doesn't even qualify a therapist to diagnose mental illnesses in some states. It's really stupid. But, social workers with the LCSW -- licensed clinical social worker -- are also licensed to practice therapy. They tend to be *better* prepared by the social work programs to do client-facing work, they often have *more* classes on therapy, they have longer residency periods, and they also are trained to consider the whole person and all the social factors that go into making them who they are.
It's ironic that the program that best prepares therapists to do therapy in the US is not a psychology program. But it makes sense because social work licensing boards and programs are much more concerned with the human side of things than highly medicalized and academic psychology. In the past it's been unfortunately less common to find LCSW's practicing therapy but the word is spreading and it's growing in popularity. My personal experience has been that LCSW's have been more helpful for me. I'm not sure if there's anything analogous in France but I know the american psychology academic world has a big impact on the rest of the world (for example the DSM-V being used in europe).
Also fwiw people take the DSM-V too seriously. It's just a bunch of made of words. Some of it's got good science behind it but most of it doesn't. People treat psychological diagnosis like intrinsic fundamental truths but they are, as Alexander Avila says, social constructs. That's the big secret you learn when you get a psychology degree haha. It's all made up.
(I don't really have sources to provide for these things but I have a degree in psychology and my best friend / roommate got a degree in social work at the same time as me, so I learned a lot about both.)
Im not talking about the research in psychology (that I regularly use for my videos) but rather the practice of psychology by therapists. How psychology is mediated to the general public through therapy, through mainstream media and the problems associated with it, its abuses, self-helpy vibe and essentialist tendencies. I’ve seen too many therapists mixing actual psychology with psychoanalytical concepts and their own biases to come up with problematic advice, but they still get to be called ‘therapists’, they do have a psychology degree. I’ve had too many conversations with people who came out of therapy saying things that sounded a lot like psychoanalysis not just in France… So yes psychology and psychoanalysis are two different fields of research but the way average people approach them is way more fluid imo, and that’s a shame and partly the fault of certain therapists who constantly mix the two
@@AliceCappelle Then why didn't you make a video about that?
Queer psychoanalytic psychotherapist here! Just a few comments in response to your video. I spend a lot of time thinking and dealing with self-diagnosis as it comes into my office, and I think that is some concept creep coming in here. I think it would be helpful to tease out a few points that help me think about self-diagnosis.
First, not all diagnoses are alike. Being diagnosed with cancer is not the same as being diagnosed with PTSD. Cancer has a specific etiology that can be proven through testing cells for the presence of cancer. I could not run a similar test to do the same with PTSD. It is a syndrome, meaning that it is a collective of symptoms we give a name to. This creates many problems that will inevitably impact how people with this diagnosis see themselves, how clinicians/other professionals interact with them, and how the symptoms manifest. There is a concept called “illness negotiation,” which in my opinion is vastly understudied. When a patient goes to the doctor, they will inevitably discuss some symptoms and not others due to what they perceive as being “worthy of medical attention.” Someone might go to the doctor and complain of nausea but leave out a pain in their shoulder because they deem those irrelevant or disconnected.
People want to make their pain legible to others and so they mould their symptoms (consciously and unconsciously) to their understanding of what will be legible to others. When we translate this into mental health, I will get people describing their symptoms to me in a way that I can tell leads them into wanting a specific diagnosis. People come in with self-diagnoses to me all the time. What I often see is not a complete or holistic picture of what they are struggling with, but rather, a desire for me to see their pain as “valid”. Part of my process is teasing out as much of what they perceive is happening to them as possible. I want them to move beyond diagnostic criteria and become attuned to their own selves and bodies. I do not tend to think diagnostically. My patients are not collections of symptoms but rather beings with body-minds that interact with a toxic social environment.
All in all, I worry about self-diagnosis as a way of using “the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house.” Diagnosis is a product of a biomedical model which is deeply ingrained in highly systematized, Eurocentric perspectives on the world. Rather than diagnosis, I recommend that people spend time thinking about all of their symptoms and how they relate to the world around them. When I am more financially unstable, I feel more “depressed.” Often my depression comes with stomach problems, fatigue, nausea, headaches. These symptoms are psycho-somatic, but that doesn’t make them any less real. I do not need a diagnosis of the problem because the problem is multifactorial, grounded in my life, history, genes, and circumstances. Our bodies and minds are not separate, and our body-minds can not be separated from our contexts. I think that recognizing the relationships between our bodies, minds, and environments is the key to liberatory health care.
Thank you for this nuanced comment. It’s helpful to hear a provider’s thoughts.
Amazing words, thank you
Great insight, however, I would debate the notion of not needing a diagnosis. Nancy McWilliams (a female psychoanalyst by the way, who is a central figure in contemporary psychodynamic thinking) writes about how a good diagnosis can help us assess the patient and create a treatment plan more accurately. This is tremendously rewarding for the patient and the therapist as well, for it provides a steady foundation to build upon. Nonetheless I believe it is important to emphasize that
a) psychoanalytic diagnosis is different from a descriptive diagnosis of psychopathology and collections of symptoms as it focuses on understanding the dynamics of the patient's inner world
b) good therapists don't label their patients with diagnosises for it is worthless without exploring the patient's relation to their own symptoms and how they feel or think about their problems. Even though therapists usually diagnose, they don't do it for the sake of diagnosing. They do it for a better understanding of the patient.
@@Bobekoma Thanks for your comment. I'm a big fan of Nancy McWilliam's book Psychoanalytic Diagnosis. When I say I don't tend to think diagnostically, I mean in the biomedical sense of needing "a biocertification." I think diagnostically in the sense that when people come in, I want to get a sense of what they're coming in with. I've worked with patients who have been diagnosed with "borderline personality disorder," but I think of "borderline" more as a touchpoint to explore the patient's psyche and explore literature than expecting it to tell me something profound about a patient. It's absurd to not think diagnostically at all, but I will say that in my supervision/consultations/etc., I can not think of many times in which I or colleagues have used DSM diagnoses to further treatment. I think I was responding more to how diagnosis was being conceptualized in this video/mainstream discourse rather than the more expansive way you're describing.
Wow, amazingly said!
Worth mentioning that the word “hysteria” comes from the Greek word for uterus, hence hysterectomy etc, so the sexism of hysteria diagnoses runs deep
It’s mostly girls who are hysterical, guys directly go into fights
The original meaning of a word can contain valuable hints but is rarely a reliable explanation for anything, since words change their meanings constantly, often quite quickly.
In the case of hysteria its most frequent uses are clearly gender neutral (e.g."mass hysteria") or it can mean sthg. completely different altogether e.g. enormously funny ("hysterical").
This trend of labelling the word itself as misogynistic per se I find nonsensical.
If you'd get up to speed with the history of clinical psychology or with psychiatry, you'll find out that hysteria is primarily a mental disorder attributed to women. It could essentially be seen as a catch-all disease for women's ails
And although Rachel Maines' hypothesis is disputed, which is that doctors of the past would treat them by bringing them to orgasm with a vibrator, it is true that heterosexual sex or pregnancy tended to be the prescribed treatment.
While there were some attempts across history to correct this way of thinking about women, it was as late as Freud that it remained prevalent. According to him it was an "expression of the impossibility of the fulfillment of the sexual drive because of reminiscence of the Oedipal conflict". And although it would be recognized that traumatic encounters could be the cause of this, it was not the trauma which would bring you hysteria. It would be the fact you wouldn't be able to enjoy sex, due to the trauma, which was portrayed as the main issue which had to be fixed
Isn't it funny how explaining away the problems women have, by attributing it to their wandering womb or other sex-specific organs, was a thing for two entire decades?
It was only in 1980 that hysteria was taken out of the DSM. And a bunch of mood disorders, much less tied to gender-specific wording, took its place
Words used to categorize and diagnose people are tied to theories and ways of thinking. Even if the meaning of words change quickly, the ways of thinking and the theories behind them are slower. In science, after all, you build upon precedence and tradition
The history of hysteria is actually very interesting, and a great case study for how cultural perceptions change through time and civilisations.
The Ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was basically the female equivalent of being an incel. You see, gender stereotypes regarding sexuality were somewhat reversed back then. People believed men to be cold and detached, while women were passionate and sensual. Therefore, they believed women were lustful creatures who always wanted sex, while men were more intellectual and thought sex was beneath them. So, according to their hysteria theory, if a woman went for too long without sex, she would start showing symptoms of emotional instability and could even become infertile. If memory serves, one of the symptoms Aristotle mentioned was "unwillingness to take a husband". Hysteria was basically a precursor to the "Crazy Cat Lady" concept.
