104: When Anthropology meets Therapy

104: When Anthropology meets Therapy

From Edgy Ideas by Simon Western

February 20, 2026 · 33 min · Episode 104

About this episode

This episode explores the intersection of anthropology and therapy, discussing how cultural contexts shape mental health practices.

Show Notes What happens when anthropology turns its gaze on psychology and coaching? In this episode, Simon Western is joined by social anthropologist Dr Mikkel Kenni Bruun and social scientist Dr Rebecca Hutten to explore what sits beneath contemporary mental health, therapy, and coaching practices. Together, they discuss culture, power, and the often-invisible assumptions shaping therapeutic work. Rather than treating psychology as universal or value-neutral, Mikkel and Rebecca show how it is culturally produced , shaped by specific histories, institutions, and ways of making meaning. From this perspective, therapy and coaching are never neutral; they are embedded in social, political, and moral worlds. Ethnography is central to this conversation, not just as a research method, but as a way of listening and staying with complexity. Instead of forcing distress, healing, and care into predefined psychological categories, ethnography attends to how these experiences are actually lived across contexts. The discussion also challenges dominant Western ideas of the self. While psychology and coaching often centre the autonomous individual, anthropological perspectives highlight…

People in this episode

Host: Simon Western

Guests: Dr Rebecca Hutten, Dr Mikkel Kenni Bruun

Topics covered

  • anthropology
  • psychology
  • coaching
  • mental health
  • culture
  • power

Keywords

  • ethnography
  • therapeutic work
  • Western ideas
  • relational selves

Mentioned in this episode

Places: UK

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