Few countries go backwards once they achieve First-World status. Argentina is one of them. Her odd and fraught history—particularly over the last three generations—has left a nation struggling to overcome the trauma of a painful fall from grace.
Buenos Aires’s unmatched penchant for psychotherapy, stemming from this trauma, is the topic of a jarring and raw documentary: Argentina in Therapy (69 minutes) by Adam Barnett, released in 2009. This film does a remarkable and captivating job of explaining the distinct mentality of argentinos and how psychoanalysis became ubiquitous to their culture, especially among the porteños of the capital city.
As a former resident (2016–2017) of Neuquén in Argentine Patagonia, this film helped resolve many head-scratching moments from my time there. After that year and a half, I took with me an emotional connection to the country and a curiosity for her history, along with a generous physique, after many delicious empanadas. I also left behind dear friends from the liberal community who used to congregate at Juana M, a classic restaurant that, sadly, has closed its doors for the last time.
How It Came Crashing Down
The psychological tension that Argentines face is the disparity between the Argentina of the past—a world leader and prominent outpost of Europe, akin to Australia or Canada—and the Argentina of the present. She is now an economic laggard, struggling under protectionism, unionization, fiscal recklessness (read: corruption and inflation), and central planning. The Fraser Institute ranks Argentina 158th for economic freedom, just below Algeria and above Libya. As the world passed Argentina by, vicious authoritarianism and hollow populism, notably in the Peronista tradition, rubbed salt into the wound, as did her humiliating loss in the unnecessary Falklands War of 1982.
As a man walks around Buenos Aires, he sees the remnants of a once-great city: elegance, refinement, wealth, and cultural sophistication. As he continues to walk, however, he finds poverty, filth, degradation, destitution, and fatigue. One of my favorite weekends was at a Tigre boat club on the outskirts of the city, where I got to row for the first time in a few years. The club manager, however, had a tear in his eye as he showed me around and the roof was falling in. Even the relatively wealthy membership struggled to afford to maintain the club. Some local rowers had represented Argentina at the Rio 2016 Olympics, but, in typical Argentine fashion, their boats had gotten stuck in transit.
Coping Methods
People clinging to past glory and overcoming economic decline have many tactics at their disposal. In particular, as is happening at a rapid clip in the United States—read Coming Apart (2012) by Charles Murray—socioeconomic segregation has grown starker, along with outward displays of status symbols and class resentment. As noted in Argentina in Therapy, financially savvy families saw the writing on the wall, dropped the peso, and either held accounts abroad or maintained real assets domestically—and the disparities compounded.
My observation is that wealthy families have abandoned the public domain, especially in the face of rampant crime, and moved to countless and elaborate gated communities. If they have to live in the city for work, they escape to these opulent oases on the weekends. One gentleman interviewed in the film, the heir to a successful branding agency, moved his family to Chile.
The middle class who failed to remain among the wealthy elite were ripe for psychotherapy, and they are the chief focus of Argentina in Therapy. They are the ones who struggled to keep up appearances on professional salaries but could still afford someone with whom to share their neurosis. As a psychologist explains in the film, “being Argentine is a tough job,” as is staying sane on a “continent of misery.” The normalization of psychotherapy in Argentina was predictable.
The film opens the viewer’s eyes to the political conflict and torture of the 1960s and 1970s. This era of chaos and violence left more than scars; it facilitated a quasi-religious perception of Juan Domingo Perón and his wife Eva (popularly known as Evita), who were in power primarily in the 1940s and 1950s. Even though Perón ushered in shortsighted and destructive policies—establishing patronage with labor unions—some personalities in the documentary glorify the couple and remain convinced that the Peróns were Robin Hood characters. Peronismo, which emphasizes class warfare and interventionism, remains a powerful and pathological force in Argentina.
Let Bygones Be Bygone
At an asado barbecue in early 2017, locals asked me whether Argentina could pull off a swift and deep liberalization, akin to what New Zealand did in the 1980s under Finance Minister Roger Douglas. Even with prominent Argentine economist José Luis Espert there, I struggled to convey optimism. My concern was that the socialist rot was deeper in Argentina than it had been in New Zealand and more difficult to untangle, given Argentina’s layered federal system.
Perhaps I underestimated the Argentines’ hunger for change and for no longer being plagued by their history. The election of an outspoken paleolibertarian as president, Javier Milei, left me speechless and pointed to brighter days ahead. Whether he can pass substantive reforms while his political capital is strong—dollarizing, ending trade protectionism, deregulating the labor market, cutting taxes, and closing state propaganda outlets—I do not know. He faces constitutional barriers and a resistant deep state, but he has the right ideas and popular support, something few of his ideological brethren can claim.
The liberal think tanks and advocacy organizations in Argentina, such as the Foundation for Intellectual Responsibility, have done the hard work of raising awareness regarding the merits of laissez-faire capitalism. Their efforts are now paying dividends. While Milei cannot achieve reforms on his own or overnight, the rise of his message suggests there is the will to move on from an unfortunate history.
Argentina in Therapy does not attempt to prescribe solutions to melancholia. However, there will be no need for this oft-described feeling among Argentines when the past no longer looks rosy relative to the present.
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