Abigail Shrier – Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up

Abigail Shrier, writer and author, in conversation with Dr Jan Macvarish, Education and Events Director, the Free Speech Union and an academic sociologist of family life.

We are delighted to host the UK launch of Abigail Shrier’s new book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up.

Many of you will have read Abigail’s 2020 book, Irreversible Damage: Teenage Girls and the Transgender Craze (UK title) and will have found its analysis of the explosion of ‘gender-questioning’ amongst adolescent girls profoundly insightful. On publication, the book became the focus of cancellation campaigns by trans activists, resulting in its temporary withdrawal from Target stores in the US, resistance to its promotion from staff at Amazon and Spotify, and even demands that it be burnt. Despite the book’s success, publishers of foreign language translations of the book still bow to pressure to abandon the project, most recently in Japan.

[chrisullman]

Theory: What happens when a philosophy of Good Intentions is unquestioned, unchecked, and worshipped religiously?

It started 30-40 years ago when children in grade school and high school were encouraged to find community projects to work on: soup kitchens, cleaning up parks/beaches, delivering food to needy, etc. It slowly morphed into creating an admissions resume for college around helping. Colleges capitalizing on this began challenging/asking students, “What are you going to do to change the world?” Many of those college students upon graduation as teachers took this doctrine of unchecked-good intentions-social change/justice into the 1-12 grade classrooms not as instructors but as counselors.
Hence, teaching a subject isn’t the mission, ESL (Social, Emotional, Learning) is.

Teachers literally should not care about the mental health of children unless there’s an obvious problem or parents bring it up. The emphasis of how a child is feeling pits the teacher against the parents, and turns an independent, resilient child into one in search of adult approval/affirmation.

If one opposes The Good Intention Model, one is labeled uncaring. Your intentions are questioned, because superficially you don’t line up with Good Intentions and thusly oppose the ESL orthodoxy.

Teachers need to understand this in its simplest terms: they are TEACHERS not SAVIORS.

[gashacker]

When I was younger, my parents and my school felt I needed therapy and counselling. The professionals were of no use to me. I hated public school so much that I rushed through it, to get it over with. At 16 years of age I was attending university, working a job and travelling on my own to international events. By seventeen, I was financially independent, I had moved out into my own apartment, and drove my own vehicle. Young people are not doing things like this nowadays. The "therapy" that worked for me was to get out in the world: fishing, hiking, travelling, organic gardening, board games, camping, bicycle touring around many different countries. Just leave those idiot "professionals" behind and never look back! And never, never, never take their pills. The whole world is waiting for

[wolfhugs]

Great interview and some salient points.

[efc]

I really appreciate the tender and truthful approach this author/ researcher brings to such an important topic.

[nancymaclachlan]

Taking away the kids' family connections is terribly harmful for young kids.

[shnnn]

Grateful❤️❣️I am the mom mentioned that deprogrammed her daughter with Abigail’s help, and FSU🤗🥳🐣❤️She is well and successful ❤️. 1 BODY. Kept her home from uni.
And.. otherwise..
Our divorce “court-appointed child evaluator” didn’t have children. Racket within the courts. 💔 Grateful every day for you both🐣❤️❤️❤️🥳🧠🎊

[roblemeire]

You should also invite John Rosemond, the parenting expert (or: counter-expert) that has no problem using authority and is very critical to his colleagues and the psychologe community. He has very practical solutions for parents, leading them to trust themselves better.

[stephennganga]

Amazing how common sense has been lost and now we are talking therapy all over

[ye]

Empathy is often just narcissism in disguise.

[jillraymond]

1.15m Israel has conscription, they young ones don't 'come forward' or volunteer