@@umbertouno You're neglecting an awful lot of history. Hysteria had been a catch-all diagnosis for whenever women had problems until as late as Freud. In fact, a common prescription was hetero intercourse or pregnancy
And even when it started to become recognized hysteria may be caused by traumatic encounters, the trauma would not be the main issue. The main issue for woman's well-being would be that, because of the trauma, they weren't able to enjoy intercourse as usual
It was only as recent as 1980 that hysteria, and all associated theory stemming from the 'wandering womb hypothesis', was removed from the DSM. Now the far less misogynistic ideas that are mood disorders prevail
Idk about you, but in the context of categorizing people and diagnosing them, the word 'hysteria' seems to have had the same idea behind it for two millenia. It is only when we stopped trying to control or dismiss 'deviant' women by diagnosing them with some disorder, that we don't commonly associate it with its actual mysogenistic meaning anymore
Maybe it is common for words to change quickly in their meaning, idk. But this is certainly far less so when it comes to science, where we often draw from and build upon the work of our predecessors
When medical systems fail people build their own communities to provide information and healthcare. I'm aware of this being common for ADHD, autism, trans healthcare and endometriosis in the UK; I'm sure there are other communities who have to do this too.
I know more about HRT than most doctors and a lot of trans ppl do tbh
Information yes, but not care: the community can’t prescribe you painkillers, focus meds, or mental health support…
@@herseriallife Would be awesome if I was able to access that but most mental health providers in my area don't take health insurance at all.
@@herseriallife I'm not advocating this and it's not legal, but people do share meds and purchase them on the dark web and distribute them amongst themselves because they're desperate. Again I'm not saying people should do this, I'm just saying it happens.
I know how privileged I am. I’m fortunate to live in a big city in France so I had a lot of practitioners to choose from and have a good insurance through work. But it took me years to find them and seeing many people who didn’t want to treat me or didn’t know how to…
I self-diagnosed with CPTSD because it's not a "real" diagnosis, not in the DSM. But the label answered a lot of questions for me and made my life make sense. And while medication and talk therapy never helped me, I've been with a somatic experiencing therapist who focuses on emotional regulation skills via the physiological manifestation of emotions. I have stopped having panic attacks, i sleep better, i am self actualizing because of this. I feel like i finally have some mastery over my body. I think psychology is good when it is firmly rooted in the body and doesn't treat the mind as something separate from the body. I think the ghost of Christian mind-body dualism justifies a lot of horror, and makes medical autonomy that much harder to access.
Same here, 41 and I am better then ever, and still healing spectacularly fast by practicing qgong and tai chi, body and mind practices, along with psychoeducation, peer support and writing (not journaling as it is not every day, not part of a routine, just when I need to). I have an official bipolar diagnosis, I ve been through psychiatry and out of it, started with a forced hospitalisation in a mental hospital 10 years ago, lots of psychiatric mistreatment and torture, stayed on therapy and medication for 4 years, then tapered off meds and started psychoeducating myself. I self diagnosed my cptsd, also self diagnosed my autism. I strongly believe that learning about cptsd is life changing for every single person!!! It s learning simple things that we all should know and understand about trauma and the human condition, and ex Pete Walkers audiobook here on yt on cptsd is a sufficient (and brilliant) source on how to navigate life while slowly healing and blooming. And then simple body movements do miracles!!! Trauma can be brought out and talked about, and it can be a therapeutic path, but it s a veeery weird path, presented as the only one and the normal one within western cosmology. They are crazy, we re not.💪💪❤
@@fbxnsame here! 🤝 Pete Walkers’s books on cPTSD & “The Tao of Fully Feeling” were also a huge revelation for me, on one of the first pages “What you may have been misdiagnosed with” I checked almost every box… “various anxiety and depressive disorders, bipolar disorder, codependency, depressive and dissociative disorders, obsessive/compulsive” tendencies…. This quote really paints the picture for me: “Reducing cPTSD to ‘panic disorder’ is like calling food allergies chronically itchy eyes.”
There is so much solace to be found with psychological educators who showcase raw data & evidence to empower individuals to understand, manage and drive their healing themselves (with and without ‘professional’ support) - instead of further enforcing the rampant gatekeeping found in medicine & psychology.
In case anyone’s interested; some of the brightest guiding lights I’ve found over the years(titles not listed): Pete Walker, Nicole LePera (aka “The Holistic Psychologist”), Nedra Glover Tawwab, Patrick Teahan, ….
@ville__being gay with your Mom is a choice, and it’s one I’m happy to make ❤
@ville__ and??? Even if it was, why shouldn't I be able to choose that?
You're sounding dangerously close to an Eastern fetishist hippy.
This hurts so badly. I’m actively getting worse, I’ve been in pain for over 2 years, and there’s nowhere for me to go at this point. All they know is that it’s *probably* one of two things, but that’s it. I just have to take OTCs and go for massages my parents’ insurance thankfully covers. I kept on getting told it was anxiety. I am no closer to an answer as when I started. Self diagnosis is the natural result of a medical system that makes the patients out to be the villains. Not only for mental illness, but if I keep on going answerless for the lengths of times most girls and women end up having to endure (7 years is average diagnosis time for lupus), I’m going to lose it.
That last problem is pretty acute here in the US. We're constantly inundated with for profit medical information and the descriptions of the symptoms that make up a disease are often so generic and vague they read more like an astrology prediction than a medical tool.
Do you honestly think diagnostic criteria are more like astrology? What's your education background in medicine?
Specifically for mental health, the Rosenhan experiment basically confirmed that psychology is mostly shooting in the dark and hoping you get lucky. The criteria for mental illnesses are mostly meaningless and the drugs are basically a crapshoot
Bruh they said it is difficult for the average person to diagnose an illness simply reading the symptoms, especially through ads.
It’s more a problem of medical literacy than diagnostic criteria.
To clarify, I was merely pointing out that for profit medicine will often make the symptom lists vague to make as many people as possible say "that could be me," in the same way astrology predictions do, and then ask their doctor for the medicine. I was not commenting on the veracity or quality of legitimate medical diagnoses.
i’m studying to be a mental health therapist for children specifically so i’ve been very aware of the pros and cons of being in a position like that are. therapists and psychologists have a lot of power and bad ones are very difficult to deal with. i’ve had my fair share of bad therapists but i’ll never forget when my first therapist asked me if i was perhaps trans after i vented about hating my body and preferring to look like a boy. there was no beating around the bush, no rationalizing my feelings by assuming i had “penis envy” or whatever, just complete understanding. i was only 12 but it really made me rethink my worldview. gender had always been confusing for me and i had never had someone be so blunt about it. it didn’t confuse me but rather made me think about myself a little more. this was a refreshing introduction to therapy. i’m also autistic and spent years seeking a diagnosis and finally got one at 17. the limits disabled people face without a valid diagnosis is unfortunate. accessibility is everything.
therapists validate children delusions nowadays
@@Patryyyyck nice asian fetish you have going on in your fave videos. deluded as well are we?
@@Patryyyyck i didn’t even say i was trans you gutted beast. go back to learning chinese and ogling over asian women.
@@Patryyyyck Asking someone a neutral question = validating someone's "delusions"?
@@Patryyyyck yeah, like "the letter with blood enters" was fine, why worry ...
As a child of Act-up activists, it always warms my heart to hear about it. But it also makes me realize how little we hear about their work, so thank you for mentioning it in your brilliant video, as always.
I thought I had endometriosis for most of my life, had most of the symptoms. Few years ago I came across an old vid on RUclips made by a singing teacher; she talked about the importance of posture and how it affects every aspect of our lives. For the first time I heard the term "alterior pelvic tilt". I've been working on fixing this and can proudly say, most months I am painfree. The merging of sciences is key to everyone's health. Doctors are not only pharma focused and dismissive of their patients, they are also dismissive of the practices developed over centuries. As a society, we're not in our wisest era..
I agree psychology is full of extremely bunk essentializing. As an autistic person who has suffered much stigma, despite a lifetime of masking it in an attempt to preserve my dignity at school & work, I have found the collective work of the Autism content-producing community to be very inspiring!
as a therapist, I fully agree with the oppression caused by the pathology paradigm. I'm learning to center social justice in my work and using approaches like narrative therapy and somatic work. It's very liberating to say the least.
Just as a note on the psychologist part, there i once heard that "I don't need to feel good in an unfair world, i need to change the world in order to feel good"
Of course, that is if it's only about a mood, about not feeling good with what you get, but it would be wrong to try to take pills in order to NOT feel bad (or supressing feelings) about the unfair things
Of course, mental healt should always be a priority and we need to distinguish between some psychosis and some mood, which i think is the main point about "i don't go to therapy unless I REALLY need it"
And of course, one doesn't go to therapy because there's something bad in my brain/mind/personality, but because i want to feel better.
