{"id":556,"date":"2026-10-17T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T10:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/?p=556"},"modified":"2026-10-31T13:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T13:37:16","slug":"episode-162-ubertherapy-and-its-discontents-feat-elizabeth-cotton-and-linda-michaels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/?p=556","title":{"rendered":"Episode 162: UberTherapy and Its Discontents feat. Elizabeth Cotton and Linda Michaels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/api\/rss\/u\/d3m7PxEp5smvZbVJaT8akVDUsyede5Br\/e\/172600920.mp3?sig=xU0gCafQAm0JihIHicTDCumzv8wSj4Bgua9m4kfiHVc%3D\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abby and Patrick are joined by Elizabeth Cotton, author of UberTherapy: The New Business of Mental Health, and Linda Michaels of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), for a conversation about platform capitalism and datafication are reshaping psychotherapy, and how clinicians and patients can organize for safer, deeper care. From Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to venture capitalists to practice-management companies, and more, Elizabeth and Linda unpack how an unholy alliance of players have together worked to standardize, automate, and monetize the work of therapy. As they explain, these developments \u2013 which are mirrored by trends in other industries \u2013 not only exploit gaps in existing mental health infrastructure in the US and UK, but pose unique risks to privacy, safety, and basic well-being. Against these tendencies, Elizabeth and Linda reflect on research from the Psychotherapy Action Network, which has found that people increasingly demand depth therapies and long-term relationships with human clinicians over symptom reduction and on-demand chatbot interaction. The result is a far-reaching conversation about technology, solidarity, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">References include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elizabeth Cotton, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/ubertherapy-the-new-business-of-mental-health-elizabeth-cotton\/8d3b0f992ed2b996\" target=\"_blank\">UberTherapy<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psian.org\/blog\/new-research-reveals-therapist-concerns-about-corporate-practice-management-companies-pmcs?rq=PMC\" target=\"_blank\">The Business of Psychotherapy: Practice Management Companies<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tapmagazine.org\/all-articles\/holding-the-frame-in-an-era-of-corporate-care\" target=\"_blank\">Holding the Frame in an Era of Corporate Care<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tapmagazine.org\/all-articles\/corporations-in-the-consulting-room\" target=\"_blank\">Corporations in the Consulting Room<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/analytic-room.com\/essays\/when-talkspace-sued-psian-and-me-by-linda-michaels\/\" target=\"_blank\">When Talkspace Sued PsiAN and Me<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@psian\/what-people-need-and-want-from-therapy-459de10c2c79\" target=\"_blank\">What People Need and Want from Therapy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.psian.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Psychotherapy Action Network<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you\u2019ve traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Find us online:<br>&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ordinaryunhappiness.com\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.ordinaryunhappiness.com<\/a><br>X: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/unhappinesspod\" target=\"_blank\">@UnhappinessPod<\/a><br>Instagram: <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/ordinaryunhappiness\" target=\"_blank\">@OrdinaryUnhappiness<\/a><br>Patreon: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/OrdinaryUnhappiness\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.patreon.com\/OrdinaryUnhappiness<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Theme song:<br>Formal Chicken &#8211; Gnossienne No. 1<br><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/album\/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO<\/a><br>Provided by Fruits Music<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abby and Patrick are joined by Elizabeth Cotton, author of UberTherapy: The New Business of Mental Health, and Linda Michaels of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), for a conversation about platform capitalism and datafication are reshaping psychotherapy, and how clinicians and patients can organize for safer, deeper care. From Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to venture capitalists [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcast-episode"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=556"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":563,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556\/revisions\/563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ordinaryunhappiness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}