Over the past decade, therapy has become the default solution to solving every problem children have. Parents are divorcing? See a therapist. Loss of a loved one ? See a therapist. College love leaving you? Therapist. Did someone say something mean? Therapist. But instead of helping children navigate difficult circumstances and solve real problems, what if it only makes the problems worse? That's what Abigail Shrier thinks, revealing some surprising reasons why this might be the case.
Shrier talks about the real reason therapy is "bad," how we got to this point of acceptance as a culture, and what you can do as a parent to get back to normal. Shrier also shares her experiences with lifelong therapy patients, who should actually be in therapy, and the one thing that makes someone a successful parent.
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- When you drop your child off at the therapist, you ruin the parent-child relationship.
- We no longer trust ourselves to manage our lives like we used to. We believe that our lives essentially require a certain level of expertise.
- The rising generation never says they are shy. She says she has social phobia. She never says she's sad; she says she is depressed. She never says that she had a difficult time in college; she says she has PTSD. They speak the language of psychopathology to understand themselves and others.
- You can be as affectionate as you want, but you can't not be the authority in your household.
- There may be children who need stimulants, but stimulants are powerful and are handed out far , far too easily without first seeing if we can make adjustments in the child 's environment to help them manage. its distractibility.
- Expectations are one of the best things you can give children because it's a way of saying, "I have faith in you. You can accomplish great things."
- There is a major conflict of interest with schools getting involved in mental health.
To find out more about children's mental health and alternatives to therapy, you can consult the resources of Santé Publique France .