Why Argentina Loves Therapy

The Story of Totalitarianism and Dissent

A few days back I was in the theater watching Oppenheimer in all its IMAX glory. After three hours, I left the theater thinking about how the dominant politics of a time can influence the science being conducted by someone in their lab. 

Serendipitously, I came across a similar story from the world of psychology and psychotherapy. A story where politics and government policies played a huge role in how a scientific process was perceived and accepted by the masses. A story about Argentina and its love affair with psychotherapy. 

Argentina ❤️ Therapy

If I asked you to guess which country has the most psychologists per capita, Argentina will probably not be anywhere in your top 20 guesses. In fact, Argentina has close to 200 psychologists per 100,000 people. This is nearly 6 times the numbers of the US (33) and 1000 times the number of psychologists per 100,000 people in India (0.07)  

What makes therapy so accepted and common in Argentina? The simple question led me down a rabbit hole of dictators, psychoanalysis, and freedom. 

The Freedom of Therapy

While psychoanalysis and psychology had been known in Argentine circles since the late 19th century, it was only after the dictator Juan Peron was overthrown in 1955 that psychoanalysis took its roots in the everyday life of an Argentine. 

Whenever a nation overthrows a dictator, there is an influx of new cultural practices, exploration of different forms of independence, and testing of new ideas which was not possible under a dictator. 

That’s exactly what happened in Argentina. 

Argentina welcomed the ideas of therapy and psychoanalysis from Europe with open arms. It promised a place where individuals could express themselves without fear of retribution, a form of liberty that one craves after living for years under a dictator. 

In the years between 1955 and 1970, therapy, mainly psychoanalysis, was booming in Argentina. Educational courses were set up. Legal frameworks and regulatory boards were created. Being a psychologist was a matter of prestige. 

Unfortunately, this didn’t last long. 

Shutting down Psychoanalysis

While therapy continued to develop in Argentina, the growing political instability eventually caught up with therapists and other psychologists. 

Psychoanalysis, promising individual freedom and liberty, increasingly became linked with Leftist ideologies. This meant that a crackdown on leftist activities also involved one on therapists. 

The military dictatorship regularly kept track of psychoanalysts for the slightest hint of rebellion. Therapists struggled to find jobs, publish their work or conduct research at this time. 

Thankfully, with the return of democracy in 1983, therapy again became a mainstay in Argentine life and cemented its place as a form of resistance against totalitarianism.

Therapy in Argentina Today

While global psychology today looks down on psychoanalysis, it continues to be practiced with great vigor and success in Argentina. 

Drawing from the ideas of Jacques Lacan, Argentina has developed a therapeutic, psychoanalytic culture of its own. 

What does this lead to? Greater acceptance of therapy among people, openness in talking about visiting a psychologist, and nonexistent stigma of mental health. 

Seeking therapy in Argentina is as common as visiting a doctor for a physical ailment today. It is a model to emulate for the whole world in my opinion. 

The Politics of Therapy

While not as poignant as the manhunt that Oppenheimer had to face, the story of therapy in Argentina begs a question about the kind of politics that therapy practices. 

While therapists can claim to be politically neutral to maintain a balance, giving people a space to explore themselves and become better people is a political act in itself. This space cannot thrive in a political setup that punishes dissent and encourages being as mistrusting as possible. 

As we saw in Argentina, eventually, totalitarians hunt down all spaces of expression, even the individual ones. The only thing to wonder is, when will the plague of totalitarianism return again?

“The plague bacillus never dies…it can lie dormant for years and years…it bides its time in bedrooms, cellars, trunks, and bookshelves; and perhaps the day would come when…it would rouse up its rats again and send them forth to die in a happy city.

- Albert Camus, The Plague