December 31, 2024 • 33 mins
In this episode of the Personality Couch Podcast, we (licensed clinical psychologists Doc Bok and Doc Fish) explore the cultural and clinical trends of 2024, focusing on global unrest, political polarization, re-examining power dynamics, and the ongoing mental health crisis. We discuss the impact of trauma awareness and the complexities of the victim mentality, as well as state-specific mental health trends revealed through recent research. In this episode, we further explore the state of mental health in America, discussing various mental health trends across states, the impact of misinformation on mental health, and the public's outrage towards healthcare practices, as evidenced in the assassination of United Healthcare’s CEO. We delve into the role of venture capital in telehealth and the ethical implications of profit-driven healthcare. The conversation emphasizes the need for advocacy and ethical change in the mental health landscape, urging listeners to engage in positive dialogue and action.
Chapters
00:00 Cultural and Clinical Trends of 2024 03:54 Global Unrest and Political Polarization 6:55 Re-examining Power Dynamics, Trauma, and Victim Mentality 12:22 Cosmetic Facial Scar Study 13:32 Attitudes Towards Trauma Study 15:25 The Mental Health Crisis and Its Impacts 16:30 State-Specific Mental Health Trends 2024 23:08 Health Insurance and Public Outrage 27:36 The Impact of Venture Capital on Telehealth 31:03 Advocacy and Ethical Change in Mental Health
Personality Couch Episodes Referenced:
- Personalities that Kill (Ep. 07): https://youtu.be/Ob7WLEX7ZvQ
- What's Trending in Our Culture and How it Affects Mental Health (Ep. 09): https://youtu.be/uJKTb9Qj8RA
References:
Global Election Results:
- https://apnews.com/article/global-elections-2024-incumbents-defeated-c80fbd4e667de86fe08aac025b333f95
- https://abcnews.go.com/538/democrats-incumbent-parties-lost-elections-world/story?id=115972068
- https://www.ft.com/content/e8ac09ea-c300-4249-af7d-109003afb893
- https://time.com/6550920/world-elections-2024/
Trauma and Our Perceptions:
- Jones and McNally Facial Scar Study (2022): https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-28014-001
- Kleck and Strenta Study on Expectancy and Trauma (1980): https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1981-28014-001
Mental Health Trends By State:
- https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america
- https://www.aol.com/mental-illness-plagues-va-n-184111928.html
Mental Health Venture Capital Companies’ Impact:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Personality Couch podcast,
where we discuss all
things personality and
clinical practice.
I'm your host, Doc Bok, and I'm here
with my co-host, Doc Fish.
We are both licensed clinical
psychologists in private
practice, which means that we have
our fingers on the pulse of the culture.
(00:23):
So today, we will be reflecting on
cultural and clinical trends from 2024.
As we've stated before, what's trending
on local and global
levels also washes up on
the shores of clinical work.
People shape the culture, and
the culture shapes the people.
And in this symbiotic relationship,
(00:43):
mental health topics and
problems take center stage.
In this episode, we will unpack six
trends we saw this year,
including global attitudes,
memorization, reexamining power dynamics
and trauma, being in a
mental health crisis,
recent events evolving the assassination
of the UnitedHealthcare
CEO, and the impact of
(01:06):
venture capital telehealth companies.
We've got a jam-packed episode for you
today, so let's dive in.
Let's start maybe from
the outside looking in.
So, Doc Bok, at the macro or the global
level, what have you noticed this year?
Yeah, so globally, there is a general
sense of unrest and malcontent in people.
(01:31):
And I would say that this has been
steadily increasing over
the past four years, really
since the pandemic in 2020.
So though this unrest and discontent
likely started even before
that, the pandemic absolutely
accelerated it.
And the interesting thing is that we're
voting in such a way
that demonstrates that.
(01:53):
So here in the U.S., in November, we had
a really significant
election, but globally,
2024 was a super election year, with
nearly half the world's
population having the opportunity
to vote in 70 countries.
Wow.
Okay, so maybe we have some overt data
(02:14):
now that can give us
insight into people's attitudes.
Absolutely.
So essentially, this year, as we reflect
back, more voters have
gone to the polls than any
other year in history.
So it's a really unique time
to check the pulse of the world.
(02:35):
Absolutely.
Yeah, interestingly and significantly, in
every major developed country who held an
election this year, the person holding
the power or position,
what we call the incumbent,
they lost.
Wait, like all of them?
Yes.
So this is the first time that this has
(02:56):
happened, basically since
we started keeping statistics
of such things.
So 120 years, first time in 120 years.
And it didn't matter if they were right
leaning, left leaning,
conservative, liberal, upside
down, something in between.
It didn't matter.
It was a swap.
(03:16):
Wow.
Okay, so it was just, we don't like this.
So we're going to change it.
Yes.
And if we look at all the different
countries who voted, not
just the major developed ones,
80% booted out the
person sitting in power.
That's still substantial.
And since 2020 alone, 40 of 54 elections
(03:40):
and Western
democracies, the people sitting
in power have been voted out.
Holy moly, cannoli.
Okay, so this is kind of just a sweeping
trend since the pandemic, even.
Absolutely.
What we're seeing is that globally,
people are disillusioned
by government and authority.
(04:01):
And we are malcontent
with the way things are.
We're not content with our jobs.
We're not content with the status quo.
We're not content with the
price of goods and services.
We're not content with
authority and the powers that be.
We're not content with the structures and
constructs that make a society.
And we are reexamining those things.
(04:22):
If you can relate to
that, raise your hand.
Exactly.
So this is the backdrop in which these
other mental health trends
we're talking about occur.
So this is macro level, zoomed out all
the way to the world.
Right.
But let's zoom in a level to how this is
playing out in our nation.
(04:43):
Polarization.
Essentially, it's two opposing stances.
Peoples against peoples, groups against
groups, beliefs against beliefs.
Now we've obviously
seen this in politics.
So outside of the actual values that
people hold, we're seeing
that politics have become
personalized.
Yes.
And discussions can become personal
attacks and may become so defensive.
(05:04):
Statements are not neutral.
It's about the person
now, not the belief or value.
Yeah.
It's no longer just
about who you vote for.
We make meaning about the type of person
you are based on beliefs or voting.
And out of that, we respond defensively.
Is it even possible to have opposing
political viewpoints
and still be friends?
Right.
(05:25):
Family, neighbors, colleagues.
It's not looking hopeful.
Really we're splitting.
We're like all good or all bad.
And the election has brought forth
examples of groups and classes
of people that are polarized.
So like including race and gender.
So does it feels like
there's more hatred and fear?
People are unkind in a hurry on edge.
(05:47):
I mean, have you driven on a major
interstate in the US recently?
Like we're so aggressive.
Yes.
Yes.
I've seen multiple instances of road rage
out of nowhere in the past several years.
