Therapeutic culture of self-help: a theoretical approach to the popular culture of positive thinking.

Abstract

On the horizon of an inquiry about processes of subjectivation in which intervene materials
for self-care that are built on the epistemic basis of positive thinking, this article aims to
present relevant theoretical frameworks to trace and name the ways in which the
widespread therapeutic culture of self-help offers a semblance to the epistemic matrix of
positive thinking. Three frames are presented. In the first, the multifactorial origin of the
culture of self-help is exposed. In the second, this culture is described from its double
discursive character: first as a reproducer of written and audiovisual texts that follow
thematic, stylistic and narrative canons that make it identifiable; then as a therapeutic
culture that promotes self-healing and personal improvement through positive incantations.

In the third, current cultural, political and economic tensions that shape the culture of self-
help and its positive epistemic component are described. It concludes by pointing out the

importance of problematizing and constructing theoretical references for the study of the
culture of self-help and positive thinking for the analysis of contemporary subjectivation
processes.