It sounds like the "therapy" Alice is avoidant of is Psychodynamic, pathologising and very medicalised. In the UK most therapy is currently 'counselling' and not carried out by a medical professional, the people receiving therapy have to be called clients not patients. There are many different modalities and I think Humanistic, Integrative, Pluralistic and even Gestalt are far more common in the UK than Psychodynamic. Good counselling seeks to address the inherent power imbalance between therapist and client and the client is considered an equal collaborator with autonomy and agency over their therapy (imo). I also love Foucault and have issues with traditional medicalised psychiatry practices.
This is a good distinction to make. Psychoanalysis AKA psychodynamic theory AKA Freudian psychology is a largely *outdated* and sexist approach to psychology. During my study of psychology in U.S. undergrad in ~2010, even the textbooks seemed to dismiss it, although (IMO) they didn't seem to give enough criticism to evolutionary psychology for similar sexist roots.
I'm a therapist that learned Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy from the Albert Ellis institute in New York. I'd say it's highly regarded (and rightfully so imho) but two things really stood out to me. The first was that almost all the international students from Europe, the Middle East and Africa came from a background in psychodynamic. None of the North American students were. When I was in grad school the joke was that the whole psychodynamic school was dying on the ground. They technically offered some classes in it but no one thought it would be around in 20 years and you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of practices in any major city. We were well and truly shocked that internationally, it seems to be the default. I didn't know if this was still the case, because it doesn't seem like that could be true in 2024, but it didn't seem like it could be true back in 2011 either.
@@modestMousseI’m still just a student, so my experience is incomplete, but I’ve learned that evo-psych is little more than a pseudoscience.
@@michaelneedssleep If your perspective on evo-psych happens to be common, then that's encouraging news. I'll have to keep asking around about this.
That's because France is reeeaaally behind in the psychology/psychiatry fields (kinda stayed in the 80's when we were "at the top") so a loooot of practitioners are still very much into Freudian theory. It's gotten better (I was lucky to never really have any meeting with them) but mostly in the private sector. In the public one (called CMP: Medico-psycological centers) you've got like 1 therapist whose not into freud
I f**king love this channel. It just keeps getting better.
I'm a brazilian psychologist and I study mostly soviet psychology (Vigotski, Leontiev, Bozhovich, Luria, Rubinstein and so on). Personally and professionally, I found their theory so rich just by the fact they study the psychology as a historical and cultural product, not as an essence (like many psychology theories defend). This allow me to build a relation with my "patients" where our social experience is a determinant of our struggles, emotions, thoughts, etc. It's really therapeutic when people find out the "problem" is not "within them" and there are other ways to approach our questions. I recommend reading those authors I mentioned if anyone seeks for different, social and political ways of understanding the psychological life.
100% THIS! As someone who was treated "as the problem" instead of someone "facing a problem" for years before I had better therapy, the difference is real--especially with systemic oppression. Like how a lot of people are depressed or anxious right now. It's not always because they have an imbalance or is something "wrong" about them, a lot of it is just regular human reaction to the shite happening around them. Such as constant bad news blaring, climate change, political unrest, hate crimes, etc.
I def think a large part of it is due to capitalism normalizing violence and oppression, so they have to always say there is something wrong with you if you can't adjust, instead of ever admitting that the world is not just and people have reactions to scary events out of their control that affect them.
Hope that makes sense! lol
Also, just wanted to add that seeing someone's experiences as valid is a huge part of what you are saying. I think personally too much of therapy in modern day is about blaming someone for not using tools they didn't have, rather than looking at the context. Like for instance, "You should never lash out" vs "Why did you lash out? Let's see if we can find ways to help avoid that and get better coping skills when it can't be avoided."
Like, it takes into consideration that people face racism, ableism, sexism, queerphobia---so if they have a distrust of the world, it's not because something is inherently wrong with them, it's because they are constantly put into fear mode and under threat and are reacting accordingly.
I think the confusion might be my own, so I’m going to rewatch, but I’m struggling to see how the community activism of the Black Panthers correlates to modern “self-diagnosis”, which is generally an individual behavior in collaboration with Dr Google.
You don’t have to see activism as a group practice, or for it to be consciously so…
It's obviously not an individual endeavour when you rely on the community building a library of knowledge for you to google through.
All the people that self diagnose are part of a digital/non politically organised community united by the necessity for costly treatment/diagnosis. It doesn't have to be outright activism, but they are doing pretty much the same by trying to take care of themselves and giving advice to each other, since the medical system marginalises them by not giving them real access to diagnosis.
I get it, I have struggled with and ed for almost a decade and never got it diagnosed because it is taboo to name them in Latam. I've had serious physical symptoms that came from it and it has never been acknowledged. Also, not having that diagnosis has prevented me from getting specialised treatment in other places... Diagnosis are immensely important
like neurodivergent professionals, researching and studying _ from inside - the whole thing, and publishing their work? Just because you don't know it, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
This is why I made sure to mention that I felt that I may have missed something.
I always leave your videos enriched in both my perspective on the world and my understanding of it. Thank you, for your work and dedication
You can be denied residency in most countries if you get an autism diagnosis its still very stigmatized
If you ever plan on moving countries it might be strategically important to not get diagnosed for anything that could be seen as a disability
I know one person personally who couldnt move to new Zealand with autism because they where worried that she was gonna go on social security because of the autism
In Chile they refuse to give you job opportunities if they see "neurodivergent" in your profile, which should be illegal because it is discrimination and it violates your right to keep your medical record private
This!!! Also HIV, Hepatitis etc!!!! Yes!!!!
Definitely quickly becoming my favourite video essayist. You deserve a much bigger following!
I have a degree in psychology, I work in the field, and I’m pursuing graduate work. So YES I have a lot of reason to defend the field. With that being said…
No one can deny that the field psychology was started by straight white men with power. Before psychology actually started doing peer reviewed research, we had a bunch of weirdos like Freud making up a bunch of trash. Eventually psychology began at least trying to do scientific experiments. Unfortunately since only white men were allowed in the field, they controlled what issues could be studied and how those results could be applied.
Psychology has come a long way from those early days. It 10000000% has a long way to go. BUT Equating the field of psychology to Freud and psychoanalysis is always a “red flag” to me. I do not know a single professional in my field that has ever used or bought into the ideas that you mentioned in the beginning. That isn’t to say they don’t exist, but it is certainly not taught or encouraged.
Community health is mental health. I do agree that barring large groups of people and ignoring a persons experience never leads to great health outcomes. I love the idea of patient involved research. I think basic health care and therapy protocols should be common knowledge. Black people, women, and the lgbtq+ community still have hefty health disparities. This is a very important conversation to have.
Interesting. One of the things I have been learning in my own health journey recently was the progressive changes occurring in the health sciences, like this thing called a Biopsychosocial approach.
It seems so obvious, but when you look at the broader history of events leading to medical advancement today, regular people went with basically nothing, while experiencing the worst of the enviourmental and social impacts of our economic systems
Psychoanalysis is unfortunately still shockingly common in France's mental health care, so there's a bit of a difference in frame of reference, I think.
@@Rhaifha Ah so maybe it's a French problem, not a universal one. I don't think many therapists here in Germany would ever tell you about feminine energy or something like that.
I'm a therapist in France and I confirm completely, psychoanalysis is the main approach to psychology here. Most people confuse the terms "psychology" and "psychoanalysis" and Freudian concepts are a part of the everyday language, it's all over the media as well. This being said, I personally don't use psychoanalysis in my work.
Apparently Germany is still quite influenced by psychoanalysis. It is much more subtle and insidious - and vicious- than feminine energy. One can reject Freud and still being into psychoanalysis BS. I study psychology, in France. And psychoanalysis really is like a poison. Even those speaking of not giving in psychoanalysis as a while are tainted by it. It's a whole thing, not just the gender BS and Freud, or even Jung and Lacan.
Such a great video! I'm always amazed by the amount of sources and subjects you manage to cover and connect together. Thank you so much for your work, watching your videos is a great way to stay critically engaged when you don't have much time to read :)
I‘m not one to comment on videos, but I feel like I have to. I‘m studying psychology and apart from always loving your videos the title of this one in specific caught my attention because I thought it was going to be about self diagnosis concerning mental health - which is a very complex issue. Because of the thumbnail and the way you are talking about your attitude towards psychology at the beginning of the video (which I’d like to comment on as well), even though you do not mention self diagnosis in mental health later, one can get the impression that it was - as are your other examples - a completely positive thing, which it is not. I do think participative research is what we should strive for. But what is happening on TikTok etc. is not scientific nor unproblematic. Knowledge should be shared, but misinformation cannot be tolerated. Before I dive deeper, I must comment on your take on psychology, so that we are on the same page about what it is and is not.
