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Saving the Modern SoulTherapy, Emotions, and the Culture of Self-Help
Abstract
The language of psychology is all-pervasive in American culture—from The Sopranos to Oprah, from the abundance of self-help books to the private consulting room, and from the support group to the magazine advice column. This book examines the profound impact of therapeutic discourse on our lives and on our contemporary notions of identity. The book plumbs today's particular cultural moment to understand how and why psychology has secured its place at the core of modern identity. It examines a wide range of sources to show how self-help culture has transformed contemporary emotional life and how therapy complicates individuals' lives even as it claims to dissect their emotional experiences and heal trauma.
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“In the psychological discourse they are expressed in strict distinctions between men and women, children and adults, and again, normal and abnormal [41].”
From The person in the disabled body: a perspective on culture and personhood from the margins (2016) · cites this paper as [41]
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Rozenblatt, D. (2017) · History of the Human Sciences · doi:10.1177/0952695117702083 · Cited by 3
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“There is substantial evidence for a change in the way decisionmaking happens within the therapeutic turn (Illouz, 2008; Giddens, 1992).”
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“However, according to the norms of the therapeutic culture, an individual is not only responsible for understanding their problems, but also for self-transformation and a constant striving towards emotional health (Illouz, 2008).”
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“…analyzed in greater detail, only a specific relationship was established between “science” and “health” (FECYT, 2018: 259), in line with the generalization of the therapeutic discourse associated with therapeutic culture (Illouz, 2008) and closely related to the previously mentioned “MIT ideology.””
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“In general, this subjective individualism is widely diffused within popular culture through the rise of therapeutic self-help books, magazines, and television shows (De Keere, 2014; Illouz, 2008).”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Illouz, E.
- Corresponding author
- Illouz, Eva
- ORCID
- Illouz, Eva
- Venue
- University of California Press eBooks
- Publisher
- University of California Press
- Published
- 2008-04-03
- OpenAlex
- W578054479
- Cited by
- 534
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 51 · 2016: 57 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 47 · 2013: 38 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 83.79
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- University of California Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › History of Emotions Research
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Modernity and Self-Identity
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Disorders
- Keywords
- self-help culture, treatment, therapeutic discourse, emotions, identity, emotional life, trauma, American culture, mental health
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