Out of nowhere.
And it's scary.
Mm hmm.
I think we feel like we're in danger.
But because the danger isn't
concrete, it's not tangible.
(06:08):
Reviewing the whole world is dangerous.
It's like we step out the door and it's
who's out to get me today.
And then how can you even protect
yourself against that?
So like one option is to go live under a
rock, which is my favorite.
And I would choose that.
You would.
I think we tend to choose one place to
project the blame though.
So it becomes tangible and that gives us
(06:30):
the illusion of having
more power and control.
But really, we're just projecting blame
onto like a political
party or gender or other
races or gosh, even like generations.
Yeah, exactly.
We're casting the blame onto large swaths
of people that we have categorized.
So we want something or someone to blame
(06:50):
to make sense of our own misery.
To your point earlier, Doc Bock, we're
re-examining race, power and gender.
We're seeing inequality and injustice.
And also in that we're revealing the
underbelly or the shadow
of those in power and those
with status.
So like the Hollywood
PDity scandal this year.
Yeah.
And people are coming
forward with their stories.
(07:13):
And really, this has been happening, I
would say, in
increasing measure since the 2017
hashtag me to movement.
So even in religious circles, there was
the hashtag church to
movement for church abuse
scandals coming to light.
So there's a lot more people talking
about this and survivors
are feeling more comfortable
(07:34):
coming forward
because there's more voices.
They're no longer alone confronting this
big star or this big church system.
And with that, there's more examination
of what's okay and what's not okay.
And what gets hidden behind wealth and
privilege and even religion.
(07:56):
So disheartening.
And so we're re-examining those places of
power and privilege as we should.
Absolutely.
I celebrate that, that we're re-examining
these things and allowing the opportunity
for justice.
And not being said though, it doesn't
mean that there's a
perpetrator around every corner.
Yes, exactly.
(08:17):
Exactly.
We're all capable of
evil things, all of us.
And if you're interested in that
specifically, see the
personalities that kill episode, which
I will link that in the podcast show
notes and on YouTube at the end.
But that aside, there is horribleness in
every categorization of people.
(08:40):
But it doesn't mean that
the whole group is bad.
Bad is there, but it's not all bad.
So not everyone in
Hollywood is a perpetrator.
Not every church leader is a perpetrator.
Not everyone who voted for one party or
the other is a perpetrator.
So basically, we're just realizing that
we've all been
(09:01):
traumatized in some way by other
people, by systemic things, by broken
systems, et cetera, et
cetera, just by life.
So trauma has been a huge focus as it
should be because trauma
exists and it's powerful
to name it.
Right.
And then back to the 2014 The Body Keeps
the Score book, which
(09:22):
was pivotal in the field
of psychology.
So it's been 10 years now
since that book came out.
So previously, medicine talked about
physical trauma, but the field of
psychology had really
not talked about psychological trauma on
a scale like it does
now until this book came
(09:43):
out.
So it's great that we're
focusing on trauma finally.
And I'm just thinking back to when we
were in graduate school.
So we both graduated
from the same program.
We were five years apart.
You were starting school as I was
graduating, but for both of
us at the same school, trauma
was just an elective class.
(10:05):
And we're not talking
about like 1950s here.
This was like 2010s era.
I was there right before that book came
out and Doc Fishy were
there like right as and
right after that book came out.
But the fact that it was like an optional
class and it was in
every other class, maybe
(10:25):
mentioned, maybe a footnote, but never a
part of the larger picture of the psyche.
Right.
And that's just simply mind blowing.
Yeah.
And it seems like we went from like not
talking about it at all and
suppressing it in previous
generations to now we finally named it
and we're seeing it everywhere.
So again, we're really emphasizing it and
(10:47):
we should, we should emphasize it.
It's real and it impacts us just like a
physical body isn't going
to go through life and not
be impacted by some type of trauma.
Big T trauma, little T trauma, paper cut,
major wound or accident.
We have all experienced trauma.
The same is true for psychological
things, big T trauma, little T trauma.
(11:10):
But are we going too far with this
traumatized mentality?
I think it's a pendulum swing globally.
And in some circles, there's an over
identification with
victimhood and the victim mentality.
So like getting stuck as a victim, it's
leading to like avoiding
help and giving up power.
So the victim mentality, it's a misfocus.
(11:32):
We're seeing persecution where there
isn't any, and it's
leading to decreased sense of
control and an avoidance of healing
because trauma awareness,
that is the helpful piece
to go towards healing.
But that victim mentality piece, that's
where people are getting
stuck, disintegrating and
that's more harmful than healing.
Right.
(11:52):
So what you're saying is there's a
difference between
identifying trauma and getting stuck
in a victim mentality.
Those are two different things.
Yeah.
So in the victim mentality, there's
something reinforcing about the victim's
space or identifying
with it.
Yes.
And there's actually a couple interesting
studies that
(12:13):
demonstrate how our perception
of being different or a victim may impact
how we view others treating us and how we
handle emotional distress.
Ooh.
In 1980, researchers click and strength
to explore how
perception of atypical physical
characteristics
impact social interactions.
In one of their groups, the participants
(12:33):
were given a cosmetic
facial scar, which they saw
in a hand mirror.
But then the makeup artist was like, "Oh
no, have to moisturize
this to keep it from cracking
and peeling off."
But he actually removed it without the
participant's knowledge.
So the participant thought that they had
a facial scar when
they were interacting with
others, but they really didn't.
Ooh, wow.
However, they still perceived that others
(12:55):
reacted negatively towards them.
And the researchers, they did this
complex fun thing that I'm
not going to go into, but
they ruled out that it wasn't a
self-fulfilling prophecy thing.
It was actually a dynamic of expectancy.
Whoa.
So in other words, if we think that we're
different, in this
case, physically, we expect
(13:16):
others to treat us
differently in a negative manner.
That is powerful.
So that potentially explains some of the
dynamics that we're seeing
with this victim mentality.
Right.
And then in 2022, researchers Jones and
McNally explored how our
understanding of trauma impacts
our own distress.
(13:37):
Participants were given tasks that taught
them trauma was either
broad, so like anything
leading to distress, or narrow.
So just extreme events.
Then they watched a short video involving
content that could be traumatic.
Following days, they reported their
symptoms and results
indicated that those who thought
trauma to be broad, so anything that
(13:58):
leads to distress,
experienced more intense negative
emotions and were more likely to classify
their experience with that short movie as
a personal trauma.
Whoa, really?
And this included experiencing more
event-related distress,
so basically PTSD symptoms.
What we can get from this is that the
broader our beliefs of
(14:19):
what trauma encompasses, the
more we might actually
be vulnerable to trauma.
It's fascinating.
Right.
If we view ourselves as a victim, we're
more likely to perceive
others as persecutory instead
of neutral or even positive, and that's
going to negatively affect us.
