Journal of Cyberspace Studies

Journal of Cyberspace Studies

From stigma to status: Psychotherapy in Persian digital publics

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original article

Authors
Arthur Asa Berger 1
Shaho Sabbar 2
Ehsan Shahghasemi 3
1 Professor Emeritus, Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, United States.
2 Department of Iranian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
3 Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
10.22059/jcss.2026.412809.1243
Abstract
Background: Modernity has resolved some problems while creating new ones. An increasing number of people turn to psychotherapy to cope with their daily struggles, and many have recently begun sharing their experiences with others on social media.
Aims: This study investigates how Persian-speaking users of a major social media platform narrate, evaluate, and emotionally position their relationships with therapists in everyday discourse.
Methodology: Drawing on 1,309 Persian-language posts from X spanning 2023 to 2025, the analysis traces how therapy is woven into vernacular routines, jokes, frustrations, and affective disclosures. Through a combination of sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and multi-label classification, twelve recurring thematic clusters are identified, ranging from long-term companionship and playful therapist–client interactions to economic conflict, cultural doubt, and comparisons with fortune-telling or religious guidance.
Findings: The findings reveal an affective ecology marked by pragmatic positivity, ironic detachment, and substantial ambivalence. While nearly half of all posts are coded as positive, expressions of strong enthusiasm are rare, and critical or confused narratives remain prominent.
Conclusion: The study conceptualises therapy talk as a form of mediated intimacy in which professional authority is continually negotiated through public micro-narratives. We argue that Persian-language social media users are not passive recipients of global therapeutic scripts, but active interpreters who reframe psychotherapy through culturally situated, morally inflected, and socially networked modes of speech; transforming what was once a source of stigma into a marker of status.
Keywords
affective publics
digital mental health
Persian-language media
psychotherapy narratives
therapeutic culture
Subjects
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Journal of Cyberspace Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 August 2026

  • Receive Date 15 April 2026
  • Revise Date 23 April 2026
  • Accept Date 26 April 2026
  • First Publish Date 10 August 2026
  • Publish Date 10 August 2026