Does Twitch Therapy Exploit Trauma?

Oct 21, 2021

01:33:29

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Is it possible to have public therapy chats watched by up to 70,000 people that are actually effective? If so, is that even ethical? And if there’s any harm done, does the overall good outweigh it? Is “Twitch therapy” just self-help information, or is it actual therapy?

These are the big questions about what Dr. K does on Twitter. His ‘Healthy Gamer’ brand is designed to offer resources and information via social media platforms in an effort to get everyone living happy, healthy online lives. The HG discord has tens of thousands of members; this isn’t a niche thing. But some, including TCU alumnus Slush, are wondering whether Dr. K’s Twitch therapy is useful and ethical.

We talk to Slush about his latest video, which examines Dr. K’s therapy streams in the context of the Twitch streamer Reckful. Byron’s mental health struggle lasted for many, many years, and Slush documented it well in his first video, which was a celebration of Reckful’s career. A year ago, Reckful took his own life, and that allows us to review his live therapy streams with Dr. K in a slightly different context.

This is a tough subject, and Slush is outstandingly fair. We go in-depth about his video, his research, and what experts think about Twitch therapy. It’s fascinating, and there’s a good chance this topic is going to come up again in the future.

Thanks to Slush for giving us 90 minutes of fair and balanced expertise -- and to everyone who showed up to weigh in on the episode. And a special thanks to the Patrons who make this show possible each and every week. You really do make it happen.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/thecreateunknown

Slush: https://www.youtube.com/c/SlushTV

SlushTV_: https://www.twitch.tv/SlushTV_

Dr K And The Dangers of Twitch Therapy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F9uh011S8U

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CREDITS:

Hosts: Kevin Lieber and Matt Tabor

Produced and Edited by Ben Webster → https://twitter.com/benwebsterTCU

"Created in the Unknown" theme by Basswaite: https://linktr.ee/Basswaite