Americans could learn a thing or two from Harrison Ford. In a rare interview with the Hollywood Reporter last week, the media-shy actor shared how, at 80, he knows exactly “who the f-ck” he is.
When pressed on prior therapy sessions he disclosed in 2002, he offered some honest thoughts. “My opinion is not of the profession, it’s of the practitioner,” Ford said. “There are all kinds of therapy. I’m sure many of them are useful to many people. I’m not anti-therapy for anybody — except for myself. I know who the f-ck I am at this point.”
The Hollywood Reporter pressed him on his own analysis, saying: “Your fans online have done some armchair diagnosis, looking at things you’ve said about being shy in social situations and some of your talk show appearances. Some assume you’ve wrestled with social anxiety disorder. Are they onto something?” Then came Ford’s reply:
Sh-t. That sounds like something a psychiatrist would say, not a casual observer. No. I don’t have a social anxiety disorder. I have an abhorrence of boring situations.
Ford is onto something. We don’t have a mental health crisis as much as we have a lifestyle crisis. That’s not to deny that people are seriously suffering, which is as fundamental to the human experience as pleasure. But everyone seems oblivious as to why they suffer.
In his old age, Ford has completed the journey of self-discovery, one that fewer and fewer people seem able and willing to
