First published 2024
America's youth are struggling more than ever before. Suicide rates climb among teenagers. Doctors prescribe antidepressants to children at unprecedented levels. Mental health diagnoses multiply, yet kids remain lonely, anxious, and afraid to grow up. Investigative journalist Abigail Shrier argues the mental health industry itself creates these problems. She conducted hundreds of interviews with psychologists, parents, teachers, and young people to expose how therapeutic approaches harm rather than heal. Talk therapy traps children in cycles of worry and sadness. Social-emotional learning programs damage vulnerable students. Gentle parenting techniques spark emotional chaos and violence as children desperately seek authority figures. Shrier demonstrates that mental health interventions help severely troubled children but damage typical kids. Her investigation reveals how well-meaning adults have created a generation of struggling youth through misguided therapeutic practices.
Genres: psychology, mental-health, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-reporting, social-commentary
297 pages · Hardcover · Sentinel
Content warnings: mental-illness, suicide