Is the rapid growth of therapy today making people worse, not better? Might it be a cause, perhaps even the central cause, of today’s political polarization and related phenomena like Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)? These are questions posed by New York-based psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert in his recently released book, Therapy Nation: How America Got Hooked on Therapy and Why It’s Left Us More Anxious and Divided.
Today, the claim that “not everyone needs therapy” is considered controversial, as therapy has become as accepted a part of reality as exercise. This is particularly true in blue cities and counties, which far outpace their red counterparts in the use of therapy. It’s now even a form of identity for the left, in which suffering from say, ADHD grants the sufferer special treatment, such as being excused for chronic truancy. Given the incredible growth of the therapy industry over the last couple decades, Alpert thinks he’s found an explanation for the parallel rise of wokeness.
He sets out his central thesis early and forcefully:
My colleagues would rather I not say this, but I will: As access to mental health care has expanded, so have rates of mental illness. And this isn’t simply a matter of greater awareness leading to more diagnoses. The more therapy people get, the more fragile, anxious, and dysfunctional they seem to become. This isn’t just an individual crisis—it’s a societal one. Which raises an uncomfortable but urgent question: Is modern therapy not only failing patients, but making them—and the culture at large—sicker?
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