Andrew Hartz, founder of The Open Therapy Institute, has just had a piece published in the New York Post which discusses the pernicious impact of cancel culture on people’s mental health. New patterns are being noticed by clinicians such as Dean McKay, a clinical psychology professor at Fordham University and an expert in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), who reports an increase in clients reporting intrusive thoughts (obsessions) about saying or doing things that might get them “cancelled.”
Hartz states, “There are countless other socio-political issues that impact mental health — from hostility toward traditional religious beliefs, to experiences of anti-white racial aggression, to changing norms around sexual behavior, to the challenges facing young men living in a culture that frequently demonizes masculinity.”
He goes on to warn that, “As social dynamics have become more extreme, people are increasingly looking for answers. New research is confirming what many already believe: the politicization of culture negatively impacts mental health.”
He ends his piece by noting that psychology should be in the forefront of addressing these concerns but, “Unfortunately, political bias in the mental health field has prevented it from addressing cancel culture and self-censorship. There’s almost no academic research on these topics.”
Read the whole piece here.
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