Psychological Capital and Our Mental Health Crisis

Critics both inside and beyond the academy have denounced the growing spread of “therapy speak” and self-diagnosis, especially over online platforms. This discourse has been connected in unclear ways to a widely perceived mental health crisis in different ways. For some, this talk is an accurate index of worsening mental health, while others contend this vocabulary is an engine driving it. This article turns to the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas about the multiple forms of capital to make social, cultural, and historical sense of this phenomenon. Building on Bourdieu’s reflexive approach to sociology, a redefined understanding of “psychological capital” is proposed. This is contrasted with the existing definition as well as social science theories of human, social, cultural, and symbolic capital. Psychological capital is more than a set of traits or social-cognitive skills an individual possesses. It is a form of acquired knowledge about self and others as well as a way of relating to them. Psychological capital can be readily exchanged for other goods in contemporary culture, bestowing considerable value. The article outlines some of the reasons individuals invest in their psychological capital at this historical juncture, as well as describing some of the personal and social costs of accumulating this form of wealth as self-worth.