Okay, so interesting.
And it sounds like if we're so sensitive
(14:40):
that we're seeing
life's everyday stressors as
outright traumatic, we're likely going to
be sensitive to all the bumps in life and
respond negatively out of that.
Yes.
Or perhaps even seeing things that are
generally unpleasant
as outright traumatic.
(15:01):
Is that right?
Yes.
It's not everything
that's unpleasant or stressful.
There has to be a balance between
acknowledging distress
but also having resilience.
Right, right.
This is not serving us.
And we've seen a huge increase in the
victim mentality but also
in emotional pain in general.
So like, let's zoom in to another level,
(15:21):
to clinical practice.
Doc Bok.
What are your thoughts on this?
Okay, so we are still in a mental health
crisis, which has many
complicating and contributing
factors.
Essentially, people are not okay.
We've been significantly impacted by
COVID in 2020 and beyond.
(15:42):
But also, I really saw this bubbling up
in 2019 in clinical practice.
COVID just took mental health issues
through the stratosphere.
And we've seen that in data too.
So mental health America has statistics.
23.08% of adults experience mental
illness in the past year,
which is about 60 million
(16:04):
people.
Wow, that's about almost one in four.
Right, almost 25%.
Yeah, 5.86% had severe mental illness.
And then 5.04% had serious thoughts of
suicide, which is
about 12.8 million people.
That is way too many
(16:25):
people, way too many people.
Another interesting study was the
Manhattan Mental Health
Counseling did some research
on Google Trends searches for mental
health disorders by state.
Wow, this is really fascinating to me.
ADHD or hyperactivity, that was most
frequently searched for in Alabama,
Kentucky, Louisiana,
(16:45):
Mississippi, North
Carolina, and West Virginia.
Okay, so the South plus West Virginia?
OCD was California,
Washington, Illinois, and Vermont.
Hmm, I'm wondering what
that connection is there.
It's kind of an odd
mix across the nation.
Not sure.
Schizophrenia, Arizona,
(17:07):
Indiana, and Maryland.
Again, not sure of that connection, but
that's your serious
mental illness right there.
Right, PTSD was Iowa and New Mexico.
That's really hard to say.
It's interesting that it's not one of the
states that has a
large military base or a
higher military population necessarily.
That's interesting.
(17:27):
You would think.
Now we have mood searches.
So for example, anxiety, that was
Georgia, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Okay, so we're more anxious the closer we
are to the Atlantic Ocean.
Perhaps.
Are we afraid of the ocean?
Probably not.
Phobias, they were most
(17:47):
prevalent in Alaska and Florida.
Whoa, okay, wait a minute.
You couldn't get any more opposite.
You have opposite
temperature ranges, right?
But that's interesting because I think
about the animals in those states.
Like gators, bears.
Moose, wildebeest, weird creatures.
(18:10):
I wonder if there's a correlation there.
Hmm.
Next we have depression.
So depression was
Texas, Arkansas, and Oregon.
Then we also have symptoms I would
attribute to under the
umbrella of depression.
For example, loss of appetite was
Connecticut and Massachusetts.
(18:31):
That seems maybe stress-related.
Or depression-related.
Loneliness was Wyoming.
Wyoming is the least
populated state, right?
That one, yeah.
So that one makes sense.
Okay, that makes sense.
Stress was Nebraska, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, and Tennessee.
So in some of these states, there were
(18:51):
some pretty substantial
or controversial laws that
were kind of being put on the docket to
look at in terms of like
women's health or trans
health in those states.
I wonder if that is
contributing to those searches.
Yeah.
We also have low libido in North Dakota.
(19:12):
Intimacy issues in Wisconsin.
We have seasonal
affective disorder in Montana.
These are north, northern states.
Mm-hmm, less sunlight.
Right.
Well, that makes sense for Montana.
Mm-hmm.
Further north, less sunlight.
But I guess that would also potentially
make sense for North Dakota and
Wisconsin, possibly.
Bipolar was Delaware and Rhode Island.
(19:33):
East Coast again.
So that was the mood.
Now we have addiction searches.
So we have alcoholism
in Hawaii and Nevada.
Okay, that's interesting.
I think of what happens
in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Mm-hmm.
But maybe also on the Hawaiian island.
Perhaps.
We have drug addiction in Maine.
This one unfortunately makes sense due to
(19:54):
the high rate of overdoses there.
I'm pretty sure it's one of the highest
in the nation,
especially with the opioid crisis.
Right.
That's really sad.
We also have internet or social media
addiction with South Dakota.
This is like western Midwest again, maybe
some loneliness, like
(20:15):
getting social needs
met through social media, but too much.
Maybe we have porn addiction in Utah.
Hmm.
Does this have
anything to do with polygamy?
I'm not going to touch that one.
Yeah, let's not go there.
I don't know.
That's interesting.
Why Utah of all the states.
(20:35):
Right.
Moving on.
Cognitively, we have dementia in Kansas
and New Hampshire, then
Alzheimer's in Colorado,
Minnesota and Missouri.
Okay, so Midwest and West
again, except for New Hampshire.
But that also makes me wonder like what
the age demographic is in these states.
(20:56):
And if it skews more
towards like older individuals.
Yeah, I wonder that too.
I'm curious.
Yeah.
Lastly, we have personality.
So paranoid in Idaho with the potatoes.
Okay, so do we just hold up in Idaho when
we're scared and hide
in the potato patches
or no, but Idaho, this one actually
(21:19):
doesn't surprise me.
I would place a
paranoid structure in Idaho.
It actually reminds me of the 90s.
So it was, I believe the Ruby Ridge
standoff that happened in
the 90s, which was cited
as a motive in the
Oklahoma City bombings.
Interesting.
(21:40):
Yeah, Idaho has some people seem to hide
in Idaho from history.
Fascinating.
Well, then we have
narcissism in Michigan and New Jersey.
Okay, I feel like there's a connection
here, but I'm not sure what it is.
Like I think of politics.
But why are we even talking about this?
Well, here's the thing.
(22:00):
We're going to Dr. Google for help and
we're using Google and
social media, perhaps sometimes
more than actual care.
That's unfortunate.
Yes.
And of course with that, we have prolific
misinformation online,
especially about mental
health topics.
So we're not going to get into all the
(22:21):
nuances of that because
we already covered that in
a recent what's trending podcast, which I
will also link to in
the show notes and at
the end of YouTube.
But that's a big part of this, like the
concerning piece is there's
a lot of misinformation and
just blatantly false stuff
online about mental health.
And then to make matters worse in this
(22:41):
mental health crisis
that we're in, we have large
companies that have swooped in to
capitalize on the mental
health crisis because they see
a way to make money.
Enter venture capital companies.
So this is adding to kind of the fed
upness in our nation.
