Hello, my name is Hiu. I’m a registered clinical therapist with a background in critical thinking and writing. I love to incorporate the topic of mental health and psychology into any topic at hand.
After observing certain patterns and having had numerous conversations with friends and patients, exploring capitalism’s effects on our mental health and relationships (to others, to things, to our environment) feels worthwhile at a time when it can feel simultaneously overwhelming and isolating to be here.
In the last year, coping with capitalism and its various forms of impact has risen to the top three most common themes that emerge in my therapy sessions with clients. People feel they don’t deserve or “shouldn’t” rest (stop working, sleeping, doing leisurely activities, taking holiday, etc.) if they haven’t been “productive” on any given day. Zooming out, the narrative becomes “I’m not worthy of rest” and “I’m not enough because I’m not doing enough”.
One of the formulas observed in abusive relationships is “if I don’t do ___, then [something bad] will happen to me / then they will [punish] me.” This is observed in many of our relationships to the system: if I don’t produce, then I won’t get to enjoy my life.
We’ve learned this on an individual and structural level because we’ve been taught this from the moment we attended school and we continue to be conditioned in it (more on this later). The system and culture together is the sea and we’ve been plopped into the middle of it, unasked if we wanted to swim. Fortunately and unfortunately, we as a species are experts at adapting.
For some of us, repair feels impossible within the system of capitalism because it’s like water and we’re fish. When there’s been a wounding, a rupture, before reconciliation, we must acknowledge what’s been broken.
Setting expectations
With this newsletter, I’m motivated by three intentions:
to invite you to think about how capitalism is informing or influencing your relationship with yourself and mental health,
for you to walk away feeling like you have more of a choice living in this system, and
taking my therapeutic skills beyond my practice.
I’ve been learning that expectation-setting includes speaking to what isn’t. Here, I’m not speaking as an expert in capitalism or what may be understood as the opposites of this system, nor am I advocating for any particular political party or school of thought. I am, however, writing and asking questions as a mental health professional whose work surrounds collaborating with people to reclaim our sense of worth and relationship to our agency.
Throughout this project, thoughts and experiences will be shared, and questions will always be asked, like where in this arguably abusive relationship with capitalism do we individually and collectively have agency?
What do you notice when you think about the idea of agency in relation to systems and structural power?
I approach creating like how I do therapy: with deconstructive conversations, insightful and possibly challenging questions, and a commitment to naming the oppressive systems and dominant narratives at work. The questions posed in this newsletter may not be for the faint of heart, but they may ignite something for those interested in deepening their relationships, including that with themselves.
I hope for this to do something for you, that you and I can both be reminded: we are in relation to one another even in moments when it doesn’t feel like so.
Thanks for reading.