Welcome back to another episode! Today’s guest is psychiatrist (and Anurag’s cousin) Sharat Vallurupalli.
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If you have been paying attention to the news even a little bit, then you will know that we have been in a mental health crisis for a while now, and it’s only going to get worse.
What initially sparked our interest in this topic was a New Yorker article on The Rise of Therapy-Speak, which prompted discussion on how commonplace therapy has become, especially among millennials and Gen Z. I remember back in my last workplace, we shared a Google work calendar to block off any appointments or times we were out of the office so that co-workers would know when we weren’t ‘on the job’ and unable to be contacted. It was very common, and not strange, to see co-workers put their therapy appointments on the calendar. Sometimes I see strangers in different internet communities sharing their experiences with therapists and tips on finding one that ‘clicks.’
What’s with the rise in therapy? Is it merely more awareness of mental health and a prioritization of mental well-being? Could there be something going on where people are using therapy almost as an optimization tool? What about the stresses and anxieties of modern life and being dragged through the mud of late-stage capitalism — how much is that responsible for our mental health depletion?
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We talk with Sharat about this and more, including his time treating patients during COVID-19 and how we should be rethinking what 'health' means to have a more flourishing society.
Warning: there is some discussion of physician suicide.
Psychiatry in the time of corona