So we have these large conglomerates that
(23:03):
are really reshaping
the landscape of health
care.
And then earlier this month, so December
2024, so
UnitedHealthcare is the biggest health
care provider in our nation, right?
Their CEO was gunned down, assassinated
at the investors convention.
That feels symbolic, right?
(23:25):
Like maybe a symbol of taking the power
back from companies,
illegal, highly dysfunctional
and just plain wrong, but still a symbol.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And this is where we're kind of putting
together some of the
pieces of like health care and
the like large health care provider
conglomerates, but it all, it all fits.
(23:46):
And we're not going to go into the ins
and outs of the actual
killer and why we have
a whole episode that
covers personalities that kill.
If you're interested in that stuff, I
will put that in the
show notes below and as a
suggested video on YouTube.
But yeah, to clarify, we're not, we're
not condoning murdering CEOs of
healthcare conglomerates
or even vigilantism.
(24:08):
No, no, listen, we can be upset.
We can have our opinions.
We can advocate, but killing is
absolutely not the solution.
The current event here deserves mention
in this episode because
the landscape of healthcare
and these venture capital conglomerates
(24:28):
really have shifted
dramatically in recent years.
And it is not helping the temperature
level of our angry nation to that point.
So with this recent event, specifically
with the United
healthcare CEOs assassination.
So online people have been
heralding the assassin as a hero.
(24:50):
They're doing look alike contests.
The McDonald's where the call was made
that led to the arrest
got negative review bombed.
People were picketing outside of that
McDonald's that corrupt CEOs have to go.
And not to mention what
the people online are saying.
And it's been, oh my goodness, less than
(25:10):
sympathetic with, you
know, sympathy denied.
In new windows about healthcare and their
frustrations wrapped up in his death.
And that's, that's not okay.
Right.
But we can take that and
learn something from it.
Like we're fed up.
People are angry and fed up, which points
to number one from this episode.
(25:31):
Exactly.
So then tying into all this, some
theorists have said that
we're in kind of a second gilded
age.
The late 1800s, this is actually one of
my favorite years in
history to study just because
I think it's so interesting.
But like the late 1800s was a year of
opulence and unbridled
wealth from oil and railroad
(25:52):
tycoons where the wealth discrepancy was
so disproportionate
that the average person had
trouble getting by and
paying for basic necessities.
Sounds familiar.
Yes.
And this is just to give more context.
This is where like the Newport mansions,
they would have their summer houses.
That were just equally as opulent.
(26:12):
So living in extravagance.
Meanwhile the general population was
struggling to get by.
And I can see that trend also happening
in healthcare as private
health insurance companies
are essentially becoming too big to fail,
meaning that they have
disproportionate power
(26:33):
over the average person who's in need of
those services for basic medical care.
Right.
And so maybe that's one of the good
things that can come
out of this recent event.
Like we're finally talking about
healthcare and unfair
practices and how we feel about
it.
Absolutely.
So before Brian Thompson's murder, there
really was not the
(26:55):
dialogue or societal outrage
at insurance that we're seeing now.
I think it was there, but people didn't
feel like they could
talk about it because like
why try?
You're fighting a giant, you know?
Or we don't really understand our
coverage, but we know that we're unhappy.
So that's one just nugget of positivity
in this tragedy is that
(27:17):
we're using our voices
and talking, albeit the
negativity is not helpful.
We're talking about why we're unhappy,
which hopefully this is
going to lead to more advocacy
and change.
Let's talk about some of the other issues
that we're seeing
this year with, with the
health insurance companies.
Basically I want to bring into focus the
(27:38):
online telehealth
venture capital platforms.
So in the height of the pandemic 2020,
these large venture
capital companies were backed
by large sums of money or corporations
that created these
startups to provide telehealth.
Right.
So think like, think like shark tank
(28:00):
dragons den, I have this
idea and give me lots and
lots of money, tens and tens of
thousands, millions to
help this startup get off the
ground.
So that's what a
venture capital company is.
And that's what a lot of different
corporations decided to do
was to let's capitalize, have
more telehealth for the people in need in
(28:22):
this mental health crisis since 2020.
Unsurprisingly, where's the money at?
Many of these companies are funded by big
tech companies, not
licensed mental health
professionals.
So you've probably heard of these.
If you search Google for therapy, I
guarantee one of their
(28:43):
stupid heads will pop up.
I've seen those.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
And the problem here is that when you
have other people without
ethical skin in the game
for your clinical care, without a lick of
medical or psychological knowledge, their
job is purely investor.
(29:04):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
So they see the numbers, the
bottom line and nothing else.
So patients are dehumanized.
Yeah.
Which is so similar to our private
healthcare insurance companies, right?
That are for profit and making decisions
about medical
necessity and coverage denial
when there's not a lick of medical or
(29:26):
psychological knowledge at the higher
levels of that insurance
company.
That's not good at all.
It's a problem.
So it's a business, right?
And the investors are hungry for a return
on their investment.
So they're like piranhas.
So let's make this even muddier.
There have also been reports that private
healthcare insurance
(29:47):
companies, meaning potentially
your insurance carrier, have invested in
these telehealth startups.
Hold up.
Mm-hmm.
That is a massive conflict of interest.
Yes.
Wow.
And it's highly likely that there's a
financial deal to pay the
telehealth startups higher
reimbursement rates for services since
(30:10):
the private health
insurance has literally a vested
interest in making
sure that platform works.
So they're pouring in their own money.
Okay.
Basically, we're hurting small businesses
and we're profiting
off of people's pains and
needs.
Absolutely.
Because why would you go work for a small
company when you can
do the same job and get
(30:31):
a higher reimbursement rate?
But I will say so on one hand.
These online platforms have the potential
to increase access to
care in places where
there's not as much.
Sure.
On the other hand, there's major ethical
considerations and potential legal
ramifications for providers
whose license is still on the line
(30:53):
regardless of any shiny
promises from a big corporation.
Yeah.
And not to mention the little guys that
are struggling because
the giants are standing
in the way.
Okay.
So they're summing it all up.
We are in pain.
We're in a mental health crisis.
We are absolutely fed up about all of it
and we're polarizing to
(31:13):
cope or maybe even resorting
to murder.
Goodness.
We're reexamining
constructs and power and privilege.
And this coming year in 2025, we have to
get out of the victim mentality.
We have to start making changes that are
ethical and empathetic and
beneficial to all people.
We can't change hate with more hate.
(31:35):
No.
We can't let that big powerful being
above us divide all of the people.
We have to stop.
And as I always say at the end, be kind.
Kindness goes such a long way.
We can be outraged.
We can advocate.
We can use our voices for positive
change, but not to go at
(31:56):
our neighbor, our friend,
our colleague, the big guy that we hate,
whatever, whatever that represents.
