Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up

Written 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-read for anyone questioning why our efforts to bolster America’s kids have backfired—and what it will take for parents to lead a turnaround.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: Feb 27, 2024
• ISBN: 9780593867556

Abigail Shrier

Abigail Shrier is a writer for the Wall Street Journal. She is a graduate of Columbia College, where she received the Euretta J. Kellett Fellowship; the University of Oxford; and Yale Law School. She lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Reviews for Bad Therapy

[highlander6022 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I believe this is one of the most important books for parents to read. The book addresses the growth industry of putting kids into therapy in the schools, with individuals trying to do the therapy having absolutely NO qualifications. This is not necessarily talking about licensed therapists, although there are plenty of them who have no business getting anywhere near school children.

[bravekelso · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Abigail Shrier has a law degree from Yale. She has written opinion pieces for news publishers, and has written books. Her own web site describes her as a freelance journalist. Her 2020 book Irreversible Damage, was controversial. It was well received by critics and readers sympathetic to her arguments supporting the hypothesis that some adolescents identify as transgender and experience gender dysphoria due to peer influence and social contagion. Bad Therapy (2024) makes broad claims that parents are failing in some of their duties and that educators, courts and other rely too heavily on questionable theories about child development and mental health. She has consulted broadly. She cites comments by several mental heath professionals in support of her arguments. She advocates a position dissenting against what seems to be the professional consensus of developmental and clinical psychologists, educators and other professions interested in children and families. Her arguments are effective in raising doubts about the claims of some of the social sciences to the authority to provide good advice to parents, children, teachers, and courts. She also cites many individuals who claim that "bad therapy" has caused harm to individuals, families and society. This approach however is more anecdotal. She is a partisan in the culture wars for the common sense of conservative members of WEIRD societies.

[mdoris_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I am a sucker for books about parenting, kids and their challenges and this one was another winner along with [Generations], [Coddling of the American MInd], [Anxious Generation] (and more). When our kids were little I read [Siblings without Rivalry] and was teased that it was "Earth without Gravity"! Also years ago I read [Bringing up Bebe] about a mom moving to France and describing the difference between American and French childrearing and the ensuing results. Fascinating and very good to know! So this book looks at the very challenged present generation of children who are experiencing very significant mental health concerns and she examines parenting, education and therapeutic approaches.There are so many children diagnosed, in therapy and on heavy duty medications. She has a lot to say and really we must find the "adult in the room" to do a better job as children are not being managed well. The book is well researched with many interviews of experts in their fields and with further book recommendations and references to academic research.