The article discusses the impact of contemporary culture on the individual’s personality. We used the “psychocultural” approach
whose key feature is the amalgamation of theories and methods belonging to psychodynamic and psychosocial studies, as well as
those used in the field of media and cultural studies. The idea of a potentially therapeutic effect of culture (therapy culture) can
already been seen in Freud’s and Lacan’s texts, and it is often used in critical analyses of contemporary corporate culture, which is
more or less developed in some parts of the world. In their criticisms, many contemporary authors emphasize that modern societies
have a tendency towards the weakening of basic commitment, or lack thereof, to a social equivalent of Winnicott’s concept of
environmental provisions as an inalienable democratic right essential for human emotional and mental progress or emotional wellbeing.
The article describes frequent resorting to the so-called manic defences that defensively distort, deny and obscure the
awareness that a human being is not the omnipotent source of life, but instead depends on other human beings, and often tries to
compensate for loss through various activities. The article describes excessive shopping as an activity that often serves as an attempt
to find what was lost, i.e. to fill an emotional void. This solution (resorting to manic defences) is encouraged by contemporary
culture, especially through promotional material (e.g. advertising). The main theses of this article are supported by quotations and
data from world literature