We can do this in an ethical way.
We can be better.
We can be better.
Gosh, well, there's so many more mental
health trends from this
year that we didn't have
time to get to, but good news.
(32:16):
Earlier this year, we did release another
what's trending episode
that focused on collective
trauma from the pandemic, mental health
diagnoses as identity labels,
over-identification with
neurodivergence and autism and
self-diagnosing with the
influence of social media.
So if that sounds
(32:36):
interesting to you, check it out.
I will link it in the show notes below
and on YouTube at the end of the video.
So thank you for joining us today on this
episode of the Personality Couch.
Make sure to check out our blogs that
coincide with these episodes at
www.personalitycouch.com.
And as always, don't forget to give us a
thumbs up, hit that
(32:57):
bell to subscribe or rate
and review us on your
favorite podcast app.
It really does help us out.
Be well, be kind, and we'll see you next
time on the Personality Couch.
This podcast is for informational
purposes only and does not
constitute a professional
relationship.
(33:17):
If you're in need of professional help,
please seek out
appropriate resources in your area.
Questions about clinical trends or
diagnoses are discussed in
broad and universal terms
and do not refer to any
specific person or case.
Welcome to the Personality Couch podcast,
where we discuss all
things personality and
clinical practice.
I'm your host, Doc Bok, and I'm here
with my co-host, Doc Fish.
We are both licensed clinical
psychologists in private
practice, which means that we have
our fingers on the pulse of the culture.
(00:23):
So today, we will be reflecting on
cultural and clinical trends from 2024.
As we've stated before, what's trending
on local and global
levels also washes up on
the shores of clinical work.
People shape the culture, and
the culture shapes the people.
And in this symbiotic relationship,
(00:43):
mental health topics and
problems take center stage.
In this episode, we will unpack six
trends we saw this year,
including global attitudes,
memorization, reexamining power dynamics
and trauma, being in a
mental health crisis,
recent events evolving the assassination
of the UnitedHealthcare
CEO, and the impact of
(01:06):
venture capital telehealth companies.
We've got a jam-packed episode for you
today, so let's dive in.
Let's start maybe from
the outside looking in.
So, Doc Bok, at the macro or the global
level, what have you noticed this year?
Yeah, so globally, there is a general
sense of unrest and malcontent in people.
(01:31):
And I would say that this has been
steadily increasing over
the past four years, really
since the pandemic in 2020.
So though this unrest and discontent
likely started even before
that, the pandemic absolutely
accelerated it.
And the interesting thing is that we're
voting in such a way
that demonstrates that.
(01:53):
So here in the U.S., in November, we had
a really significant
election, but globally,
2024 was a super election year, with
nearly half the world's
population having the opportunity
to vote in 70 countries.
Wow.
Okay, so maybe we have some overt data
(02:14):
now that can give us
insight into people's attitudes.
Absolutely.
So essentially, this year, as we reflect
back, more voters have
gone to the polls than any
other year in history.
So it's a really unique time
to check the pulse of the world.
(02:35):
Absolutely.
Yeah, interestingly and significantly, in
every major developed country who held an
election this year, the person holding
the power or position,
what we call the incumbent,
they lost.
Wait, like all of them?
Yes.
So this is the first time that this has
(02:56):
happened, basically since
we started keeping statistics
of such things.
So 120 years, first time in 120 years.
And it didn't matter if they were right
leaning, left leaning,
conservative, liberal, upside
down, something in between.
It didn't matter.
It was a swap.
(03:16):
Wow.
Okay, so it was just, we don't like this.
So we're going to change it.
Yes.
And if we look at all the different
countries who voted, not
just the major developed ones,
80% booted out the
person sitting in power.
That's still substantial.
And since 2020 alone, 40 of 54 elections
(03:40):
and Western
democracies, the people sitting
in power have been voted out.
Holy moly, cannoli.
Okay, so this is kind of just a sweeping
trend since the pandemic, even.
Absolutely.
What we're seeing is that globally,
people are disillusioned
by government and authority.
(04:01):
And we are malcontent
with the way things are.
We're not content with our jobs.
We're not content with the status quo.
We're not content with the
price of goods and services.
We're not content with
authority and the powers that be.
We're not content with the structures and
constructs that make a society.
And we are reexamining those things.
(04:22):
If you can relate to
that, raise your hand.
Exactly.
So this is the backdrop in which these
other mental health trends
we're talking about occur.
So this is macro level, zoomed out all
the way to the world.
Right.
But let's zoom in a level to how this is
playing out in our nation.
(04:43):
Polarization.
Essentially, it's two opposing stances.
Peoples against peoples, groups against
groups, beliefs against beliefs.
Now we've obviously
seen this in politics.
So outside of the actual values that
people hold, we're seeing
that politics have become
personalized.
Yes.
And discussions can become personal
attacks and may become so defensive.
(05:04):
Statements are not neutral.
It's about the person
now, not the belief or value.
Yeah.
It's no longer just
about who you vote for.
We make meaning about the type of person
you are based on beliefs or voting.
And out of that, we respond defensively.
Is it even possible to have opposing
political viewpoints
and still be friends?
Right.
(05:25):
Family, neighbors, colleagues.
It's not looking hopeful.
Really we're splitting.
We're like all good or all bad.
And the election has brought forth
examples of groups and classes
of people that are polarized.
So like including race and gender.
So does it feels like
there's more hatred and fear?
People are unkind in a hurry on edge.
(05:47):
I mean, have you driven on a major
interstate in the US recently?
Like we're so aggressive.
Yes.
Yes.
I've seen multiple instances of road rage
out of nowhere in the past several years.
Out of nowhere.
And it's scary.
Mm hmm.
I think we feel like we're in danger.
But because the danger isn't
concrete, it's not tangible.
(06:08):
Reviewing the whole world is dangerous.
It's like we step out the door and it's
who's out to get me today.
And then how can you even protect
yourself against that?
So like one option is to go live under a
rock, which is my favorite.
And I would choose that.
You would.
I think we tend to choose one place to
project the blame though.
So it becomes tangible and that gives us
(06:30):
the illusion of having
more power and control.
But really, we're just projecting blame
onto like a political
party or gender or other
races or gosh, even like generations.
Yeah, exactly.
We're casting the blame onto large swaths
of people that we have categorized.
So we want something or someone to blame
(06:50):
to make sense of our own misery.
To your point earlier, Doc Bock, we're
re-examining race, power and gender.
We're seeing inequality and injustice.
And also in that we're revealing the
underbelly or the shadow
of those in power and those
with status.
So like the Hollywood
PDity scandal this year.
Yeah.
And people are coming
forward with their stories.
(07:13):
And really, this has been happening, I
would say, in
increasing measure since the 2017
hashtag me to movement.
So even in religious circles, there was
the hashtag church to
movement for church abuse
scandals coming to light.
