The Problem With Taking Therapy Advice From Instagram - Seerut Chawla - #725

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Seerut Chawla. She's a licensed psychotherapist and founder of The Trenches, an organization focusing on mental health and social media dynamics. There is a trend of online influences who can identify your trauma and diagnose your attachment problems over social media. Is this an important new frontier for discussing mental health or COD psychology over the internet? Expect to learn the biggest problems with coddling and how it enables victimhood, and the difference between pain and trauma, why being triggered is your responsibility, what everyone gets wrong about self-worth, why we spend so much time obsessing over emotion in the West, the biggest problems with self-healing, and much more. This episode is brought to you by Element. Stop having coffee first thing in the morning. Your adenosine system that caffeine acts on isn't even active for the first 90 minutes of the day, but your adrenal system is, and salt acts on your adrenal system. Element contains a science-backed electrolyte ratio of sodium, potassium and magnesium, with no junk, no sugar, no coloring, artificial ingredients, gluten fillers or any other BS. It plays a critical role in reducing muscle cramps and fatigue, whilst optimizing brain health, regulating appetite and curbing cravings. It's how I've started my morning every single day for over three years now, and I absolutely love it. That orange flavor in a cold glass of water first thing in the morning is fantastic. It is the best way to start the day. Also, they have a no BS, no questions, ask refund policy. So if you do not like it for any reason, they will give you your money back and you don't even need to return the box. That's how confident they are that you love it. Head to drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom to get a free sample pack of all eight flavors with your first box. That's drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom. This episode is brought to you by MyProtein. They are the number one sports supplement company on the planet and it makes sense. I've fallen in love with their Clearway protein. If you're looking for a new protein powder, this is the place to begin. It's light and fruity. It looks and tastes like juice. You could have it and sip it during a workout, but it's got more protein in than a normal protein shake. So if you've been feeling uncomfortable and unsatisfied with your current protein powder, this is a fantastic change. A lot of the time I get asked for what supplements I use and recommend, and I've listed all of them from MyProtein on a super secret product page that you can access by going to bit.ly slash protein wisdom. That unlocks the code Modern Wisdom, which gets you the maximum discount available site-wide and worldwide. So head to bit.ly slash protein wisdom and use the code Modern Wisdom at checkout for at least 37% off everything site-wide. This episode is brought to you by Marek Health. I wanted to get my blood work done in America, and after doing some digging, I found that Marek Health was the best and most comprehensive company out there. I loved the process so much that I actually reached out to the owner and asked them to be a partner on the show. That's how impressed I was. You can stop guessing when it comes to your health by actually getting blood work done to provide valuable insights into what is going on inside of your body. You go to any lab corp facility around the US, they will take your blood and you receive biomarker feedback with actionable steps to improve your metabolism, libido, mood, cognitive health and everything else. Once you get your labs done, you have the choice to meet with a medical provider to discuss potential treatment options too. Also, you can get a 10% discount off everything site-wide if you go to marekhealth.com/modernwisdom and use the code MODERNWISDOM at checkout. That's M-A-R-E-K health.com/modernwisdom and Modern Wisdom at checkout. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Seerut Chawla.
What's your issue with cuddling?

**Seerut Chawla** (4:09)
I think there's a few different things, and they're all part of the same sticky web of dysfunction. So there's cuddling, there's social media, there's therapy culture, the pop psychology stuff that I criticize a lot. And they're all very related. So cuddling, you could almost look at cuddling as safety culture for children, and which of course children need safety, but over protecting children and too much safety, it seems to stunt development. It seems to stunt your ability to overcome obstacles, to mitigate your emotions, your aggression, your impulses, to have any sort of resilience when, you know, to the vicissitudes of life, which no one's immune to. And then, and the sort of extension of childhood, that coddled childhood, which is now extended, you know, it used to be that you were an adult around 15 or 16 or 18, and now it seems to go on and on, you know, into the early 20s, if not further. You have 30-year-olds saying, I'm adulting. If you're an adult, it's just behavior. It's not adulting. And then, I guess, safety culture, which is like coddling for adults. It's like treating adults like infants, incapable infants who couldn't cope with a different opinion. And if they have the misfortune of coming into contact with an opinion that makes them uncomfortable, then they need a safe space with puppies and coloring books.