A sharp, compelling critique of therapy culture and its effect on our relationships, self-perception and emotional wellbeing.

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Encountering any problem in our lives – be it stress from work, family drama, or a bad relationship – we are now often asked: ‘Well, have you gone to therapy?’

Over the last decade, therapy has become the catch-all solution to our emotional issues. More accessible than ever, we’ve entered a new age of therapy: endless mental health apps at our disposal, podcasts teaching wellness but hosted by people with no formal training, and billions of 30-second videos that diagnose our friends, our colleagues, and ourselves. Everyone has become fluent in “trauma” and “boundaries”. We speak to chat bots that are always online, who never judge and never push back. Is all this making us better, or just more self-involved? Does everyone truly need therapy?

In Tell Me About Myself, Sarah Manavis investigates how the language and practice of psychotherapy have been co-opted by pop culture, capitalism and influencers – flattened into a one-size-fits-all model of self-optimisation alienating us from ourselves and from each other. From TikTok therapists to therapy-industry grifters, Manavis interrogates this new cultural ethos and what happens when healing becomes content.

Tell Me About Myself is a compelling and insightful exploration of therapy culture in the social media age and the ways it has warped our relationships, self-perception, and emotional wellbeing.

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