Psychotherapy Leftists

PsychologyToday.com lets you filter by price range, but doesn't actually allow for price-based sorting. That has annoyed me for years, so I decided to do something about it. If you're looking for the cheapest / most affordable psychiatrist, medication management provider, or therapist in your area, now it's just a couple clicks away!

cw // mention of s*icide contemplation

I was previously with a Marxist-Leninist youth organization that got embroiled in a scandal. A lot of in-fighting occurred that led to more than half of the membership resigning. As an officer, I wanted to stay to look out for the well-being of the remaining members, especially the newer ones. I was, however, shocked by the aggressiveness of my fellow officers.

One of our alumnus founders then shared some words of encouragement, but there was a portion that left me shaken (emphases my own):

The challenge for all socialists is to unlearn the liberal bourgeois worldview that has been inculcated in us since day 1, as each and every one of us has grown up under capitalism…

This includes every aspect of our lives, even how we are taught about mental health. I know this very well because I’ve also been through the wringer of therapists, medication, and psych wards before. It is isolating and individualist because you are taught to detach yourself from others to “focus on your own healing.” That is bullshit and it makes you arrogant and self-centered. While I won’t discount the help of medical assistance in mental health, what truly saved me was the collective and embracing that I am a part of something bigger than myself. That’s why I always personally encourage comrades who are having a rough mental patch that the better medicine is to be with your comrades, not to isolate yourself.

I understand where they were coming from. I can only imagine how isolating of an experience it must have been to be confined in a ward for a period of time. I also acknowledge that therapy is mostly an individualist practice (through one-on-one consultations), I just never saw it as necessarily equivalent to the hyperindividualism the likes of the Pink Pilates Princess lifestyle.

I've also been in a DBT program that was conducted as a group session, and it was anything but isolating. It actually helped me unpack unhealthy core beliefs and re-learn to connect with other people. My experience contradicting their statement was one-half of what didn't sit right with me, and I regret not sharing it as my criticism.

The other half was that nobody left the organization so they could get matcha and do Pilates at the beach or smth. They left because the "better medicine" became horribly toxic in a short amount of time. In fact, I eventually left as well because my co-officers cared more about disciplining me for my "withdrawal tendencies" than the fact that I wanted to jump off a school building (we had a heated argument about confronting members with known mental health concerns). The lack of nuance and appropriate care destroyed any sense of safety. I ironically felt more like an employee in an abusive environment than a comrade, and I could not tolerate enabling their leadership tactics anymore.

I'm still getting professional help and am doing well. I've since accepted that I no longer aligned with their ideology (I confess to favoring anarchism these days), but I still want to hear from fellow leftists for the sake of feeling less isolated.

Originally posted by u/payasongchiquita on Reddit.

Top comment by u/bogiperson

There is a very old case study titled "Come Over, Red Rover" about a somewhat similar situation in Fifty-Minute Hour by Robert Lindner, I don't think it necessarily aged well (especially about race), but you might find it interesting to see these patterns about therapy recur in leftist organizations. I'm sorry you had to experience this too.

I personally had more of the reverse experience that in leftist circles, specific brands of therapy were heavily pushed, so I think it really depends on the group.

Originally posted by u/ProgressiveArchitect on Reddit.

Originally posted by u/PhilosophyPoet on Reddit.

Top comment by u/srklipherrd

asking in earnest and not trying to sound "clever" - I was under the impression anti-psychiatry and taking psychotropic meds (as you see fit) as being fairly mutually exclusive but reading these comments have me questioning that notion. To be specific, I understood anti-psychiatry as a radical form of informed consent vs an abstinent way of operating.

Let's say you're some mental health therapist working in somewhere you'd describe as mainstream, e.g. the UK's NHS has talking therapy.

Let's say you have no clue about historical materialism / socialism / psychotherapy-leftism and neither does your patient.

• What are you doing to your patient?

• What is your function in the capitalist system?

• And, in what situations will you meet a contradiction you can't resolve?

Originally posted by u/WritingtheWrite on Reddit.

The diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is not a medical observation, but rather a political instrument designed to pathologize the individual at the absolution of the system. It functions to medicalize resistance, framing dissent and the rejection of bourgeois norms as symptoms of a broken mind rather than rational conclusions of political analysis. By labeling non-compliance as a disorder, the state effectively removes the moral weight from its own violence and redirects it onto the psyche of the oppressed.

This framing becomes patently clear when we examine the scope of the diagnosis. ASPD is far too broad to be clinically useful outside of this context. The criteria themselves reveal the absurdity of the construct:

• Failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors, as indicated by three or more of the following:

1. Repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
2. Deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others.
3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead.
4. Irritability and aggressiveness, as indicated by repeated physical fights.
5. Reckless disregard for safety of self or others.
6. Consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.
7. Lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.

• Childhood presence of "conduct disorder" as evidenced by a history of any of the following in at least three distinct ways:

    • Aggression
    • Destruction of property
    • Deceitfulness or Theft
    • Serious violation of rules

• Is not explained by Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia

• Leads to distress or impairment

The requirement of functional impairment is the most damning part. You can display every "symptom", but if you get away with it then it's not a disorder. Billionaires don't meet criteria, but half of prisoners do. The "distress or impairment" clause is merely a class filter: if you have the power to evade consequences, your behavior is "visionary"; if you don't, it's mental illness.