So there's a lot more people talking
about this and survivors
are feeling more comfortable
(07:34):
coming forward
because there's more voices.
They're no longer alone confronting this
big star or this big church system.
And with that, there's more examination
of what's okay and what's not okay.
And what gets hidden behind wealth and
privilege and even religion.
(07:56):
So disheartening.
And so we're re-examining those places of
power and privilege as we should.
Absolutely.
I celebrate that, that we're re-examining
these things and allowing the opportunity
for justice.
And not being said though, it doesn't
mean that there's a
perpetrator around every corner.
Yes, exactly.
(08:17):
Exactly.
We're all capable of
evil things, all of us.
And if you're interested in that
specifically, see the
personalities that kill episode, which
I will link that in the podcast show
notes and on YouTube at the end.
But that aside, there is horribleness in
every categorization of people.
(08:40):
But it doesn't mean that
the whole group is bad.
Bad is there, but it's not all bad.
So not everyone in
Hollywood is a perpetrator.
Not every church leader is a perpetrator.
Not everyone who voted for one party or
the other is a perpetrator.
So basically, we're just realizing that
we've all been
(09:01):
traumatized in some way by other
people, by systemic things, by broken
systems, et cetera, et
cetera, just by life.
So trauma has been a huge focus as it
should be because trauma
exists and it's powerful
to name it.
Right.
And then back to the 2014 The Body Keeps
the Score book, which
(09:22):
was pivotal in the field
of psychology.
So it's been 10 years now
since that book came out.
So previously, medicine talked about
physical trauma, but the field of
psychology had really
not talked about psychological trauma on
a scale like it does
now until this book came
(09:43):
out.
So it's great that we're
focusing on trauma finally.
And I'm just thinking back to when we
were in graduate school.
So we both graduated
from the same program.
We were five years apart.
You were starting school as I was
graduating, but for both of
us at the same school, trauma
was just an elective class.
(10:05):
And we're not talking
about like 1950s here.
This was like 2010s era.
I was there right before that book came
out and Doc Fishy were
there like right as and
right after that book came out.
But the fact that it was like an optional
class and it was in
every other class, maybe
(10:25):
mentioned, maybe a footnote, but never a
part of the larger picture of the psyche.
Right.
And that's just simply mind blowing.
Yeah.
And it seems like we went from like not
talking about it at all and
suppressing it in previous
generations to now we finally named it
and we're seeing it everywhere.
So again, we're really emphasizing it and
(10:47):
we should, we should emphasize it.
It's real and it impacts us just like a
physical body isn't going
to go through life and not
be impacted by some type of trauma.
Big T trauma, little T trauma, paper cut,
major wound or accident.
We have all experienced trauma.
The same is true for psychological
things, big T trauma, little T trauma.
(11:10):
But are we going too far with this
traumatized mentality?
I think it's a pendulum swing globally.
And in some circles, there's an over
identification with
victimhood and the victim mentality.
So like getting stuck as a victim, it's
leading to like avoiding
help and giving up power.
So the victim mentality, it's a misfocus.
(11:32):
We're seeing persecution where there
isn't any, and it's
leading to decreased sense of
control and an avoidance of healing
because trauma awareness,
that is the helpful piece
to go towards healing.
But that victim mentality piece, that's
where people are getting
stuck, disintegrating and
that's more harmful than healing.
Right.
(11:52):
So what you're saying is there's a
difference between
identifying trauma and getting stuck
in a victim mentality.
Those are two different things.
Yeah.
So in the victim mentality, there's
something reinforcing about the victim's
space or identifying
with it.
Yes.
And there's actually a couple interesting
studies that
(12:13):
demonstrate how our perception
of being different or a victim may impact
how we view others treating us and how we
handle emotional distress.
Ooh.
In 1980, researchers click and strength
to explore how
perception of atypical physical
characteristics
impact social interactions.
In one of their groups, the participants
(12:33):
were given a cosmetic
facial scar, which they saw
in a hand mirror.
But then the makeup artist was like, "Oh
no, have to moisturize
this to keep it from cracking
and peeling off."
But he actually removed it without the
participant's knowledge.
So the participant thought that they had
a facial scar when
they were interacting with
others, but they really didn't.
Ooh, wow.
However, they still perceived that others
(12:55):
reacted negatively towards them.
And the researchers, they did this
complex fun thing that I'm
not going to go into, but
they ruled out that it wasn't a
self-fulfilling prophecy thing.
It was actually a dynamic of expectancy.
Whoa.
So in other words, if we think that we're
different, in this
case, physically, we expect
(13:16):
others to treat us
differently in a negative manner.
That is powerful.
So that potentially explains some of the
dynamics that we're seeing
with this victim mentality.
Right.
And then in 2022, researchers Jones and
McNally explored how our
understanding of trauma impacts
our own distress.
(13:37):
Participants were given tasks that taught
them trauma was either
broad, so like anything
leading to distress, or narrow.
So just extreme events.
Then they watched a short video involving
content that could be traumatic.
Following days, they reported their
symptoms and results
indicated that those who thought
trauma to be broad, so anything that
(13:58):
leads to distress,
experienced more intense negative
emotions and were more likely to classify
their experience with that short movie as
a personal trauma.
Whoa, really?
And this included experiencing more
event-related distress,
so basically PTSD symptoms.
What we can get from this is that the
broader our beliefs of
(14:19):
what trauma encompasses, the
more we might actually
be vulnerable to trauma.
It's fascinating.
Right.
If we view ourselves as a victim, we're
more likely to perceive
others as persecutory instead
of neutral or even positive, and that's
going to negatively affect us.
Okay, so interesting.
And it sounds like if we're so sensitive
(14:40):
that we're seeing
life's everyday stressors as
outright traumatic, we're likely going to
be sensitive to all the bumps in life and
respond negatively out of that.
Yes.
Or perhaps even seeing things that are
generally unpleasant
as outright traumatic.
(15:01):
Is that right?
Yes.
It's not everything
that's unpleasant or stressful.
There has to be a balance between
acknowledging distress
but also having resilience.
Right, right.
This is not serving us.
And we've seen a huge increase in the
victim mentality but also
in emotional pain in general.
So like, let's zoom in to another level,
(15:21):
to clinical practice.
Doc Bok.
What are your thoughts on this?
Okay, so we are still in a mental health
crisis, which has many
complicating and contributing
factors.
Essentially, people are not okay.
We've been significantly impacted by
COVID in 2020 and beyond.
(15:42):
But also, I really saw this bubbling up
in 2019 in clinical practice.
COVID just took mental health issues
through the stratosphere.
And we've seen that in data too.
So mental health America has statistics.
23.08% of adults experience mental
illness in the past year,
which is about 60 million
(16:04):
people.
