Dan Hentschel (TikTok Therapist)

About

Dan Hentschel (TikTok Therapist), also known by his TikTok and Instagram username @danhentschel, refers to a parody therapist on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter who posts therapy-related content and life advice. In 2023, Dan Hentschel became a viral topic and meme mainly due to a video he posted titled "I Hate Being a Therapist!" in which he was in his car and aggressively ranting about his patients' "stupid problems" and his alleged occupation in general. The video was reposted to Twitter and elsewhere where memes about him ensued, resulting in a follow-up video called "My Life Is Ruined" in which he stated that he was out of a job. Overall, Hentschel had been posting to TikTok throughout the 2020s, growing a following on the app. Speculation ensued about whether or not Dan Hentschel was doing a bit ensued, acting as a Millennial-aged therapist. Other memetic discourse about Hentschel was mostly related to him giving life advice on how to gaslight people.

Online History

Dan Hentschel's online presence started as early as January 2018 via since-deleted Instagram^[1] posts. His first still-accessible Instagram^[2] post was uploaded on November 21st, 2018. Soon after, Hentschel started posting to Twitter^[3] on August 11th, 2019. His TikTok^[4] presence started roughly three years later, on March 26th, 2021, when he posted his first still-accessible video, gaining roughly 13,900 plays and 1,200 likes in two years.

Hentschel first went viral for a TikTok^[5] he posted on August 6th, 2021, in which he ate canned Vienna sausages in an absurdly-edited video, gaining roughly 1 million plays and 184,900 likes in two years (shown below, left). Two days, later, on August 9th, 2021, he posted another TikTok^[6] that gained millions of plays with a similar food-based premise, gaining roughly 3.1 million plays and 423,500 likes in two years (shown below, right).

Going into 2022, Hentschel continued his channel's theme of videos based on canned and pre-packaged food, eventually shifting his focus to fast food reviews. In July 2022, Hentschel started to shift his focus to self-help and therapy-centric videos, sometimes using the hashtag #therapy. For instance, his earliest therapy-centric TikTok^[7] was uploaded on July 21st, 2022, and it was about dealing with anger, earning roughly 9,600 plays and 570 likes in 10 months (shown below).

Dan Hentschel Gaslighting

Hentschel's therapy videos were seen as parody videos when he started giving advice on the problematic practice of gaslighting people, as in lying to someone repeatedly in an effort to manipulate them. On August 26th, 2022, he posted a TikTok^[8] titled "How to GASLIGHT someone" in which he gave advice on the practice, gaining roughly 149,000 plays and 13,200 likes in nine months (shown below, left). On September 13th, 2022, he posted a TikTok^[9] that portrayed a more elaborate form of gaslighting and relationship manipulation based on quiet quitting and "read receipts." The video became one of his most viral, gaining roughly 10.3 million plays and 1.7 million likes in seven months (shown below, right).

"I Hate Being A Therapist!" Video

Going into early 2023, Hentschel's videos started to consistently earn over 1 million plays and they started to fully commit to the parody therapist bit. For instance, on January 23rd, 2023, Hentschel posted a parody day in the life vlog to TikTok^[10] about being a work-from-home therapist, gaining roughly 720,200 plays and 128,800 likes in four months.

Hentschel's therapist bit peaked on May 11th, 2023 when he posted a TikTok^[11] called "I HATE BEING A THERAPIST!!!!!!!!" in which he was in his car, yelling at the camera about why he hates his profession due to his patients' seemingly annoying and constant problems. Over the course of four days, the video gained roughly 17.2 million plays and 2.5 million likes (shown below).

Later on May 11th, the video was reposted by Twitter^[12] user @ayeejuju who captioned it, "imagine seeing your therapist post this LMFAOOOO," gaining roughly 53,300 likes in five days (shown below, left). On May 12th, 2023, Twitter^[13] user @rahsh33m also reposted the video, captioning it, "When the therapist needs a therapist 😂," earning roughly 7,600 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Multiple memes and reactions to the video surfaced on Twitter,^[14] TikTok^[15] and Instagram^[16] in the days that followed, ultimately leading to a follow-up TikTok^[17] posted by Hentschel on May 15th, 2023, called "My Life Is Ruined." In the video, Hentschel's in the same car, crying about losing his job and patients due to his prior TikTok. The video gained roughly 1.3 million plays and 87,500 likes in one day (shown below).

Similar to his first video, his "my life is ruined" video also gained humorous discourse on Twitter^[18] in the days that followed.

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References