August 9, 2025
“When it’s too frightening to be alone with your pain, you’ll believe anyone who promises to take it away.”
There was a time when psychology was a slow, profound craft — a quiet room lined with books, leather chairs, and notebooks filled with decades of human stories. It was like patiently cleaning a fogged mirror, layer by layer, with no guarantee of seeing a perfect reflection.
Today, it’s enough to know how to look into a phone camera, choose a neutral background, and declare with confidence: “Friends, here’s how to heal your childhood trauma in three steps.” Those three steps often cost as much as a month of sessions with a real specialist — minus the honesty that says: “This won’t be quick, and it won’t always feel good.”
Between Therapy and Show Business
What was once the domain of Freud, Rogers, or Frankl has been reduced to Instagram stories like “How to stop attracting toxic men” or 21-day self-love marathons with promo codes. People are tired of complex explanations. Why dissect projection from reality when it’s easier to believe that all your problems stem from not “visualizing happiness” enough?
Instead of committing to years of therapy, it’s simpler to buy a weekend retreat promising “energy resets” or “pain-to-power” transformations.
Celebrity Psychology: Likes Over Credentials
In a world where “if you don’t have an audience, you don’t exist,” a seasoned therapist writing academic papers can seem invisible, while a charismatic influencer with no formal training becomes a spiritual guide. Hundreds of heart emojis in the comments create an illusion of credibility — but often there’s nothing behind the glossy storefront.
The Fashion for Miracles
Depressed? Book an “energy retreat.” Lost a loved one? Sign up for a “grief-to-strength” marathon. Feeling low? There’s always someone selling “resource activation sessions.” Slowly, the line between genuine help and emotional spectacle is disappearing.
True therapy has no quick fixes. It offers uncomfortable questions, silences where you meet your pain, and discoveries that arrive without fanfare.
Why We Believe
We live in noisy, unstable times. Burnout, depression, and anxiety are everywhere. Vulnerability makes us easy prey for those who speak the loudest, smile the widest, and promise the fastest results. But popularity isn’t professionalism, and personal anecdotes aren’t a treatment method.
Practitioner vs. Media Psychologist
A practicing psychologist doesn’t hand out universal formulas or turn your trauma into clickbait. They walk with you through doubt, anger, and silence. A media psychologist works in show mode — driven by sales funnels and content calendars. Mixing these worlds can have dangerous consequences.
The Real Question
Maybe we’re all just tired. Tired enough to want a magic pill — to buy a “life reboot” as easily as a new jacket. But mental health isn’t an accessory; it’s life itself. And it might deserve more than a pretty illusion packaged as salvation.
So what are we truly seeking — genuine help, or the comforting illusion of rescue?
Compiled by Zarina Ismaylova
