Abigail Shrier — Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up

Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up is a book by American journalist Abigail Shrier. It was published on February 27, 2024, by Sentinel; the British edition was published by Swift Press. It is her second book, following Irreversible Damage in 2020.

The main article on this subject is Abigail Shrier.

What It Is About

Shrier asks why young people's mental health is deteriorating even as they receive more psychological attention than previous generations. Her argument is that treatment can also have side effects. In her view, therapy for children without a serious disorder, like the constant focus on feelings at school and in parenting, can actually reinforce anxiety and dependence. She distinguishes these children from those with a serious condition who do need treatment.

Reception and Criticism

The book received considerable attention and was praised by some reviewers as a useful warning. Other reviewers felt that Shrier used research selectively and relied too heavily on anecdotes. The book is not about gender care, but it connects to the broader debate about young people and mental health support, which also features in the scientific debate surrounding gender. A related 2024 book about young people's mental health is The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt.

The Author

Abigail Shrier was born in 1978 in the U.S. state of Maryland. She studied philosophy at Columbia University and the University of Oxford and law at Yale Law School. From 2018 to 2020, she wrote opinion pieces for The Wall Street Journal. She became known for Irreversible Damage, her book about teenage girls and gender dysphoria. In 2025, she received the Samizdat Prize from RealClearPolitics.

Structure and Sources

According to the publisher, the book draws on hundreds of conversations with child psychologists, parents, teachers, and young people. A central concept is iatrogenesis: harm caused by the treatment itself. Shrier applies this to talk therapy, which she argues can fuel rumination, and to the parenting style known as gentle parenting. She also includes social-emotional skills lessons at school among the approaches she criticizes. The book made The New York Times bestseller list. The British publisher Swift Press quotes, among others, Camilla Cavendish, who called the book an unrestrained attack on the mental health profession in the Financial Times, and Hannah Barnes, who wrote in the New Statesman that parents, teachers, care providers, and policymakers need to hear its message. Stella O'Malley also reviewed the book positively in the Sunday Independent. The British paperback was published on February 27, 2025.