I think there is an enormous amount of cultural variation around healing practices and attitudes towards them, all highly context dependent. What actually helps us depends on our own culture too. Westerners do tend to prioritise individual needs, getting out ahead...and all sorts of things that probably make us more likely to develop, seek out, and accept treatments like therapy that often tend to incorporate those values. When living in a culture that places such a high value on independence and standing out from the crowd, perhaps it's no wonder that we are drawn to treatments like therapy when we’ve been subjected to extremely difficult events and situations that make it impossible to fit in with our society’s expectations. I think it’s hard to step back from our own culture and realise just how differently the world can be perceived and interpreted. I can imagine that it might not seem quite as rational to seek out such an individual focused treatment when collectivist values like community, family, interdependent relationships, and fitting in are prioritised.

I think there is a lot of stigma attached to seeking out long term therapy where I am, a Western society with a publicly funded health system. Even the mental health professionals that I’ve dealt with tend not to support long term therapy—excluding psychotherapists who provide long term treatment themselves. Therapy is largely privately funded here, so insurance companies don’t benefit, and I imagine that sort of thing is one of many factors that play a role in attitudes towards psychotherapy here.

I’m so grateful for the help I’ve received through therapy, but standing back, it’s a bit like biomedicine. It sometimes helps and sometimes harms. It’s not a perfect solution. Unfortunately, even if therapy really did work perfectly to help those suffering from mental illness or emotional distress, some of the people who really need help are going to miss out because there aren’t enough resources to help everyone through individual interventions.

...hope that wasn't too off track!