Therapeutic emotional exercises can oppress as much as older repressive regimes.

Evidence

Ironically, such exercises were at least as uncomfortable and disturbing as the experiences they were supposed to be exorcising, and these teachers were as oppressive in their own way as the agents of previous — more “repressive” — regimes of emotional management. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 664

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Foucault’s observation that therapeutic/confessional power operates through solicitation rather than repression — the power that makes one speak. — connects to: Using AI therapy could produce uncomfortable emotional effects. — Joanna Stern, I Am Not a Robot- My Year Using AI to…, 48; True therapy must cultivate consciousness of unhappiness, not adaptation — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 76; Depression and burnout stem from excess positivity, not repression — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 108
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: did ‘Social and Personal Education’ style ‘trust games’ in 1980s UK schools reflect a broader post-60s therapeutic shift in pedagogy? Fisher gestures at this but doesn’t develop it.

Broader Connections

• Using AI therapy could produce uncomfortable emotional effects. #exemplifies (0.85) — Joanna Stern, I Am Not a Robot- My Year Using AI to…, 48
• True therapy must cultivate consciousness of unhappiness, not adaptation #expands (0.80) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 76
• Depression and burnout stem from excess positivity, not repression #corroborates (0.75) — Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society, 108