Sure, if someone struggles with impulse control or emotion dysregulation, those are treatable symptoms that, if resolved, might improve their quality of life. But the vast majority of people who meet the criteria do so simply because they break the law, lie about it, and don't feel bad about it. Why would they? To rebel with intent within an inherently oppressive system and then feel remorse about it would be incongruent. This behavior should not be pathologized. It doesn't need treatment, it needs liberation.

The diagnosis isn't a disorder or disability. ASPD is a made-up label created to pathologize criminality. Practically any anarchist or ADHDer who's been to jail will meet the criteria. The label doesn't serve the individual- it serves the state, and it ought to be discarded. Normalizing ASPD as a diagnosis subverts the notion that smashing the state is good and that people should do so without remorse.

A distinction should be made, however, between the system's use of the label and an individual's relationship to it. For someone already labeled as such, reclaiming the term while refusing to internalize its shame can be a form of resistance in itself. If, however, a client without the diagnosis laments their struggle of acting without thinking, regretting it, and wishing to better navigate social boundaries to improve their wellbeing, e.g., there are several far more relevant diagnoses to choose from rather than funneling them into a category which only serves to stigmatize dissent.

The role of a psychotherapist shouldn't be to subdue the retaliation of the oppressed, but to help them understand that their "symptoms" are often adaptive responses to a unwell society and, importantly, that there exist effective outlets for it. We must reject the idea that the state's laws are in any way a baseline for mental health. The diagnosis is a construct, and the "cure" is revolution.

As leftists living under involuntary governance, we're forced into a contradiction of authenticity. Battling the internalized logic of capitalism and trying to resist the encroachments of fascism, yet adhering to its statutes and participating in it's mechanisms for survival. Psychoanalysis, when turned against the grain, offers a way to trace this fracture to its source- a method to excavate the root causes of suffering under oppressive systems. The inquiry needs to shift, however, from why we suffer to how we unlearn the habits of submission that keep us trapped within the architecture of our own oppression. Existing modailities fail to bring this unlearning into praxis.

Lacanian psychoanalysis, with its focus on language and symbolic structures as the mediators of subjectivity, maps the prison of late-stage capitalism. Yet, when analysis becomes an end in itself, therapy risks devolving into a luxury for those who can afford to dwell in their alienation rather than challenge the systems that produce it. In its best iterations, Marxist-psychoanalytic practice reproduces the very hierarchies we seek to dismantle: the therapist (or "analyst") becomes the expert interpreter of ideology, while the patient remains a recipient. The result is an individual capable of deconstructing their oppression in session, yet struck with cognitive dissonance and paralyzed when faced with direct action, mutual aid, or the simple assertion of boundaries in hostile environments.

Otto Gross' psychoanalysis, by contrast, treated the modality as a catalyst for sexual and social liberation rather than a clinical discipline- a force for emancipation and free love. Where Lacan's subject is defined by language and lack, Gross's subject is formed by authoritarian structures and social domination. His work pushed psychoanalysis toward anarchism, polyamory, and the dismantling of norms. Gross, however, remained tethered to certain questionable Freudian frameworks. This limited the radical potential of his project, yet his vision of a 'revolutionary unconscious' remains a crucial precursor to liberationist thought.

Liberation therapy attempts to bridge this gap by centering social location, naming internalized oppression, and treating symptoms as adaptive responses to systemic violence rather than individual failures. It decenters the therapist's authority, foregrounds collective and historical context, and insists that healing is inseparable from the realities of racism, sexism, class, and coloniality. This intersectional approach thrusts psychotherapy into explicitly political terrain without reducing it to moralizing or abstract theory.

Even liberation therapy, however, lacks a systematic bridge from insight to concrete action. It excels at helping individuals name their rage, reframe their suffering, and feel less isolated, but it fails to assist in how that awareness translates into genuine resistance and transformation. The disjuncture between critical analysis and practical application leaves the clinic powerful within the room but ill-equipped for real-world change.

Illegalist therapy fills this void by treating disobedience as a necessary skill to be honed through systematic desensitization. If obedience is a learned behavior rooted in the fear of state coercion, then disobedience must be practiced via a calibrated hierarchy of transgression. The work begins with with micro-transgressions-- technically illegal acts with minimal risk, like jaywalking in empty streets or pirating digital content --designed to trigger the somatic fear response without overwhelming the nervous system. As the client learns to ride out the anxiety spike and realizes the anticipated catastrophe never arrives, the stakes rise to visible defiance: e.g., flipping off a cop, and wheat pasting agitprop. Eventually, one might work their way up to acts like expropriation and destruction of property. Each step is anchored in somatic regulation, preventing retraumatization while forcing a cognitive shift where the "lawbreaker" identity transforms from a source of shame into a site of agency. By repeatedly testing the limits of enforcement and distinguishing between actual consequences and the phantom catastrophes of the internalized superego, the client systematically erodes the neural pathways of fear, turning the paralyzing weight of the state into a manageable variable in the equation of liberation.

This individual work scales outward. Communities that are not only desensitized to, but have actively destigmatized "crime" are less likely to rely on state institutions, and more likely to meet each others needs regardless of the law. This practical approach to liberation complements the insights of liberation therapy: the personal is political, but the political is also practical. In illegalist therapy, the therapist's role is not to interpret, but to facilitate the movement from analysis to action.

The goal here is not martyrdom. The goal is the deliberate dismantling of internalized oppression through direct, illegal action. The question is not "Can you handle the truth?" but "Can you handle the consequences?". If the answer is no, the work begins there-- not in abstract reflection, but in the concrete act of defiance. Psychoanalysis can help us see the chains we've internalized, but illegalist therapy teaches us how to break them. Illegalist therapy kills the cop inside your head.