Wow, that's about almost one in four.
Right, almost 25%.
Yeah, 5.86% had severe mental illness.
And then 5.04% had serious thoughts of
suicide, which is
about 12.8 million people.
That is way too many
(16:25):
people, way too many people.
Another interesting study was the
Manhattan Mental Health
Counseling did some research
on Google Trends searches for mental
health disorders by state.
Wow, this is really fascinating to me.
ADHD or hyperactivity, that was most
frequently searched for in Alabama,
Kentucky, Louisiana,
(16:45):
Mississippi, North
Carolina, and West Virginia.
Okay, so the South plus West Virginia?
OCD was California,
Washington, Illinois, and Vermont.
Hmm, I'm wondering what
that connection is there.
It's kind of an odd
mix across the nation.
Not sure.
Schizophrenia, Arizona,
(17:07):
Indiana, and Maryland.
Again, not sure of that connection, but
that's your serious
mental illness right there.
Right, PTSD was Iowa and New Mexico.
That's really hard to say.
It's interesting that it's not one of the
states that has a
large military base or a
higher military population necessarily.
That's interesting.
(17:27):
You would think.
Now we have mood searches.
So for example, anxiety, that was
Georgia, New York, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Okay, so we're more anxious the closer we
are to the Atlantic Ocean.
Perhaps.
Are we afraid of the ocean?
Probably not.
Phobias, they were most
(17:47):
prevalent in Alaska and Florida.
Whoa, okay, wait a minute.
You couldn't get any more opposite.
You have opposite
temperature ranges, right?
But that's interesting because I think
about the animals in those states.
Like gators, bears.
Moose, wildebeest, weird creatures.
(18:10):
I wonder if there's a correlation there.
Hmm.
Next we have depression.
So depression was
Texas, Arkansas, and Oregon.
Then we also have symptoms I would
attribute to under the
umbrella of depression.
For example, loss of appetite was
Connecticut and Massachusetts.
(18:31):
That seems maybe stress-related.
Or depression-related.
Loneliness was Wyoming.
Wyoming is the least
populated state, right?
That one, yeah.
So that one makes sense.
Okay, that makes sense.
Stress was Nebraska, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, and Tennessee.
So in some of these states, there were
(18:51):
some pretty substantial
or controversial laws that
were kind of being put on the docket to
look at in terms of like
women's health or trans
health in those states.
I wonder if that is
contributing to those searches.
Yeah.
We also have low libido in North Dakota.
(19:12):
Intimacy issues in Wisconsin.
We have seasonal
affective disorder in Montana.
These are north, northern states.
Mm-hmm, less sunlight.
Right.
Well, that makes sense for Montana.
Mm-hmm.
Further north, less sunlight.
But I guess that would also potentially
make sense for North Dakota and
Wisconsin, possibly.
Bipolar was Delaware and Rhode Island.
(19:33):
East Coast again.
So that was the mood.
Now we have addiction searches.
So we have alcoholism
in Hawaii and Nevada.
Okay, that's interesting.
I think of what happens
in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Mm-hmm.
But maybe also on the Hawaiian island.
Perhaps.
We have drug addiction in Maine.
This one unfortunately makes sense due to
(19:54):
the high rate of overdoses there.
I'm pretty sure it's one of the highest
in the nation,
especially with the opioid crisis.
Right.
That's really sad.
We also have internet or social media
addiction with South Dakota.
This is like western Midwest again, maybe
some loneliness, like
(20:15):
getting social needs
met through social media, but too much.
Maybe we have porn addiction in Utah.
Hmm.
Does this have
anything to do with polygamy?
I'm not going to touch that one.
Yeah, let's not go there.
I don't know.
That's interesting.
Why Utah of all the states.
(20:35):
Right.
Moving on.
Cognitively, we have dementia in Kansas
and New Hampshire, then
Alzheimer's in Colorado,
Minnesota and Missouri.
Okay, so Midwest and West
again, except for New Hampshire.
But that also makes me wonder like what
the age demographic is in these states.
(20:56):
And if it skews more
towards like older individuals.
Yeah, I wonder that too.
I'm curious.
Yeah.
Lastly, we have personality.
So paranoid in Idaho with the potatoes.
Okay, so do we just hold up in Idaho when
we're scared and hide
in the potato patches
or no, but Idaho, this one actually
(21:19):
doesn't surprise me.
I would place a
paranoid structure in Idaho.
It actually reminds me of the 90s.
So it was, I believe the Ruby Ridge
standoff that happened in
the 90s, which was cited
as a motive in the
Oklahoma City bombings.
Interesting.
(21:40):
Yeah, Idaho has some people seem to hide
in Idaho from history.
Fascinating.
Well, then we have
narcissism in Michigan and New Jersey.
Okay, I feel like there's a connection
here, but I'm not sure what it is.
Like I think of politics.
But why are we even talking about this?
Well, here's the thing.
(22:00):
We're going to Dr. Google for help and
we're using Google and
social media, perhaps sometimes
more than actual care.
That's unfortunate.
Yes.
And of course with that, we have prolific
misinformation online,
especially about mental
health topics.
So we're not going to get into all the
(22:21):
nuances of that because
we already covered that in
a recent what's trending podcast, which I
will also link to in
the show notes and at
the end of YouTube.
But that's a big part of this, like the
concerning piece is there's
a lot of misinformation and
just blatantly false stuff
online about mental health.
And then to make matters worse in this
(22:41):
mental health crisis
that we're in, we have large
companies that have swooped in to
capitalize on the mental
health crisis because they see
a way to make money.
Enter venture capital companies.
So this is adding to kind of the fed
upness in our nation.
So we have these large conglomerates that
(23:03):
are really reshaping
the landscape of health
care.
And then earlier this month, so December
2024, so
UnitedHealthcare is the biggest health
care provider in our nation, right?
Their CEO was gunned down, assassinated
at the investors convention.
That feels symbolic, right?
(23:25):
Like maybe a symbol of taking the power
back from companies,
illegal, highly dysfunctional
and just plain wrong, but still a symbol.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And this is where we're kind of putting
together some of the
pieces of like health care and
the like large health care provider
conglomerates, but it all, it all fits.
(23:46):
And we're not going to go into the ins
and outs of the actual
killer and why we have
a whole episode that
covers personalities that kill.
If you're interested in that stuff, I
will put that in the
show notes below and as a
suggested video on YouTube.
But yeah, to clarify, we're not, we're
not condoning murdering CEOs of
healthcare conglomerates
or even vigilantism.
(24:08):
No, no, listen, we can be upset.
We can have our opinions.
We can advocate, but killing is
absolutely not the solution.
The current event here deserves mention
in this episode because
the landscape of healthcare
and these venture capital conglomerates
(24:28):
really have shifted
dramatically in recent years.