I know you said (once) you mean psychoanalysis in particular, but the impression remains that psychology as a whole is reenforcing for example sexism and that therapy is something that tries to fit you in a neat, conventional box. That just isn’t true. I never once in my studies heard the terms feminine or masculine energy, daddy issues or anything likewise. Freud and Co. are so much more prominent in the public’s opinion of what psychology is than in actual psychology. Sure, we talked about him briefly at the beginning of my studies. But we critically discussed his „science“ (which is for the most part bullshit btw) and acknowledge him only insofar as he did shine a light on the importance of early childhood. Yes, the history of psychology is also dark. But in our education we focus a lot on proper research methods, ethics and critical thinking. For example, the categorization of mental illnesses is kind of arbitrary, but it helps to find out which therapeutic methods work for which symptom clusters. And here I‘d like to make the connection to what I was previously mentioning.
Diagnoses for mental health problems can be a helpful tool. But is is one to be treated with caution - by anyone, psychotherapists/psychiatrists (yes, there is a difference) as well as those potentially concerned and others. A diagnosis can be helpful - to understand better and have a word for what is going on with you - but also harmful, e.g. due to (self-)stigmatization. Every mental health problem is unique in its symptom complex, history of development and so on. Diagnoses on the other hand are and have to be a reduction of these complexes to common clusters, so we can group them and research what is helping against these symptoms. They cannot and should not represent you on an individual level. All of us are way to complex creatures for that. And psychotherapy does try to account for that, as its goal is to help you feel better, in a way that works for you, not your therapist.
I’m sorry, I know this was a lot and had little to do with what you actually spent most of the video talking about, but I am really passionate about this topic and couldn’t leave it like that.
yes, for all the calm delivery and positive intent - this is light in depth of knowledge. there are multiple forms of therapy, but the general consensus is incorrectly that it is all CBT. The tie in to philosophy is just not accurate of what happens in a clinical context.
I'm glad you said something. As someone who's been in and out of therapy for years, I was so confused when she started talking about energy, Freud, and daddy issues. I've never once heard a therapist talk about any of that. Not saying there aren't any that do, but her comment made me question what year it was. 😆 I was diagnosed with bipolar and every therapist and doctor I've had has worked with me to find the right meds (which were quite literally a life-saver), my specific triggers and additional coping mechanisms. I've also never felt like I was put into a box-they took the time to get to know me as a person and we worked out together how that contributed to the manifestation of my symptoms. They've also really helped me figure out how to piece my life back together after self-destructive behavior during episodes and set up a safety plan. Is therapy different for people that don't go to it necessarily for a specific diagnosis that they have? I'm genuinely curious.
Exactly - thank you for taking the time and effort to write all of this. As an activist with ASD who's also going to therapy and used to take medication, psychology is very important and helpful to me despite its history. It's too black and white to say that just because of one popular psychology figure (Freud) that the entire field itself is bullshit, almost equating it to astrology. I've never heard of daddy issues etc. as well throughout my years being in therapy. I've also encountered different types of psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychiatrists. They're all very varied and have their own standpoints in their respective fields. Some of them hold diagnoses important, while others prefer to focus on the symptoms. Their treatments are also different - some used psychodynamic therapy, some used CBT, and so on.
Maybe Alice doesn't need therapy, but for some of us it's essential. Our ideology alone won't help us cope with our mental health struggles.
I just rewatched the first section to this video. It's heavily steeped in cognitive dissonance.
I was thinking the same, the title and the first few minutes threw me tf off. It wasn't as bad as I thought by the end but it's not really the nuanced take Alice usually goes for. Glad I found this by scrolling down.
My therapist ten years ago was an older woman who was generally very helpful, however when I mentioned once being asexual, she went off about Sleeping Beauty Syndrome (my phrasing) and how young women wait for someone to "wake them up" and change their lives or something like that. I never brought up asexuality again lmao
that was so gross of her, i'm sorry
When I brought up my asexuality to my last therapist, I had to spend our whole session just explaining it to her😅 so I feel you!
An extremely rare case of me liking the comment section way more than the video
So far I have liked the comments section more than all of her videos, so far.
Omg "my life changed when I found Foucault" hahaha this is totally relatable, I was presented with Foucault during my bachelor and he's become a huge source of inspiration for me, too. I think that might explain why you're my favourite video essay channel!
I notice a lot of comments are unhappy with a number of issues about this video. I think maybe some of that is warranted (e.g., Freudian psychoanalysis is not the norm in many places), but most of what is said in these comments misses the point. I watched this video shortly after waking up, before my normal critical faculties were fully engaged, and as a result, the message hit me hard. I haven't read Foucault, but I've encountered his ideas many times before. But with this video I had a visceral sense of how healthcare institutions and the knowledge structures they use are rooted in domination and subjectification. It is through this lens that Alice's critique of psychoanalysis and other healthcare issues must be viewed. To me this raises the interesting question of how other forms of psychotherapy, especially of the kind typical in the U.S., also may be an expression of power. My guess is that therapy today has a more ambiguous relationship with the task of enforcing conformity than was the case in the past, and is still the case with psychoanalysis, at least as Alice has experienced it. That said, I would be very surprised if psychotherapy as an institution does not in fact function to reinforce dominant power structures in the U.S.
I am of the same sentiment as well. If I could also add I noticed the same in the comments around the collectivism behind the “self help” from Black communities being reduced to activities every person does instead of connecting the reasons why(which Alice listed a few of the major reasons) Black communities had to self diagnose themselves and using their community to create treatment that did not subjugate but holistically create treatment that did not address the issue but also the underlying systemic problems to have a full view of healthcare (advocacy education and support). Any case I enjoyed reading your comment
But the *critiques* she has elaborated on apply to academia, medical or otherwise, as a *whole*. This video felt very targeted against psychotherapy.
really good points there but psychology isnt all psychoanalysis and yes many of modern concepts have built upon the foundations of freud and other psychodynamic proponents but at the same time they worked to dismantle the wrong assumptions made by freud (and he was wrong often)
although i totally agree that the institution of psychology (including most medical institutions) has its problems there are actual benefits to a diagnosis but not everyone needs a "proper" diagnosis. self-diagnosis can be good but theres also the question of what kind of information or misinformation was used to come to a certain conclusion.
edit: after your video and alexander avila's i guess it's time to check out foucault
As someone who study psychology, it shocks me that you said that therapist talked about “feminine energy”, “daddy issues” and “female attachment patterns” cuz even tho science is sexist, I’ve never heard those therms other than on social media or common conversations. Maybe it’s a cultural difference or something (im from Chile) but those therms aren’t studied on academy
I'm so glad you touched on Endometriosis. After years I've finally found someone who said that it could be that, and that they can arrange for a surgery to have a look (which I'm terrified of, so I haven't set it up yet). But when I go to the doctor to complain about my symptoms, they look at me and ask me what I think it is - and then run tests for completely different ilnesses, which I only found out later. Trying to go to the doctors and actually achieving something feels neigh impossible in the UK at the moment, I often feel like we've just wasted each others time which is super frustrating. I'm truly hoping for a better future, but I'm worried it will get worse first
Same here, but I'm from the US. I'm still trying to convince my doc to let me have the surgery to diagnose it. Since even with symptoms more under control, without a diagnosis, it means I have zero recourse for possible legal protections or more understanding when I need to take a day off. Not that I should NEED that to be treated as a person who has medical needs and needs time off when in pain, but that people are less likely to argue when you have a diagnosis and proof you are physically unwell.
Obviously doesn't get rid of everything and plenty of people will be rude even with a diagnosis, but it makes that just a little less likely.
Politely, I feel like there's a common trend in self-diagnosis discourse wherein psychology is discussed using primarily antiquated concepts, like the Jungian anima/animus concepts alluded to in the video. The field evolved beyond that decades ago but the idea of the field held in the minds of people who, often by their own admission, have never actually engaged with psychology directly, is defined by whacky psychoanalysis stuff lol. Like dream regression or whatever might be common in movies and with unlicensed "therapists" but it's not really something that's well-regarded in the field. Often, self-diagnosis is a social problem created by the inaccessibility of medicine and an opportunistic, predatory business attempting to sell a bunch of what is essentially dumb mysticism to desperate people.
Exactly. I've seen a lot of this kinda stuff happening with female autism. Since they often get misdiagnosed with other conditions--then given medications for it so $$$--and are denied actual accommodations much of the time. Hoping that with growing research and acceptance that more people will realize you don't have to be some little white boy to be autistic.
I'm reading quite a few comments on how equating psychoanalysis to psychology/psychiatry as a whole is inaccurate, but I think it's important to point out here that there is a cultural difference in these perspectives. AFAIK in *France* psychoanalysis is still very actively and commonly used. One might even call it the default. So there's a difference in frame of reference here.
Then why were her examples from the historical US and not contemporary France? If she just wanted to talk about France, that's fine, but the essay was all over the place.
