Why positive thinking is just a neoliberal con-trick

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I like this RSA video:

The video attacks the whole logic of positive thinking that's inherent in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which trains a person how to challenge negative thoughts and feelings and how to develop positive thinking and action. This has been much associated with Richard Layard and was a new Labour fad, but it's a prevalent line of thought for the political right.

The argument for CBT is a simple one: if you're depressed because, for example, you're unemployed you've just got to develop a positive frame of mind, accept that a job on minimum wage is all you can aspire to and you're going to lose your home, family, hopes and reasonable aspirations forever, but that the positive frame of mind will make all these things seem entirely reasonable.

Candidly, that's akin to brain washing. That situation is not at all right and the only reasonable feeling anyone should have when faced with such a prospect is anger - which will inevitably turn into depression sometimes.

What's really insidious about CBT is  the demand that such anger and depression be suppressed when both are sure signs something is really wrong and that real change is demanded, and that a policy of passive acceptance is completely the wrong reaction.

Get angry, I say.


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