Bad Therapy

Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up

By: Abigail Shrier

Narrated by: Abigail Shrier

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.

From the author of Irreversible Damage, an investigation into a mental health industry that is harming, not healing, American children

In virtually every way that can be measured, Gen Z’s mental health is worse than that of previous generations. Youth suicide rates are climbing, antidepressant prescriptions for children are common, and the proliferation of mental health diagnoses has not helped the staggering number of kids who are lonely, lost, sad and fearful of growing up. What’s gone wrong with America’s youth?

In Bad Therapy, bestselling investigative journalist Abigail Shrier argues that the problem isn’t the kids—it’s the mental health experts. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with child psychologists, parents, teachers, and young people, Shrier explores the ways the mental health industry has transformed the way we teach, treat, discipline, and even talk to our kids. She reveals that most of the therapeutic approaches have serious side effects and few proven benefits. Among her unsettling findings:

• Talk therapy can induce rumination, trapping children in cycles of anxiety and depression
• Social Emotional Learning handicaps our most vulnerable children, in both public schools and private
• “Gentle parenting” can encourage emotional turbulence—even violence—in children as they lash out, desperate for an adult in charge

Mental health care can be lifesaving when properly applied to children with severe needs, but for the typical child, the cure can be worse than the disease. Bad Therapy is a must-listen for anyone questioning why our efforts to bolster America’s kids have backfired—and what it will take for parents to lead a turnaround.

©2024 Abigail Shrier (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Every parent should read this."—Elon Musk

“Essential reading for parents, teachers, and mental health professionals.”—Richard J. McNally, PhD, professor of psychology at Harvard University

“Shrier persuasively and forcefully demonstrates how mental health professionals (and some parents) often make things worse for the kids and adolescents they aim to help."—Elizabeth Loftus, distinguished professor of psychological science at University of California, Irvine

Compelling

I'm not a book critic at all.
This therapy trend in adolescence was pretty new when I was a kid and I soaked it up at my middle and high schools. while I was having troubles and I do think it helped to talk with somebody, having my own kids has really changed how I see things. I love how the author points to fostering indepence in youth rather than the full focus of our love as parents seeking to disect and direct every emotion of these budding people. It's a solid reminder of how intense life is - experience changes things and we're meant to learn and gain resilience, not be protected from every discomfort. I posted a recommendation on my FB page and promptly received warnings about the author's problematic position as she isn't one to affirm the current social trends. "Phobic" this and "lack of" that. Honestly, as a kid, if somebody other than my dad were to tell me that life is hard occasionally and you've just got to suck it up... it may have helped! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Insightful like surgery to a societal cancer

This book helps pinpoint why so many well-meaning parents and teachers cannot seem to provide healthy environments or even enjoy their own children. The isolation and focus on self and mental illnesses has children over medicated and overanalyzed. She balances her skepticism of therapy with faith in the average parent”s knowledge and devotion. I wish everyone would read this book. It is like cleaning your glasses and seeing the world clearly. She also is a great writer—clear, funny and poetic at times.

changed my entire understanding of being a parent

I've been doing things all wrong, and feel this book woke me and my wife up to our shortcomings that we have since been working feverishly to overcome. I've even noticed positive changes in both kids 4-6. thank you for writing this!

must read for parents

This book is one of the best critiques of therapy culture that has ever been written.

A must read for all parents

Excellent book on raising well adjusted kids and have appropriate expectations for them. The section about the school system was especially good.

Every millennial and Gen Z needs to hear this!

Wow, just wow! This book is one I’m recommending to all who will listen! Phenomenal work by Abigail Shrier in every way.

Every parent should read

The common sense we need to hear about raising kids in a child focused society.

Great Book!

this book has justified my senses of parenting and I Thank you, it's mostly common sense and that's what the "Woke" Radical society that's been created is missing, amongst other things. Glad I heard you on Rogan! great interview there too!

Don't Trust the Bad Reviews

This book was interesting and informative from beginning to end. It was filled with well-researched facts. I recently read another "self-help" style book where the author said to the reader, "I can feel your passion and your pain." Really? Through the pages the author can feel that every single reader has passion and pain? I despise those kind of arrogant, empty statements, and you'll find none of that here. Just practical, helpful, real-life information that you can put into practice to change your parenting, teaching, and thinking. The people who write scathing negative reviews have an agenda and you can feel it dripping from their bitter words of criticism. I loved the book. I've recommended it over and over.

the extent to which therapy can be detrimental

didn't know the extent to which therapy can be bad for people, espetthe younger ones