The reason why BA is one of the cities where people go into therapy the most is uncertain. Is it a consequence of our personality or -instead- are we now a result of what once was a social trend?
The only thing that I can speak about is what I have found to be true. Given this point, I am going to talk about how this state of affairs is present throughout porteños´ daily life.
Once, while talking to an English therapist, he told me that saying “patient” to a “client” would be politically incorrect because “patient” implies that they are crazy. This brings me to the first difference I can think of: we don´t go to the psychologist because we think we are crazy.
In these fetishistic times we have turned everything into objects-no matter if it´s a thing, an idea, a feeling or a person-. Everything is put there to be admired or criticized but not to be experienced. We have created a vacuum between us and the world surrounding us. In this context, anguish, frustration, depression, dissatisfaction, etc. are common occurences and every culture looks for a different way to fill that feeling of emptiness.
What is the first thing we do when we are at a crossroads in our lives and we have to make an important decision or when we feel we just can´t go on by ourselves? We start therapy. We are convinced that we are self-saboteur and that we need an objective and qualified opinion to guide our acts for a stretch of our lifes. Have you ever seen one of those paintings you can´t understand if you stand too close to it but, as you move away, it starts to make sense? For us, therapy is a dual way -distancing and introspection- to find out what really makes us happy.
To achive this goal, a short treatment is not enough. Things that you unconsciously drag throughout your life cannot be analized and corrected in a month. It takes years.
That´s how our therapist goes on to be an important part in our life. Much more than an ordinary doctor, they almost become a lifelong friend. We talk of what our psychologist said just as you would talk of what your mother or a friend said, and their criteria is even more reliable.
As you probably guessed, psychological vocabulary is everywhere in porteños´ speech. An actual therapist would not dare to use as many technical concepts as ordinary people do.
It is all part of the local color.
