Definitely dropped off the number / volume of videos lately.
Few reasons, none of which I am bothered or ashamed of. Mostly spending time with my step son for school holidays.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve had to learn the last few years since covid: a content schedule cannot and should not be treated like an unbreakable rule // law.
My goal is to make what I can, write what I can, post what I can.
Sometimes, it’ll be better // more frequent. Sometimes there’ll be a pause. Life goes on etc.
The techbro version of Stoicism is “the cult of hard mode” directed inward. It’s also very compatible with neoliberalism, as it individualizes one’s response to suffering as a personal choice rather than a natural reaction to material conditions and social forces. You’re responsible for modulating your feelings about the world rather than attempting to change it.
She’s right about how the powerful promote a version of stoicism to pacify and subjugate, but she loses me at Rand. If anything, Rand serves the same purpose from a different angle.
Jordan Peterson combines both, which makes him popular with those who want to justify hierarchy and individualize blame.
Even more legitimate behavioral approaches like CBT can serve this purpose to a lesser degree. As long as you are focused on managing your response to the world or cleaning your room, you aren’t likely to do anything too unexpected.
I have strongly mixed feelings about CBT.
I understand how useful / helpful it can be.
It just seems to have become a magic wand for modern therapy / self help culture.
They can point to clinical studies where people report short-term reduction in mild anxiety or depression, which makes CBT more likely to be covered by insurance and easier to sell to clients who might be skeptical of therapy in general. It’s also easier to promote in self-help books or podcasts for the same reason.
It’s much harder to measure the effects of other approaches like psychodynamic or existential therapy. It can be even harder to explain how they work since they tend to be complex, open-ended, and use fewer catchphrases.
Behavioral therapy can still be useful for more straightforward problems, even if it’s not the magic bullet it has been pitched as.
I’ve had some success with ACT and found exposure therapy helpful for managing health anxiety after an injury. I’m also looking into RO-DBT for OCPD and perfectionism. But for the larger questions about meaning, relationships, identity, and death, none of these are likely to produce satisfying results.
