IJSP Number 7, 2025

International Journal of Supervision in Psychotherapy, Number 7, 2025 Page | 63 Although statistics indicate that such disquieting data is true and that the individual faced with the power of social pressure is too weak to resist, there is still space for a personal attitude towards the invasion of the collective mass of beliefs, norms, or values. Although cultural values are meant to impose their benchmarks on every individual, he or she should have the psychological power to resist, by ultimately affirming their individuality, which, in turn, could resist the constant and powerful pressure coming from the social intrusion. One big question our contemporary civilization is confronted with is why are there so many mental or emotional disturbances and issues, substance abuse, and so many suicides. Why, for instance, is depression such a pandemic like issue? Is it because we have to sell ourselves as flexible, adaptable, unattached, and mobile, imbued with superficial feelings and able to slip into anything society considers to be successful – independently of one’s sense of identity? The background for such questions is made of the overwhelming findings of anthropologists, historians, archaeologists, or paleo-scientists that show that primitive humans hadn’t had such problems or issues with their life. Among the most frequent and impairing contemporary conditions are depression and the more recently and trendy: the panic attack. Very modern and very posh, so to speak, depression, anxiety, and other mental problems have created, as a consequence of medical care, whole branches of psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, or other collateral chemical and pharmaceutical industries. As the authors Ronald Giphart and Mark van Vugt underline, regarding depression as a contemporary problem in Holland: “A veritable depression industry has cropped up since then and some people believe depression has become the most common disease. Some research classes the Netherlands as the ‘happiest country in the world’, others claim we have well over a million people on antidepressants.” [21] Nevertheless, why are we exploring this line of thinking? What would be its connection with our subject, which let us not forget, is referring to the differentiation of the self . However, once we consider our original human background of our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we’ll see that psychic or psychological issues are not problems that affect humans in general (they are not inscribed in our genes, so to speak). Psychic illnesses and sufferings are affecting only modern, civilised humans who live the most comfortable and easy-going life that could appear on this planet. Mental issues and emotional problems are not intrinsic to humans in general but just to us, namely, the modern and contemporary humans. The conclusion that these issues are somehow ‘fabricated’ by our modern way of life becomes pretty obvious. Moreover, they are not only ‘fabricated’ but also initiated, maintained and enhanced by our contemporary civilisation and globalised market place culture. Why would that be so? If we want the simplest answer to such an outrageous question, it would be the following: because they sell! Suffering, illness, various issues, difficulties or problems will be transformed (or transmuted) into money and profit. On the other hand: “Research into mental illness amongst the Kakuli, a hunter-gatherer people of Papua New Guinea, shows that clinical depression is almost completely non-existent, despite the fact that these people, like westerners, are plagued by major setbacks such as illness and the death of loved ones. A hunter-gatherer life appears to be profoundly anti- depressant.” [21]