Edit: And in a reply she made no indication that she was addressing the situation in France specifically. She said she was criticizing the pop culture view of psychology. So is this a pop culture critique or about real medical interventions or something else? Like I said, it's all over the place. There's maybe two or three separate videos here, each of which might've been good on its own, but as presented, they're just incoherent.
Thank you for your thoughtfully researched videos, Alice. I'm autistic with a formal diagnosis I received at 4 years old (at the time, my diagnosis was "Asperger's Syndrome" which has been reclassified in the DSM-5 under the umbrella "Autism Spectrum Disorder"). One critical benefit of self-diagnosis I have seen in the growing online autism community is that, given that autism often expresses itself in our ability to function socially within our communities, we often learn to completely hide our behaviors, feelings and reactions that are perceived as abnormal. Historically, clinicians have diagnosed us based on these behaviors, so for those of us who were never diagnosed and learned to mask our autism, there is a long "unmasking" process where we teach ourselves to reveal our true selves. For many of us, we will never receive a diagnosis and the support we need if we do not first self-diagnose and recognize the need to unmask before pursing an (often expensive) formal diagnosis. Some studies have shown that learned autistic masking has a higher prevalence in autistic women (I am a man), and that, much like the practice of diagnosing "hysteria," autistic women - when they _have_ received a psychiatric diagnosis - have historically been misdiagnosed with deeply stigmatized personality disorders.
Today, I see that late-diagnosed autistic women are using social media to share knowledge about ASD and encouraging people with similar experiences as theirs to consider whether the label of autism helps them make sense of their experience as a necessary starting point in developing self-compassion, coping skills, language to convey their experiences to others, and possibly eventually getting a formal diagnosis to receive support that they otherwise would not.
Edit: My therapist is neurodivergent (formally, ADHD) and has radical views on body politics. I have never had a therapist tell me I needed to disengage with activism or political values, and my personal growth has never put me in a position to wonder if I should stop caring about these things. I do understand where you're coming from with those comments, however. My experience with psychiatry has been one of being medicalized and "treated." I have gotten the strong impression that if I ever disclosed my political values to a given psychiatrist, they would try to diagnose me based on them. That has not been my experience in therapy, but I'm sure there are therapists who come from such a place.
My twin sister has endometriosis- it took years (from 13-14 to 27 until they finally found these chocolate cysts)- her periods were profoundly painful- this is why sonograms should be included in comprehensive and regular gynaecological exams : if you have painful periods especially
The title and thumbnail of this video are so misleading… and so many subjects that have no place in this video. First of all, the problem with self-diagnosis is that it is super valid, BUT it doesn’t provide access to appropriate care! So good you find out you have endometriosis through self-diagnosis, then what? You know what’s wrong but you can’t self-prescribe yourself the proper medicine, justify your need for accommodations at work, or self-operate on yourself! And the 2 first examples aren’t self-diagnosis: they needed to test black people in order to diagnose them, not self testing… same for aids, the only way to know if you have it is a blood test! And where’s the part about self-diagnosing PTSD, ADHD and BP, which is mainly why I clicked on this video? Autism is just quickly mentioned but self-diagnosing of neurodivergent is actually the best example for this subject. And finally, psychology and psychiatry are 2 different professions and treatments, and your experience of it should not be generalized and used to deter people to undergo therapy and/or consult a health care professional to get a diagnosis. I agree that there are a lot of old school ignorant psychiatrists, at least in France, but psychologists are very competent and capable to test and diagnose you (although you’ll have to have the diagnosis confirmed by an MD if you chose to make it official)…
I was surprised to see bipolar disorder mentioned in the thumbnail because that's generally considered one of the harder mental illnesses to diagnose. There's a lot of overlap with other disorders, and some symptoms can go unnoticed. It's definitely not something one should self-diagnose except in a preliminary "let me ask my doctor" kind of way.
my exact thoughts
For the first two examples, she means that metaphorically, that the whole of the system is acting like one person getting self diagnosed, and being unable to get medicated but arrested to even voice out the results…
Thanks for mentioning the bureaucratic hell of not having a diagnosis, it almost never gets mentioned. Without the diagnosis you cannot get specialised treatment or meds.
What you're saying is missing/misleading is actually her point if you consider the whole discussion. At the end of the video she summarizes that the problem is that medicine is a market. So self-diagnosing doesn't always help much (as you argue yourself). At the same time modern medicine is rife with systemic bias and arrogance.
I think you got angry and stopped the video before the end.
the fact that im starting to anxiously wait for new videos. I remeber this exact year I went to a gynecologist in this new country and explained that I need these exact same medications because I have been using them for 8 years and any time any doctor tried to change them or cut them my body reacted violently... long story short, he cut one medicine and changed the other.... so I resourced the medications from somewhere else because I could not get them without a prescription from a native doctor... why would a doctor not trust his own peers and the patients explanations is beyond me. now after one year, im facing the same problem of not having access to my medicine
Therapy is so vast, that cannot be placed in only one box. It is also very personal, but I completely disagree with the general thought that self-help will get you through trauma, and that self-diagnosis is the only way out of in the end ...patriarchy and labels.
It's been now 7 years that I am in Therapy, I am a dancer, and I connect so much with my therapist method. I've been through many traumas in life, some of them completely removed from my memory because too scared of facing them.
After a life time I have been taking consciousness of the loop that my family was and is living in. I've break the cicle, and finally got to a place where I can feel free and safe.
When you grow up in a toxic and abusive environment, it is very difficult to self-recognize what is normal, but with Therapy is never came to a point of labeling or "oh yes you have definitely daddy issues". This is bad therapy.
To me, for somebody that never even tried Therapy, at least 4 sessions, it is very ignorant to say such. I see self help as something to feel good with, but it has nothing to do with Therapy.
I live in a country where about 1% of adult with ADHD are professionally diagnosed and as such receive the help they need. The path to get diagnosed, which is unlikely no matter what (1%, is, after all, 1%), is not only expensive, but actually requires you to self diagnose thoroughly to help therapists assess you as part as the official health path, but more critically and unofficially, so that you can walk your gatekeeping GP through the diagnosis - said GP knowing in all likelyhood jack about the condition, because it's not their job and was acquainted with the condition during the dark ages - so that they may then redirect you to mental health practitionner who may or may not be competent (again 1% of the population with ADHD means scarcity of both patients and specialists).
What people need to understand, and especially health professionals, is that at the end of the day, they are not always on the side of science, they are not always on the side of the patients, they need to understand the limitations of the health care system they are conducting and stop pretending they can or do take care of everything because that is simply not true. The debate is not and never was about self help vs professional help. What happens, everywhere around the world is that you start with self help, maybe you get professional help on top of it versus you get nothing at all. In my country, it is painfully true that if you suspect you have ADHD, you will not get adequate professional help even if you look for it. Self diagnosis is the only diagnosis you'll get, self help is all the help you'll get and it won't get better, as the failures of our health system are due to increase both in number and intensity. I have no knowledge about other mental or physical conditions, but i suspect that story i gave about ADHD in my country is common both with other conditions and in other country.
17:20 it took me from the age of 17 to age 30! before an ob/gyn would take me seriously. It wasn't until the lesions were so huge that they were blocking my bowels!! I was defeated by the medical system, then I was angry when I finally got care
About endometriosis, even the diagnosis protocol varies from country to country.
I was diagnosed in France using a pelvic ultrasound exam.
Later when I was in the US I was told by a gynaecologist that the only way to diagnose endometriosis was with a laparoscopy, which is way more invasive.
I was very surprised that one country's official method was an act of surgery, the other just an act of medical imagery.
Also in France I undergo a checkup every year with an MRI, to monitor if my current hormonal treatment has positive effects on the lesions or if it has to be adjusted.
At some point I was living in Canada and asked my obgyn if i could get a prescription for my yearly MRI, she looked at me as if I'd just said the dumbest thing and went "We don't do that here". So I asked "What do we do here?"
She answered "But you're feeling okay now, right? So there's no need! I could prescribe the MRI but you're going to pay more than a thousand dollars for it".
The fact she said there was no monitoring of this chronic condition unless it worsened and you were in more pain than before, saddened me :/
I was diagnosed in the U.K (~ 2006), which required a laparoscopy. No monitoring offered here, it’s surprising and impressive to me that this is done in France.
I had initially been on the depo-provera injection for maybe four years for management of the condition. It was horrifying to read recent news reports about medical studies finding this treatment increases the risk of meningioma, a brain tumour, by up to five-fold. I was then on Yasmin contraceptive pill for maybe eight years but decided to just stop taking it. Who knows what is happening inside me.
It is truly criminal and unjust how understudied and under-resourced women’s health and the female body is.
You are so brilliant. Subscribed!
Love both you and Alexander Avila's videos!!
I think that's my favourite video of yours so far !