And it is not helping the temperature
level of our angry nation to that point.
So with this recent event, specifically
with the United
healthcare CEOs assassination.
So online people have been
heralding the assassin as a hero.
(24:50):
They're doing look alike contests.
The McDonald's where the call was made
that led to the arrest
got negative review bombed.
People were picketing outside of that
McDonald's that corrupt CEOs have to go.
And not to mention what
the people online are saying.
And it's been, oh my goodness, less than
(25:10):
sympathetic with, you
know, sympathy denied.
In new windows about healthcare and their
frustrations wrapped up in his death.
And that's, that's not okay.
Right.
But we can take that and
learn something from it.
Like we're fed up.
People are angry and fed up, which points
to number one from this episode.
(25:31):
Exactly.
So then tying into all this, some
theorists have said that
we're in kind of a second gilded
age.
The late 1800s, this is actually one of
my favorite years in
history to study just because
I think it's so interesting.
But like the late 1800s was a year of
opulence and unbridled
wealth from oil and railroad
(25:52):
tycoons where the wealth discrepancy was
so disproportionate
that the average person had
trouble getting by and
paying for basic necessities.
Sounds familiar.
Yes.
And this is just to give more context.
This is where like the Newport mansions,
they would have their summer houses.
That were just equally as opulent.
(26:12):
So living in extravagance.
Meanwhile the general population was
struggling to get by.
And I can see that trend also happening
in healthcare as private
health insurance companies
are essentially becoming too big to fail,
meaning that they have
disproportionate power
(26:33):
over the average person who's in need of
those services for basic medical care.
Right.
And so maybe that's one of the good
things that can come
out of this recent event.
Like we're finally talking about
healthcare and unfair
practices and how we feel about
it.
Absolutely.
So before Brian Thompson's murder, there
really was not the
(26:55):
dialogue or societal outrage
at insurance that we're seeing now.
I think it was there, but people didn't
feel like they could
talk about it because like
why try?
You're fighting a giant, you know?
Or we don't really understand our
coverage, but we know that we're unhappy.
So that's one just nugget of positivity
in this tragedy is that
(27:17):
we're using our voices
and talking, albeit the
negativity is not helpful.
We're talking about why we're unhappy,
which hopefully this is
going to lead to more advocacy
and change.
Let's talk about some of the other issues
that we're seeing
this year with, with the
health insurance companies.
Basically I want to bring into focus the
(27:38):
online telehealth
venture capital platforms.
So in the height of the pandemic 2020,
these large venture
capital companies were backed
by large sums of money or corporations
that created these
startups to provide telehealth.
Right.
So think like, think like shark tank
(28:00):
dragons den, I have this
idea and give me lots and
lots of money, tens and tens of
thousands, millions to
help this startup get off the
ground.
So that's what a
venture capital company is.
And that's what a lot of different
corporations decided to do
was to let's capitalize, have
more telehealth for the people in need in
(28:22):
this mental health crisis since 2020.
Unsurprisingly, where's the money at?
Many of these companies are funded by big
tech companies, not
licensed mental health
professionals.
So you've probably heard of these.
If you search Google for therapy, I
guarantee one of their
(28:43):
stupid heads will pop up.
I've seen those.
Mm-hmm.
Yep.
And the problem here is that when you
have other people without
ethical skin in the game
for your clinical care, without a lick of
medical or psychological knowledge, their
job is purely investor.
(29:04):
Mm-hmm.
Right.
So they see the numbers, the
bottom line and nothing else.
So patients are dehumanized.
Yeah.
Which is so similar to our private
healthcare insurance companies, right?
That are for profit and making decisions
about medical
necessity and coverage denial
when there's not a lick of medical or
(29:26):
psychological knowledge at the higher
levels of that insurance
company.
That's not good at all.
It's a problem.
So it's a business, right?
And the investors are hungry for a return
on their investment.
So they're like piranhas.
So let's make this even muddier.
There have also been reports that private
healthcare insurance
(29:47):
companies, meaning potentially
your insurance carrier, have invested in
these telehealth startups.
Hold up.
Mm-hmm.
That is a massive conflict of interest.
Yes.
Wow.
And it's highly likely that there's a
financial deal to pay the
telehealth startups higher
reimbursement rates for services since
(30:10):
the private health
insurance has literally a vested
interest in making
sure that platform works.
So they're pouring in their own money.
Okay.
Basically, we're hurting small businesses
and we're profiting
off of people's pains and
needs.
Absolutely.
Because why would you go work for a small
company when you can
do the same job and get
(30:31):
a higher reimbursement rate?
But I will say so on one hand.
These online platforms have the potential
to increase access to
care in places where
there's not as much.
Sure.
On the other hand, there's major ethical
considerations and potential legal
ramifications for providers
whose license is still on the line
(30:53):
regardless of any shiny
promises from a big corporation.
Yeah.
And not to mention the little guys that
are struggling because
the giants are standing
in the way.
Okay.
So they're summing it all up.
We are in pain.
We're in a mental health crisis.
We are absolutely fed up about all of it
and we're polarizing to
(31:13):
cope or maybe even resorting
to murder.
Goodness.
We're reexamining
constructs and power and privilege.
And this coming year in 2025, we have to
get out of the victim mentality.
We have to start making changes that are
ethical and empathetic and
beneficial to all people.
We can't change hate with more hate.
(31:35):
No.
We can't let that big powerful being
above us divide all of the people.
We have to stop.
And as I always say at the end, be kind.
Kindness goes such a long way.
We can be outraged.
We can advocate.
We can use our voices for positive
change, but not to go at
(31:56):
our neighbor, our friend,
our colleague, the big guy that we hate,
whatever, whatever that represents.
We can do this in an ethical way.
We can be better.
We can be better.
Gosh, well, there's so many more mental
health trends from this
year that we didn't have
time to get to, but good news.
(32:16):
Earlier this year, we did release another
what's trending episode
that focused on collective
trauma from the pandemic, mental health
diagnoses as identity labels,
over-identification with
neurodivergence and autism and
self-diagnosing with the
influence of social media.
So if that sounds
(32:36):
interesting to you, check it out.
I will link it in the show notes below
and on YouTube at the end of the video.
So thank you for joining us today on this
episode of the Personality Couch.
Make sure to check out our blogs that
coincide with these episodes at
www.personalitycouch.com.
And as always, don't forget to give us a
thumbs up, hit that
(32:57):
bell to subscribe or rate
and review us on your
favorite podcast app.
It really does help us out.
Be well, be kind, and we'll see you next
time on the Personality Couch.
This podcast is for informational
purposes only and does not
constitute a professional
relationship.
(33:17):
If you're in need of professional help,
please seek out
appropriate resources in your area.
Questions about clinical trends or
diagnoses are discussed in
broad and universal terms
and do not refer to any
specific person or case.
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