ABSTRACT
This chapter examines human tendencies to anthropocentric thinking, individualistic philosophies and consumerist values. It considers Frank Furedi's proposal that therapy itself is deeply enmeshed in cultural developments of recent decades, contributing to current social ills. The chapter examines alternative perspectives from ecopsychology and Buddhism, including those of Macy and others, suggesting need for recognition of inter-connection and dependence. The anthropocentric view which dominates most of human culture places human interests above those of animals or plants or of ecosystem as a whole. Social values have shifted from the relatively co-operative, mutually supportive culture of post-war years, in which the residues of wartime spirit focused on building a better world for everyone, to a society based on more individualistic values of competition, achievement and enterprise. In Therapy Culture, Furedi suggests that the rise of psychotherapy as a force in society has led to a paradigm shift, which increasingly emphasises emotional experience and pathologises life conditions which were previously seen as normal.