I self diagnosed with EDS long before I received official confirmation that I had it. The diagnostic criteria is available online for free. I filled it in and I objectively meet all the criteria. It explained so much of my pain over the years. I wasn't making it up pr exaggerating.
I also have scoliosis, which I self diagnosed before receiving official confirmation from an X ray. Today my physio suggested that my curvature was just postural. I am yet to find a posture where my curve disappears.
What a great educational video essay, Alice. It was a heavy topic but you broke it down very well. Thanks for putting this out. You're the best Social Scientist/Activist out here.
What's unfortunate is that Freud literally wrote an essay called "Wild Psychoanalysis" about how forcing patients into gender binaries was not valid application of psychoanalysis. In my view Foucault's criticism of psychoanalysis is more about misused psychoanalysis rather than psychoanalysis proper.
As Freud says: "The patient must, through preparation, himself have reached the neighbourhood of what they have repressed" as opposed to being explicitly told what their problem/solution is by the analyst directly.
Psychiatry and therapy are incredibly different than the psychoanalysis of Freud himself. It's important not to conflate them.
This! What a great comment.
If that's the case...I wonder what exactly made him think all people were attracted to their mothers. Cuz that is a wild miss to have, in a list of supposed hits.
@@Vesperad0 I mean he didn't think "all people were attracted to their mothers" really. It was more he thought (exclusively with boys to Freud) that there was a stage of psychological development where the boy identifies the father as prohibiting the satisfaction gained from the mother (through breastfeeding, loving etc). But then overcomes that hostility towards the father and over-attachment to the mother as they develop into society.
Of course it's not a hard "rule" it's more of a framework to understand the development of the psyche with regard to parent-child relationships.
@@Tehan123 oh, really? Good to know, I guess I misinterpreted from tons of people and sources detailing Freud as the "boys like their moms" guy. The more you learn I suppose!
the mysterious algorithm actually suggests me a video i need to watch. thank you both.
I love both Alexander Avila's and Matt Berstein's sociopolitical and queer commentary, I've watched both the self-diagnosis and the interview w peter staley (which made me cry honestly)
And I love this channel as well so it's great to see the inspirations and the common threads between all of them
This is a spot on and relevant analysis, Alice. It's one that a lot of people, evidently, are reluctant to accept (and I'll admit I've been there, much like in your earlier video on self help), but the association between excessive pathologising of the self and problematic neo-liberal ideologies are all too apparent. Another great video, wish there were more people like you on the internet!
As an autistic person I love learning about witches and madness from myths and legends because it resonates with me. We still love norms so much and it’s sad because it leads to exclusion and intolerance. It’s the same when I think about marriage and kids social pressure makes it so I will never know where I as an individual stand in regards to it.
Anyone else having their comments flagged with a comment saying "Let's move this conversation off this platform" but get no clarification as to why or even saying if the guidelines were broken? I got some flagged, even after I added trigger warnings and better spacing, and when I tried to ask why or figure out if I could fix it, via replying, the comments under it would all disappear and then a different comment of mine would just get flagged the same way. I'm not sure if this is automated, or if I somehow broke a guideline--but I honestly don't know. I've read the guidelines and I don't think it breaks any of them to discuss my personal experiences.
I saw others sharing their stories of a similar vibe and topics, and I was talking about my story as a disabled person with professional diagnosis and self-diagnosis in my journey, only talking about my own experience, and it was flagged. Really not sure why, and I'd like to know if anyone else is getting this since I can't see it on any other comments and have never gotten that before. I don't know if I broke any guidelines, but it would nice to have that clarified, and possibly be able to be fixed, instead of shutting down my comment about my personal story. Especially since it's on topic and similar comments are also on here.
I wish more people were taught that psychologists are like philosophers- no two agree completely. It may be harder to find, but there are therapists out there who will be a good fit for anyone. You just have to interview them, like choosing a doula.
self-diagnosing may be liberating in some cases but I think it's always good to know the histories of the psychological pathologies we may suspect with have (as Alice mentioned, mental illnesses are not ahistorical but shaped by social conditions and for ideological purposes).
So while we as women generally understand that 'hysteria' has been a condition used to belittle, silence or even lock up women who articulated their pain (or anger), a lot of women now would find a self-diagnosis of bpd liberating.
But there's a continuum between hysteria and bpd, although they don't map exactly onto one another, since times have changed and gendered expectations have too. See the quote below from Bruce Cohen:
As a significant "feminised" category of mental illness, however, HPD [histrionic personality disorder] was superseded in the DSM-III by the introduction of the controversial BPD, a label which has been increasingly applied to women, with around 75 per cent of all cases estimated to be female. Seen as a milder form of schizophrenia and lying on the "borderline" between neuroses and psychoses, the concept has been used in psychiatry since 1938. Like other personality disorders, BPD has a notoriously low reliability level even by the generally poor standards of the DSM, and even within the profession is considered by many as yet another "wastebasket" category (though as Bourne ruefully remarks, the ambiguity of such personality disorders makes them particularly useful in policing deviance in the new century). One member of the DSM-III task force stated at the time of constructing BPD that "in my opinion, the borderline syndrome stands for everything that is wrong with psychiatry [and] the category should be eliminated". The chair of the task force, Robert Spitzer, admitted with the publication of DSM-III that BPD was only included in the manual due to pressures from psychoanalytically oriented clinicians who found it useful in their practices. Such practices have been documented by Luhrmann who describes psychiatrists' typical view of the BPD patient as "an angry, difficult woman-almost always a woman-given to intense, unstable relationships and a tendency to make suicide attempts as a call for help.' Bearing significant similarities to the feelings of nineteenth century psychiatrists towards hysterics, Luhrmann's study reveals psychiatrists' revulsion of those they label with a personality disorder: they are "patients you don't like, don't trust, don't want . . . One of the reasons you dislike them is an expungable sense that they are morally at fault because they choose to be different." Becker reinforces this general view of the BPD label when she states that "[t]here is no other diagnosis currently in use that has the intense pejorative connotations that have been attached to the borderline personality disorder diagnosis." A bitter irony for those labelled with BPD is that many are known to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood, something they share in common with many of those Freud labelled as hysterical a century earlier; a psychiatric pattern of depoliticising sexual abuse by ignoring the (usually) male perpetrator, and instead pathologising the survival mechanisms of the victim as abnormal.
By the mid-1980s, the hysteria diagnosis had disappeared from the clinical setting while BPD had become the most commonly diagnosed personality disorder. BPD is now the most important label which psychiatric hegemony invokes to serve capital and patriarchy through monitoring and controlling the modern woman, reinforcing expected gender roles within the more fluid, neoliberal environment. Nevertheless, as Jimenez (emphasis added) reminds us, the historical continuity from hysteria to BPD is clear: "Both diagnoses delimit appropriate behavior for women, and many of the criteria are stereotypically feminine. What distinguishes borderline personality disorder from hysteria is the inclusion of anger and other aggressive characteristics, such as shoplifting, reckless driving, and substance abuse. If the hysteric was a damaged woman, the borderline woman is a dangerous one
Not sure if my earlier comment went against guidelines, but I love this video and was trying to talk on my personal experience with both diagnosed issues and self diagnosis within my life. I got a good therapist that supports me for real (which as I understand is very difficult when from an oppressed group, like the disabled community), so it's going well.
I definitely agree with this, and have had to deal with so much BS, from gaslighting, to misdiagnosis, etc. Things are wild.
As a self-diagnosed autistic, I really appreciate this video. I do plan on seeking out a professional diagnosis because it is the only way I feel I will be taken seriously by future employment in terms of accommodations etc. But I wish it didn't have to be this way!! I have also had friends who study psychology that say that I should be evaluated professionally as they don't trust self-diagnosis, which is quite invalidating. The idea that we as individuals cannot understand our own minds, and that we need to be validated by an institution which has historically segregated and discriminated against us (and continues to today), does not sit well with me.
Hi, I really enjoy your videos, but I'd like to point out something. While the things you mentioned about psychology and self-help can happen, I believe it's more common in certain cultures, like the United States, to pathologize and medicalize all aspects of life. I think this might have contributed to your perspective on the topic. However, your statement about psychoanalysis being inherently wrong is inaccurate. While Freud's early work may have reflected the societal norms of his time, including binary, sexist, and heteronormative views, the field has significantly evolved, especially after Lacan's contributions. Lastly, I'd love some recommendations for books to get started with Foucault's work.
Exactly! It's so misinformed to judge the whole field of psychoanalysis in one sentence, as if it remained stagnant with Freud. Many feminist theories, post-structuralist theories, and anthropological studies engage in dialogue with contemporary psychoanalysis, which continues to challenge the pathologizing and individualizing aspects of liberal psychology
I agree so much!
