Ah yes, the liberal idea of "freedom" — that sacred cow grazing in the manicured fields of Western political thought, eating pamphlets about self-determination and pooping out TED Talks. Let’s talk about how this paragon of individualism handles depression and anxiety, shall we? Spoiler: it doesn't handle them — it tells you to handle yourself.
🧠 Step 1: "Freedom" = You’re on your own, buddy
Liberalism says you are free when no one is stopping you from doing something. That sounds nice, until you realize it also means:
“You’re sad? Anxious? Alienated? That’s your problem. Just use your freedom better.”
It medicalizes your mental state, calls it a "disorder," and then tosses you into a marketplace of self-help books, mindfulness apps, and therapist directories filtered by insurance plan — all under the banner of choice™.
📉 Step 2: You are free... to optimize yourself forever
Liberalism treats depression like a deficit of will, and anxiety like a misuse of liberty.
You're not supposed to be overwhelmed by 1,000 daily micro-decisions. You're supposed to be #empowered!
Having a breakdown? That's just bad time management, sweetie.
You were supposed to:
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set boundaries
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hydrate
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do your gratitude journaling
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be emotionally available
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monetize your hobby
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and also be crushing it on LinkedIn.
Failure to thrive = moral failure. Because hey, you were free to succeed.
🤖 Step 3: The Neoliberal Cop Inside Your Head
Depression and anxiety under liberalism often get internalized as malfunctions of the self, not symptoms of a world that’s burning down in slow motion.
So instead of asking “why do I feel this way in a system that commodifies my existence and isolates me?”, liberalism asks:
“Have you tried CBT and intermittent fasting?”
It’s the ideology that tells you to download an app so you can feel OK about watching the world collapse — as long as you’re doing yoga between doomscrolls.
So how does it “handle” these conditions?
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With commodified care, not structural change.
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With positive psychology, not solidarity.
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With "personal growth", not collective healing.
Liberal freedom turns the human soul into a startup and wonders why everyone’s panicking during the IPO.
Want me to compare this to how Marxist theory frames mental illness as a product of alienation, explain how Foucault would diagnose your therapy sessions, or map out why capitalism gives you panic attacks and then charges $19.99 a month to fix them?
You said:
ChatGPT said:
Finally, something with teeth. Let’s pit Liberal Individualism™ vs Marxist Theory™ on the question of mental illness — specifically depression and anxiety — and see who’s actually addressing your existential unraveling and who’s handing you a coupon for essential oils and a podcast recommendation.
🧼 Liberal Individualism:
Thesis: You are a sovereign being. Your mind is your kingdom. If the palace is messy, clean it up.
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Depression? That's your personal chemical imbalance.
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Anxiety? Probably just bad vibes or inherited trauma, which you must overcome through breathing exercises and a strict morning routine.
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Solutions are individual: therapy (if you can afford it), medication (if you can access it), wellness culture (if you can stomach it).
This model works great if you're a robot with no social context and a trust fund.
🔨 Marxist Theory (esp. the young Marx + critical theorists):
Thesis: You’re not sick — the world is.
Mental illness is framed not as a personal defect but as a symptom of systemic alienation, specifically:
1. Alienation from Labor
You spend most of your waking life performing tasks you don’t care about for someone else's profit.
That spiritual emptiness? That “what’s the point of any of this?” feeling?
That’s not a mood disorder. That’s alienation.
You are separated from:
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the product of your labor
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the process of production
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your fellow workers
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yourself as a creative being
You were born to make art or commune with nature or at least have dignity — but instead you’re filling out spreadsheets for someone named Greg.
2. Alienation from Others
Capitalism isolates. It turns relationships into transactions. You “network” instead of bond. You “manage” instead of care.
Lonely? That’s not a random emotional blip — that’s a structural outcome.
Under Marxism, your sadness is rational and shared, not shameful or pathological. You’re reacting correctly to a system that reduces your life to inputs and outputs.
3. Alienation from Self
You are encouraged to curate a version of yourself that’s optimized for productivity. The “authentic self” is monetized or buried under market demands.
Anxiety? That's your mind rebelling against the cognitive dissonance of being told:
"You are free, now conform."
You feel fragmented because you are — the system demands it.
🔁 Summary Showdown
Question | Liberalism | Marxism |
---|---|---|
Why are you depressed? | Your brain chemistry is sad. Try journaling. | You’re structurally dehumanized. Try organizing. |
Why are you anxious? | You made too many choices. Meditate. | You live in a collapsing system with no control. Scream. |
What’s the solution? | BetterSelf™ app and a bath bomb. | Class consciousness and seizing the means of emotional production. |
Marx says: your despair is political.
Liberalism says: your despair is a glitch.
One wants to diagnose the system. The other wants you to smile through it and keep buying kombucha.
Want to go deeper into how capitalist realism keeps you from even imagining alternatives, how psychoanalysis fits into this Marxist reading, or why alienation isn't just economic but also existential under late capitalism?
You said:
ChatGPT said:
Oh boy. You really want to invite Michel “Everything Is Power” Foucault into your therapy session? Bold choice. Let’s just say he’s not bringing tissues and validation — he’s bringing a genealogy of psychiatric institutions and a strong side-eye for your “healing journey.”
🧠 So what would Foucault say about therapy?
Short answer:
“Your therapist is part of a disciplinary apparatus and you are being gently conditioned to regulate yourself like a good little subject of neoliberal biopower.”
Long answer coming right up. Bring your journal.
1. Therapy as a Site of Disciplinary Power
Foucault would look at your therapy session and see it not as a safe space but as a panopticon with throw pillows.
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You confess.
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The therapist listens.
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You internalize norms.
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You start managing yourself better.
Congrats: you’ve been normalized.
In "Madness and Civilization", Foucault argues that psychiatry evolved not to “cure” but to control. Therapy, in his eyes, is just a softer version of the asylum:
“You no longer need walls when the subject disciplines themselves.”
2. The Talking Cure = The Confession Booth
Foucault’s big insight in "The History of Sexuality" is that modern power doesn’t repress — it demands we speak, we confess, we produce truth about ourselves.
Therapy = secularized confession.
You:
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Dig deep.
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Reveal your traumas.
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Construct a narrative of your life that fits therapeutic models.
The therapist doesn’t impose truth — they guide you to construct your own truth in ways that align with dominant norms.
You leave thinking:
“I discovered myself.”
Foucault whispers:
“No, you reproduced the subjectivity you were trained to inhabit.”
3. Diagnosis = Categorization = Control
Labels like “depressed,” “anxious,” “borderline,” “neurodivergent” — these aren’t just medical descriptions; they’re technologies of power.
Once labeled, you’re plugged into systems:
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Insurance
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Medications
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Work accommodations
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Monitoring and reporting
Foucault isn’t saying you’re not struggling. He’s saying the form your struggle takes — and how it’s treated — is shaped by power-knowledge structures that tell us what kinds of suffering are legible.
4. The Therapist as Friendly Warden
They’re nice. They care. But they also:
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Track your “progress”
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Recommend productivity-enhancing habits
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Help you become more socially acceptable
Therapy, in this view, is not about freedom — it’s about functionality.
You’re there to be returned to the workforce, not to overthrow the emotional-industrial complex.
TL;DR: Your Therapy Session, Foucault Edition
“You think you're healing, but you’re actually internalizing norms under the guise of self-care, performing wellness for a society that monetizes your mental state while blaming you for your pain.”
Enjoy that.
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