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KW's avatar

Great piece. Stuff like this makes me proud to be a subscriber.

Funny thing though, and this goes back to the Voldemort problem you once wrote about, is that it really doesn't matter what word we use to describe what's going on; it'll eventually become right-wing-coded and unspeakable anyway.

Okay, so "snowflake" and "victimhood" are out. Fair enough. But now "resilience" is on its way there too. And then the next term after that, etc.

How can we name a problem if we're not allowed a word to describe it?

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Zack Morris the Elder's avatar

100% on the therapy thing. I think that plays into this a lot. We've therapized essentially every aspect of life. "Trauma" and "healing" are words used in connection with everyday events like having an angry driver yell at you from his car rather than the brutal kinds of abuse and suffering that those words used to refer to.

I hear a lot of people say "Everybody should be in therapy!" This to me feels very stupid. It's like saying, "Everybody should have their arm in a cast!" Yeah, if your arm's broken, you should. And if you have a reason to be in therapy, you should be in therapy. But we don't have to act like everyone has to use this very specific tool at all points in their life. A good therapist is fantastic for processing difficult, sticky, enduring psychological problems in your life. You don't need to go to therapy because you had an argument with a friend or because your job is kinda lame. Convincing young people that they need this amount of psychospecialist counseling in their lives is I think one of the biggest contributors to the resilience deficit.

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