Even then, Freud is surprisingly progressive when you actually read him firsthand, (for example in Wild Psychoanalysis) especially compared to the work of others at the time.
I also don't understand why Freud is judged by modern standards instead of by the standards of what other psychologists were doing at the time. (And for years afterwards. Just look at Walter Jackson Freeman II...)
The thumbnail suggested you'd be talking about mental health diagnosis, which is an interesting discussion in addition to what you did. Anyway, fantastic video - as always - and I hope we can have a follow-up on mental health.
Its always a pleasure (and what a ride) listening to you!
That's a lot of info you fit into 20 minutes. Pretty damn good!
It's great that ppl. can take personal responsibility for their own health now. Ppl. know so much more now. Great video.
I legit had to fight my doctor to approve the appointment for me to see a gynecologist and have my insurance cover it, and even then my insurance may not cover it. It has been a lifelong battle. My doctor literally said to me "even if you have a diagnosis there is nothing we can do anyway." He considered seeking treatment to be a waste of time (even though only MY time would be "wasted") because there is no cure. Health activism is activism. The healthcare system has to constantly be put in check.
How does endometriosis "disproportionately" affect women Alice? It SINGULARLY, ONLY affects women.
This is her second video where I mostly disagree with her. And the topmost comments have mentioned why.
Another good example of these types of community care networks is the phenomenon of 'diy hrt'. There are semi criminalised decentralised networks of transsexuals who share hormones amongst each other, because access to these hormones is denied them by the segregated 'trans healthcare clinics'
I will say that your argument was superb. However, I'm sort of confused as to why the mental illness self-diagnosis was the highlight of the thumbnail - when you didn't really discuss it in isolation. I think that the starting statements on being anti-therapy/pro-self acutualisation broadly mischaracterise the use of psychology as a tool. Yes, we live in a system where mental identity is medically fixed and essentialised - but your points didn't really go into the alternative of no diagnosis. It would have been interesting to explore the faults of the mental health system instead of pointing at historical and Foucaltian logic.
It's colloquially known as "click bait"
The goal is to optimise click through rate. Hope that helps
I’m so weird because I attended university classes every other day. That school child habit remained. Idk how you’re supposed to work and graduate simultaneously. Also, I had FOMO which was my Hamartia.
I went to a talk about ADHD. The speaker said it’s as important to identify with your disorder as it is to be diagnosed with it.
I wondered if it was a fluke but I have since heard it repeated by different speakers at different events.
Toxic validation is very present (especially in the UK) and damaging to people who really need help, or they wouldn’t be looking for such extreme answers.
I don’t think it’s coincidence the hysteria is at its peak in US and UK; two countries where the medical services are failing the majority
Wdym "identify with the disorder"? Do you direct me to a similar talk?
I really relate to being a subject to sexism in psychology. When I was depressed in HS I went to the school councelor and she listened to my issues (self-injury, constant dissociation, apathy) and said "well you're a pretty girl so everything is fine! you'll grow out of it like I did". I am now in university, socially transitioned, away from transphobic parents, and medicated for bpd. Happier than ever. Being a "pretty girl" would've killed me. Psychologists really need better education.
Another great video! Love that sweater/jacket, too. I had a friend of mine who suffered through endometriosis for basically our entire friendship until she finally got the surgery recently, and her recounting how long it took for her to convince her doctors this wasn't cramps was actually insane, I was shocked and aghast. To add on, I know from my own experinces and from hearing from people in my family that work in healthcare that insurance companies in the US are also big factors for the perpetuation of sexism and racism as it relates to health. Often times insurance companies have a big say in the decisions around what treatment plans should be taken. A insurance provider could just say that this issue isn't covered and deny coverage which then changes the calculus for the paitents and doctors. To my eye these insurance vampires also help perpetuate bias and stereotypes that are already there. Its insidious as fuck
I’m only 6 minutes in and I’m disappointed by your lack of research into psychology and psychotherapy. What you describe is more akin to outdated stereotypes and there is so much to criticize about therapy as it is done now (without all the Freud bullshit) that I was quite excited about your video as someone who both studied psychology and is in therapy. The ideas of treating the mental health issues of the masses brought about by external factors signify the individualization of social problems. On top of that, if therapy is supposed to help you function better in a broken society, it does effectively have to mould you into someone who can partake in the capitalist system we live in, and that includes shaving away the parts of you that do not fit. Now most therapists I know or have heard of do try to go against this notion but it’s inherent in the system of psychotherapy. But these points can only be made effectively if you first of all look up what therapy is, what the common types are and then build from there.
of course i know that, I've worked with a lot of psychologists and use them regularly for my videos, I'm talking about the psychology that is heavily consumed (on social media, on TV), the tropes it perpetuates, the psychologization of social realities, etc. It is frustrating to me to see how psychology largely participates in desensitivising people from what is going on in the world and turn in on themselves, and I know many psychologists and therapists are aware of that and working on doing something better but at the moment what I see in mainstream culture isn't that and I think we should be aware of it
@@AliceCappelle to clarify, I’m unsure why as a thumbnail you used ADHD and PTSD diagnoses as examples? They are barely present in the video and therefore it feels misleading.
@@AliceCappelleimho, you cannot bring changes to your external life or everything going on in the world that you would like to change until and unless you have dived within first and in order to do that effectively and consistently, you must go through desensitization to the external world as long as you are looking within, which is something you seem to be dismissing as unimportant for some weird reason. It's not like you lose the part of you that cares about what's going on around you if you stop to focus on what's inside of you, if anything, I would say it has the opposite effect of revitalizing you and allowing you to get involved in society in an even more efficient and healthier way that does not come at the cost of your mental health.
@@AliceCappelleso it sounds like you’re mainly talking about pop psychology but also somewhat the antiquated field of psychoanalysis as well as current psychotherapy (CBT, I’m guessing). Those things are very different from one another and making one blanket statement criticizing them all is next to impossible to do coherently. And since you’ve needed to make a disclaimer I fell like you may have realized this yourself. I’m normally a big fan of yours and I’ve recommended your videos to other people because usually the quality of your essays seems high to me as someone who knows very little about your usual choice of subject. So please take these criticisms from me and other people to heart.
What you are describing at the beginning sounds very old school psychology, or something new age that is psychology-adjacent. It put me off of the entire video to be honest. I don't know, it was also a little disconnected fron the thesis.
@@e.o.s.4768 Unlike psychoanalysis, things like CBT are actually evidence-based (meaning eg they make testable hypotheses which can be subjected to randomized controlled trials). You can have criticisms of psychology and medical practices without saying whacky, easily dismissed things.
@@e.o.s.4768 In your rush to make a snarky response, you failed to read what I actually wrote, which was that "they [modalities like CBT] make testable hypotheses" etc., not that they are hypotheses. Reading carefully would've cleared up your confusion. Can you point to studies that show CBT only works "for a while" because it "gaslights" people?
@@e.o.s.4768Are you older than 20? I don't want to pick on a child, and I feel like that's what's happening right now.
@@e.o.s.4768can you please explain “self-gaslighting”? How would you define CBT? I don’t really follow, and frankly I don’t get the sense you have studied CBT.
Anyway, CBT isn’t the only treatment and it’s not because it’s not an appropriate treatment to you, that both professions should be vilified. And I agree entirely with the initial comment!
Free healthcare and education for life for all should be a human right.
My gf is a successful psychotherapist for queer people in Milan and she says psychoanalysis is bs. In her view dynamic psychotherapy did it's best to update everything Freud put together and Lacan cryptically ellaborated on, but remain the equivalent of homeopathy: 18th century concepts trying to remain relevant.
So forget psychoanalysis and go to therapy, we all need it and can grow through it. ^^
The problem with "self-actualization" as a life concept is that it mostly works for when we're young, since as we grow older we realize our personalities are mostly simply a bundle of behavioral patterns in interaction with our surroundings, mathematically predictable in essence.
That being said, I do believe in self-actualization, just that we don't have a choice but to self-actualize, anyway.
A bit like Schopenhauer's "a man can do what he wants, but not choose what he wants."
I am same with therapy, they try to fit you into certain type on thinking. Plus the cost.
Also, love you.
