Psychology needs a glow-up (and maybe an exorcism)

Breaking free from therapy’s comfort zone

Listen, I love that we’re all talking about mental health. Really, I do. But have you noticed that the conversation kind of sucks? It’s like we took the noble pursuit of self-awareness, shoved it into a blender with TikTok therapy, pop psychology, and trauma buzzwords, and hit "purée" until everyone started diagnosing their ex as a narcissist and their seasonal blues as “C-PTSD.”

And the professionals are all over the place, too. Half of them are fighting self-help influencers for authority and the other half are clinging to a system that still thinks How does that make you feel? is the pinnacle of psychological insight. And don’t even get me started on the social media therapists with ring lights and trauma clickbait—if I see one more reel about “How to spot a toxic person,” I might actually become one.

The mental health conversation is stuck in a loop

Real talk. Modern psychology has a vision problem. It’s stuck in a symptom-management hamster wheel, telling people how to function, cope, and identify their triggers—but rarely how to break free and actually become something greater than their trauma.

Right now, the mental health conversation sounds like a never-ending 12-step program for people who never get to step 12. It’s all:

You have anxiety.

You have trauma.

You have attachment wounds.

You have depression, but don’t worry, it’s just your brain being mean to you.

Okay. But, uh…now what?

Psychology: The field that forgot to evolve

The issue isn’t that therapy is bad. Therapy is great. Therapy has saved lives. But the way therapy has been institutionalized is where things get weird.

The current system is like a really well-intentioned dad who teaches you how to ride a bike but never actually lets go of the seat. And at some point, you have to ask: Is the system so focused on support that it forgets to set people free?

Because when you look at how psychology is structured, it’s not built for true transformation—it’s built for stability. And stability is nice, but it’s also a great way to stay stuck forever.

Meanwhile, more and more people are ditching therapy and seeking healing elsewhere—through meditation, psychedelics, philosophy, spirituality, existential screaming into the void, whatever works. And instead of asking, “Hey, why are people leaving therapy?”, psychologists are like, “Ugh, social media is ruining mental health.”

Yes, social media is messing with mental health—but it’s also shining a light on a bigger problem that people aren’t getting what they need from the system.

The problem of unintentional gatekeeping

So what’s the deal? Institutions are so focused on keeping everything tidy with their “quality control” standards that they’ve forgotten to ask the most important question: Is this actually working? Sure, the system is good at certifying therapists, ticking boxes, and giving us the comfort of "evidence-based" therapies, but just because something’s measurable doesn’t mean it’s the best way to heal. Just look at CBT for example—great for managing symptoms, yes, but it’s like giving you a wheelchair and some pain meds for broken leg without the cast. It helps you get around better, but it doesn't actually heal you.

Meanwhile, the world’s got these deeper, more holistic healing methods like transpersonal psychology, existential psychology, psychedelic-assisted therapy, even philosophical approaches get ignored because they don’t fit into the neat little box that the system loves. Why? Because we’ve been stuck in this self-reinforcing loop where mainstream methods, like CBT, get all the funding, all the research, and all the attention, while anything that challenges the norm gets shoved under the rug.

So here we are—continuing to pour resources into the same old thing, while new, potentially more effective solutions sit on the sidelines. It’s like having a gorgeous, life-changing meal in front of you, but you keep eating stale crackers because that’s what everyone else has always done. And hey, maybe it’s time we break the cycle and start asking: What else could be out there that actually helps people heal, not just survive?

Imagine if therapy actually pushed people to grow

What if psychology actually aimed for human transformation instead of just making people functional enough to get through the workweek without crying in the break room?

Imagine a world where instead of social media being filled with trauma-loop clickbait, the mental health conversation sounded more like:

Rewire your mind, unleash your power, and stop settling for “just getting by.”

Your past happened, but it’s not the boss of you—let’s move forward, not sideways.

Pain’s real, but so is your ability to kick its ass and rise above it.

Psychology needs a new vision

If psychology dared to evolve on an institutional level, it wouldn’t just make therapy better—it would trickle down and completely reshape how we think about mental health. It would turn healing into something empowering instead of something people feel trapped in forever.

But until then, we’ll all just be here, watching another TikTok about why failing to make eye contact with the barista means you have unresolved childhood trauma.

God help us.