The Slow-Moving Magic of Psychodynamic Therapy

A few months ago, an Instagram influencer with a following of 248,000 denigrated "traditional therapy" in a reel she posted, saying it failed her in dealing with trauma. And if it failed her, she implied, then it doesn’t work.

She scoffed at the absence of a formal "end date," saying that without one, people remain stuck. However, if you bought her 10-week therapy package (which includes Chakra work) for $899, you'd be "cleared."

I find it troubling that someone with such a huge following would urge others to dismiss traditional therapy because it didn't work for her, while selling something "better."

While talk therapy alone isn't always enough for stuck trauma, and adjunctive therapies can be extremely effective, this influencer represents the worst of online personality culture, who make their money peddling quick fixes in short time frames, unethically steering people away from solutions that might help them.

As my one-year anniversary without therapy approaches, I thought I’d write about the slow, hard work of the branch of therapy I was in. While not a panacea, it worked well for me (I also added trauma-specific therapies like EMDR and Somatic Experiencing) and should not be discounted as an effective model.

So, let’s go inside the psyche…

You’re reading the free version of the How to Live Newsletter. To read the full piece and unlock the entire archive, please upgrade to paid.

Join How to Live