Lonely hearts: A socio-cultural critique of mental health

You might have heard the aphorism “people don’t need therapy, they need community” of late. It's philosophy gained traction in recent years as a rebuttal to the increasingly individualised framework of mental health in Western societies. In the UK, where neoliberal capitalism and hyper-individualism dominate the social ethos, this phrase signals a critical shift – away from pathologising individuals and toward reimagining care as collective, cultural, and contextual. 

Here, I argue that the erosion of community structures and the rise of capitalist individualism have exacerbated poor mental health, leading to the institutionalisation of therapy as a surrogate for lost social bonds. I further suggest that culturally grounded, community-based alternatives – such as those exemplified by the Ubuntu Centre in South Africa – offer more holistic and inclusive modes of healing.

Contemporary British society is marked by an atomisation of daily life. You have probably felt it yourself. An erosion of regular togetherness and an increasingly non-IRL way of life. Social scientist Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of “liquid modernity” describes the precarity and fragmentation of modern relationships, where “the individual has become the sole manager of their own well-being” (Bauman, 2000).

This disconnection is compounded by economic policies that favour competition over cooperation. The Office for National Statistics (2023) reports a consistent rise in loneliness and anxiety across all age groups in the UK, with 1 in 4 adults experiencing symptoms of depression, figures that have doubled since the 1980s. The neoliberal project, in commodifying healthcare, has inadvertently medicalised suffering that may instead reflect social isolation and structural inequality.

In this context, therapy often becomes a tool to help individuals “cope” with environments that are fundamentally hostile to human connection. The UK’s NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) model exemplifies this, offering six to twelve sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to “fix” thought patterns without addressing root causes such as housing insecurity, racism, or disempowerment. As psychologist R.D. Laing once noted, “Insanity – a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world” (Laing, 1967). As a practitioner, I am, of course, an advocate of therapy, but it risks becoming a normalising or either-or force in a system designed to alienate.

By contrast, the Ubuntu philosophy – “I am because we are” – foregrounds interdependence as a core principle of wellness. The Ubuntu Centre in South Africa offers a radically different model: one that integrates healthcare, education, and community development. Rather than treating mental health in isolation, Ubuntu approaches healing as embedded within the collective. As Desmond Tutu writes, “Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human… my humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours” (Tutu, 1999). This relational ontology offers an epistemological challenge to Western therapeutic frameworks that treat the self as isolated and bounded.

Community-based alternatives in the UK, though marginal, are emerging as countercultural forms of therapy. For example, “healing circles” rooted in Indigenous traditions, Black men and “barbershop therapy” sessions, and peer-led mental health groups such as the “Hearing Voices Network” represent attempts to decentralise mental health care. These initiatives often resist clinical labels, instead validating trauma through shared experience, storytelling, and cultural ritual. One poignant case is the North London “kitchen therapy” project, where intergenerational women of colour meet weekly to cook and discuss mental health without clinical oversight – a praxis of care that is intimate, decolonial, and deeply communal.

In conclusion, the rise in poor mental health in the UK is not a clinical crisis but a sociocultural one. As community bonds erode under the weight of capitalism and individualism, therapy has filled the void left by collective life. However, if we reimagine care through the lens of community – drawing from global traditions such as Ubuntu – it can offer pathways to more inclusive and enduring forms of healing. 

Therapy undoubtedly still has its place, but we must ensure that it doesn't obscure the deeper truth: that sometimes we are not sick – we are lonely.

References

• Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
• Laing, R. D. (1967). The Politics of Experience. Penguin. Office for National Statistics.
• (2023). Adult depression in Great Britain: 2023.
• Tutu, D. (1999). No Future Without Forgiveness. Random House.
• Ubuntu Centre. (n.d.). Our Philosophy. https://ubuntu.org.za