‘That boy needs therapy’: Constructions of psychotherapy in popular song lyrics

Hadjiosif, Miltos

Abstract

This paper discusses constructions of psychotherapy in the lyrics of popular songs and identifies relevant discourses that are invoked or crafted. Despite a plethora of academic and clinical descriptions of psychotherapy, less research attention has been focused on the ways in which psychotherapy is talked about and represented in popular culture. Discussing the status of psychotherapy in this domain is hampered by a proliferation of psy- modalities, approaches, and epistemologies that have given rise to multiple and conflicting versions of ‘psychotherapy’. A critical discourse analysis was applied to 24 songs and yielded three discursive objects: ‘Banal therapy’, the ‘Non-therapeutic relationship’ and ‘I know therefore I can’. I will discuss findings in relation to positioning and the voice of therapist, client, observer/listener, as well as anti-therapist. Additionally, I will examine some tensions that arise from a largely derogatory and irreverent representation of psychotherapeutic practice. In conclusion, I will invite discussion on the implications of this research: does it matter that a few pop songs portray psychotherapy in this light, and if so, to whom does it matter the most?

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: Annual Conference of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture & Society
• Start Date: Oct 20, 2017
• End Date: Oct 21, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jun 29, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 29, 2022
• Keywords: therapy; psychotherapy; Constructions of psychotherapy; popular song lyrics; song; discourse analysis; social contructionism; popular music; mental health
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9664943
• Publisher URL: https://docplayer.net/80070773-Voice-psychoanalytic-cultural-social-justice-perspectives-annual-conference.html
• Related Public URLs: https://doi.org/10.1080/13642537.2017.1386223