Let me preface this by saying that I love you, Alice, you're great. I'm a mental health social worker who treats veterans with PTSD. I have ASD+ADHD, so what I do is actually somewhat harder for me than for other clinicians. I had to watch your video in parts, because after a long day in clinic, I found some of it demoralizing. The state of the psychotherapy field you describe is somewhat antiquated. Psychiatrists act somewhat paternally because they're physicians, not MH clinicians. That's a problem specifc to medical culture. The rest of us are taught to be relational and collaborative with patients, and to treat them as subjects, not objects. We all have our criticisms around the DSM, and understand that it's quite arbitrary in many respects, and a diagnosis is shorthand (i.e., ideal, not ontological) for certain clusters of symptoms, and not a label, or meant to be taken as an identity, at least not the whole of one's identity. I actually like it when people come to me with their suspicion about a diagnosis, because it means they've been examining their thoughts and behaviors and have bothered to do some research. If what they've observed doesn't match the criteria or theoretical understanding for the condition, I explain it, and then we examine what's going on together. I think this is very typical of current best practices in psychotherapy and counseling science. I will say, every time anyone goes to a medical provider of any kind, they have a diagnosis on the chart, for billing purposes. These are often provisional and not fixed. But sometimes people do seek a diagnosis on letterhead, and that can be confirmation of their experience and that someone else sees what they're seeing and that they're not crazy. The other thing, here in America, is that having a diagnosis on record affords protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which can help get adjustments to educational and working arrangements and protect a person from being unfairly fired or disciplined for their condition. So there is, for some people, both psychological and practical purposes for seeking a formal diagnosis. On the other hand, if those don't apply, so long as what they're reading and hearing resonates deeply, self-diagnosis is legitimate, especially when clinicians now are not easy to get in with, or if your circumstances are manageable without help. As for Freud and psychoanalysis, it's now very unusual and niche, and analysis tends to be a hobby for rich neurotics. It's now such a marginal school of thought that if I use a psychoanalytical term with a colleague (I fish from the Jungian end of the pond), I can almost see their eyes rolling backwards in their head. I don't know about France, particularly with your single-payer system, but over the course of the '60s-'70s-'80s the behaviorists won, and listing anything other than CBT or one of its daughter modalities on a treatment plan is likely to get pushback from the insurance companies. Even working in government-provided healthcare, I am constantly pushed to use "evidence-based treatments," which does not include psychoanalytical therapy (though daughter system object relations theory does get a pass, given what we now know about early childhood attachment). Anyway, all the foregoing aside, I love the channel and the cultural critique, please keep it up.
Forget Foucault, time to dive into some Lacan and his return to Freud, as relevant today as it ever was. A bit disappointing to see psychoanalysis conflated with over-medicalisation or CBT psychology. But then Foucault was always misguided when it came to his understanding of psychoanalysis.
In a previous video she talked about a book about how the black panthers politisized their bodies. I meant to screenshot thr book but never did. Does anyone remember which book it was?
According to Werner Bonefeld (an exponent of anti-capitalist, dialectical critical theory): "what I am missing in his work is Denis Diderot's insight into the power of the master, which according to him rests in his repressed servant Jacques. Of course, Foucault writes about forms of subjectivity in historically changing constellations of power. But the subjectivities that he summons are, in fact, personifications of the very conditions that govern them."
Self-actualization is an individualist trap. By keeping mental wellbeing and life satisfaction as an aspirational goal that only the "enlightened" can reach, we consider our circumstances more or less fair since there's a rational endpoint. We didn't do this to ourselves until the modern era. Prior to that, we were actualized as part of our communites and all our physical needs were fulfilled as a consequence of that.
The world is becoming increasingly individualist, though, so even in what should be considered your communities, your peers, etc, some people don't feel identified and attached to it enough, not caring about it, changing cities, countries. That said, what you said could also be considered a collectivist-trap - one in which your needs won't be meet by your group also. Instead, they might be met by a certain group along with your collaboration, though. "Self-actualization" as in a self-help stance is indeed a trap. But if you grow and can't provide much utility for your group and vice-versa, don't have your needs met you should better Self-allocate to a different group, city, country.
Wonderful video!
Makes me happy to see that actual feminism is still alive. Issues like the endometriosis one are terrifying.
brilliant video, as usual!
Could you do an episode on biosociology, or sociobiology? This is about how diversity of character traits is a biological necessity for human survival. Yet in our modern times we have such big organisations that we find mostly ambitious sociopaths at the top, caring mothers unpaid or underpaid as coffeelady at the bottom, and guardian types, read paranoia types in conspiracy groups. Imagine a primitive village run by capitalist entrepreneurs, who think their kill of a buffalo means meat only for them, and the rest must prove their loyalty and work hard to be just worth some scraps? Or consider our society with only money driven people at the top, and no wise elders who think of the whole in the room. I think many would be interested in this dynamic and also how it effects topics like the role of woman, under appreciation of artists (except successful ones), etc.
I have an official diagnosis to 1) tell the goverment why I can't do most work 2) get people at the work I can do to accept me for the strange goofball I am 3) get benefits that everybody should have in a just society, like a basic income when all goes to hell and help with finding a suitable workplace.
I like that sweater looks like a superhero outfit
I don't know if it's related, but I've self diagnosed myself with peri-menopause. For now it's mostly mental issues, there's no changes to my physical cycle. But I live in France, and my gynecologue freely admitted that there is a strong possibility that my anxiety and brain fog and "feeling mentally off" could be related to it, the doctors now are more than aware how the cycle affects the brain and how disruptions in it affect it. But my gyno told me that there was nothing she could do, no tests she could run, no treatment she could give, until my cycle was physically interupted. I don't know if this is a policy in France or not, but this is what I was told. People in my circle keep telling me "no, you're totally on the spectrum", or "nah, it's ADHD" or both, but won't listen when I say I don't think it's that, I take online tests for both and the tests come back "negligible", and so I kind of get annoyed, I mean I do ask people who knew me when I was a kid specific questions to see if I behaved a certain way for ADHD or autism to be it, ADHD would be more likely from what they said, but I'm not leaving it at that and saying "yep, that'sthe problem, that's what I have". With my age (43), peri-menopause makes more sense, beceause the awareness that something was wrong really hit around age 39. I mean I have read that peri-menopause can wreck havoc if you do actually have ADHD, it can make it much much worse. But I still don't feel it's that.
I've also tentatively self diagnosed with peri-menopause, although my cycle has been driving me up the wall twice over the last 6 months. Good luck to you, I hope it goes smoothly and that eventually there will be way of telling what's happening and how to deal with it better
Although the history lessons are interesting.. They seem a bit out of place when talking about a topic that is prevalent in modern society (self diagnosis) so idk maybe its me but i failed to see the point of the video because it wasnt "pros and cons of self diagnosis" since the self diagnosis of those cases (aids, etc) is vastly different from what is happening today with adhd and so on
There's an ad right here on RUclips for a weight loss medication whose company states "get our medication without a prescription!" Now, I don't know how serious this medication is, but it strikes me as pretty reckless to advertise something like that on a site where young, impressionable kids, or people with eating disorders, or both.
Only a few minutes in but I can already tell this is another fire video. Thank you so much!!!
you had me at biopower. 🥰
Thank you so much for this video 🙌🏼👌🏼 so on point
This video bringing in intersectional perspectives into the topic (unlike Alexander's video) is why I remain subscribed.
Because something that was ridiculed (and in so doing furthers enshrining ⚪ supremacist hegemony) in that other video... Is the fact that there's a big problem with self diagnosing within ⚪ people, as they use their "diagnosis" as a cudgel to silence non⚪ people.
It happens far too often.
This happens sometimes with formal diagnoses too, but is much more common with the self diagnosed.
I usually compare a diagnosis I seek out with my self diagnosis. Self diagnosis doesn’t sit very well with me because of epistemological problems. How can you be sure of it if you are not an expert yourself? And even you are an expert are you sure you are able to perceive the full picture? So I mostly check how much what the external diagnosis fits with my experience and how much of it my experience contradicts. Not saying it is wrong, the case you described fits perfectly its pros but we must be careful with it. It calls for a lot more of personal responsibility.
I agree with personalized medicine. I agree that biases exist. I agree we should research our own health. Self diagnosis just seems the wrong direction. Just like homeschooling is not the solution...
As Brugmans, student of Heymans, noted: Women tend to be described in contrast to men, whereas men are described simply as is. As if men are the norm, and women are a peculiarity or off-shoot from regular human-ness. No wonder the common trope 'no one understands women' became so common
Using Freud to discredit modern psychological advancements is like using Tycho Brahe to discredit Einstein. Funnily enough, only people who don't have a formal background in psychology do so. 😂😂
all this talk of foucault is making me think an "intro to foucault" type of video from you would be really cool 👀
Lots of comments on psychoanalysis and Freud and essentialism, which, is valid, but not much on different types of psychoanalysis like Lacanian analysis, Kleinian analysis, and etc. Worth checking on feminist and Marxist perspectives on Lacanian analysis and also Juliet Michelle’s book “Psychoanalysis and Feminism.”
0:48 Michel Foucault Fashion Edit needs to be a thing
Hey i think it is great you made a video about this topic. There would be a lot more to talk about the autism / audhd / adhd movement of neurodivergent/disabled people. Look at Devon Prices work, he is an autistic/trans author and activist. The social model of disability is also very intersting to research