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Therapy Culture: Cultivating Vulnerability in an Uncertain Age Paperback – 13 Oct. 2003

by Frank Furedi (Author)
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Therapy Culture explores the powerful influence of therapeutic imperative in Anglo-American societies. In recent decades virtually every sphere of life has become subject to a new emotional culture. Professor Furedi suggests that the recent cultural turn toward the realm of the emotions coincides with a radical redefinition of personhood. Increasingly vulnerability is presented as the defining feature of people's psychology. Terms like people 'at risk', 'scarred for life' or 'emotional damage' evoke a unique sense of powerlessness. Furedi questions the widely accepted thesis that the therapeutic turn represents an enlightened shift towards emotions. He claims that therapeutic culture is primarily about imposing a new conformity through the management of people's emotions. Through framing the problem of everyday life through the prism of emotions, therapeutic culture incites people to feel powerless and ill. Drawing on developments in popular culture, political and social life, Furedi provides a path-breaking analysis of the therapeutic turn.

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  1. ISBN-10
    041532159X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0415321594
  3. Edition
    1st
  4. Publication date
    13 Oct. 2003
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    15.6 x 1.5 x 23.39 cm
  7. Print length
    258 pages
  8. See all details
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Review

'Professor Furedi has written an important book ... which is essential to the understanding of our times.'- Theodore Dalrymple, Sunday Telegraph

'"If you give it your little finger it will soon have your whole hand," Sigmund Freud said of psychoanalysis in 1900. He had obviously seen the future. As sociology professor Frank Furedi says in his new book Therapy Culture, we live in a culture that takes emotions very seriously.' - Ursula Kenny, The Observer

'Furedi forensically examines this brave new emotional world: the rush of counsellors to the site of every trauma, the ways in which economic problems are recast as psychological phenomena, the cult of the Victim, the decline of political activism.' - Melissa Benn, The Independent

'Therapy is indeed the new opium of the people, as Frank Furedi makes clear in this fascinating, readable - and disturbing - book.' - Virginia Ironside, The Independent

Forensically examines this brave new emotional world - The Independent

This is what our life is all about. Instead of seeking a treatment for it, we should try living it. - The Times

'Can it really be such a bad thing that we are now more aware of the place of mental health in our make-up? Furedi leaves us in no doubt that the therapy culture has invaded our media, our workplace, our intimate relationships and our politics. It is an interesting polemic. We should be grateful for the balance this book inspires'- Community Care 25/4/04

'Furedi gives us much food for thought that we would do well to consider ... This book highlights the dichotomy between schools as centres of learning or of socialisation.' - Alan McLean, Times Education Supplement (Scotland)

'I enjoyed this book, and found it compulsive reading.' - www.AutoBiographyJournal.com



'Therapy is indeed the new opium of the people, as Frank Furedi makes clear in this fascinating, readable - and disturbing - book.' - Virginia Ironside, The Independent

'Can it really be such a bad thing that we are now more aware of the place of mental health in our make-up? Furedi leaves us in no doubt that the therapy culture has invaded our media, our workplace, our intimate relationships and our politics. It is an interesting polemic. We should be grateful for the balance this book inspires'- Community Care 25/4/04

About the Author

Frank Furedi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, Canterbury.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 1st edition (13 Oct. 2003)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 041532159X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0415321594
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.6 x 1.5 x 23.39 cm
  • Customer reviews:

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
20 global ratings

Top reviews from United Kingdom

Freeman
5.0 out of 5 stars Society should get off the therapist's couch
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2003
With the title 'Therapy Culture' and the cover picture of a therapist's couch it is not immediately obvious why this book should be of interest to anyone outside the world of counselling. But titles and cover pages can be deceptive. Furedi observes that the notion of 'therapy' no longer refers to unusual problems or exotic states of mind. Everyday experiences are today readily given a psychological label like generalised anxiety disorder (being worried), social anxiety disorder (being shy), social phobia (being really shy), or free-floating anxiety (not knowing what you are worried about). Furedi shows that many everyday experiences are today medicalised and posed as a direct threat to one's emotional well-being. So therapy is not just about lying on the therapist's couch, it has become a way in which society expects individuals to understand and cope with life.
As a lawyer I was particularly interested in the chapter on therapeutic claim-making. Furedi argues that instead of looking to friends and informal networks for affirmation people nowadays tend to seek formal recognition by, for example, suing. Society's recognition of a variety of emotional injuries, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or other hitherto unknown conditions has enabled people to seek formal recognition for a variety of issues. As one claimant in a sex discrimination case put it 'I knew that I had been the victim, but I needed others to know it'.
The strength of Furedi's book is that he not only describes the growth and prevalence of a therapeutic culture in Anglo-American societies but he explains why it matters. The therapeutic approach, argues Furedi, becomes a means through which individuals are not so much cured as placed in a state of recovery. They are far more likely to be instructed to acknowledge their problems than to transcend them. At a social level the therapeutic culture teaches us to be victims and to know our place especially before an 'expert' whether he be a therapist, doctor, lawyer or general do-good community professional. This is an excellent and powerful book for those who seek genuine personal and social enlightenment.
71 people found this helpful
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Annaliese
5.0 out of 5 stars A rational study of the emotionalism of our times
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 October 2003
Frank Furedi's latest book is a highly readable and compelling study into the rise of 'therapy culture' in contemporary society. For anyone who is disturbed by the excessive emotionalism of politics, public life and culture, this well-argued book provides a welcome antidote. Furedi conducts an alarming survey of the extent to which counselling and therapeutic policies have spread into different areas of our private and public life. His conclusion, however, is not an attack against therapy per se, but rather, the culture of therapy which elevates particular emotions, the notion of 'self-esteem' and a highly individuated sense of fulfilment. The strength of the book is not to just describe this trend but to highlight its most corrosive aspects, particularly how the culture of therapy nurtures a culture of dependence, where people are increasingly encouraged to seek professional advice from 'experts'. Ironically, the professionalisation of emotion management does not make us more at ease with our feelings but rather more suspicious and undermines the existing intimate relations we do have. Highly recommended to anyone interested in contemporary social trends and culture.
47 people found this helpful
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R. J. Tattersall
2.0 out of 5 stars anti-therapy polemic fails to convince
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 May 2004
Furedi certainly seems to have it in, for our 'touchy-feely' therapeutic culture, and makes a number of telling criticisms. In his enthusiasm to question the therapeutic approach he somewhat overstates his case - the backlash against 'compensation culture' indicates that this is by no means undisputed territory. The weakness of the therapeutic project as a replacement for other frameworks of meaning in our lives is well made out, although Furedi does not seem to suggest much as an alternative, apart from a belief in the power of humans to shape their destinies, rather than to be passive and powerless recipients of fate. The book gave the impression of having been put together in haste, with a quite a lot of repetition, and many annoying minor errors suggesting that the proof reading suffered the same fate.
Furedi's arguments would have made for an interesting journal article, but whether they merit a 200 page book is debatable. Overall, a bit of a disappointment.
33 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Francesca
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on 16 October 2017
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Glad someone is saying these things.
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Mr. Anonymous
3.0 out of 5 stars Good subject, poor execution
Reviewed in the United States on 2 December 2005
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I was excited when I found out about this book, because I agree with the author's overall thesis. I really wanted to like the book, but I came away sadly disappointed.

Furedi has some interesting ideas, but his writing is needlessly dense and dreary. Granted, this is an academic work, but still -- a good editor could probably bring this book to life. As it stands, however, the overall subject matter is interesting, but the book is almost unreadable.

For a much better treatment of essentially the same topic, see "One Nation Under Therapy", by Christina Hoff Sommers and Sally Satel.
12 people found this helpful
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