Therapy Nation: How America Got Hooked on Therapy and Why It's Left Us More Anxious and Divided

by Jonathan Alpert

As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Fox & Friends, The Hill and The Daily Wire
*A Next Big Ideas Club pick*

A provocative look at how therapy culture has reshaped the way we live, speak, and relate to one another, and how it’s changing the fabric of American life, by acclaimed psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert.

In America today, seeing a therapist is no longer taboo, and mental-health resources are more accessible than ever. Yet despite this progress, anxiety and depression among Americans are now at record highs, and the country feels even more divided.

After twenty years as a practicing therapist and go-to media expert on mental health, Jonathan Alpert has come to an unsettling his own profession is part of the problem. In Therapy Nation, Alpert:

considers the possibility that we've become over-therapized, and examine how this practice, intended to heal, may be making us weaker instead of stronger;
explores how concepts and buzzwords once confined to therapy sessions have infiltrated public discourse, where their meaning becomes distorted, sometimes intentionally;
unpacks how feeling good has replaced getting better and accountability has been traded out for affirmation;
the ways in which too much therapy, or the wrong kind, can have painful effects on individuals, families, communities and the nation.

Drawing from case studies and widening the lens to consider the social forces beyond the therapist's office, Alpert makes the urgent case for his profession to heal itself so it can get back to healing us.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published May 19, 2026

Reviews

[Tucker Almengor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many thanks to Harlequin Audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review
★ 2.17 stars ★

oh boy.

What this book meant to be:
An intelligent critique of the therapy field and its weaknesses

What this book ended up being:
A heavily biased self-righteous rant about how therapists are all enabling their entitled, woke, weak clients.

Okay, maybe that's a bit extreme. Before I go into the issues this book had I want to acknowledge that there were some fair points. The author made to astute observations about issues of over-validation, arm chair psychology, and therapists supporting an external locus of control... unfortunately, these genuine and mature observations made up only about 10% of the book.

The rest of it was self-righteous ranting about how the author looked down upon all his fellow therapists for their "woke" therapy and focus on "trauma" etc etc.

The author claims not to be politically biased and identifies as a moderate but a brief use of critical thinking shows that that is obviously untrue. Both the book and who he's following on Instagram (why hello, Trump and Trump Cabinet!) show that he has a very strong right-wing bias.

The book very much reads as... well, what it is. A white man who's struggling to accept that his privilege has left him with major blind spots and rather than taking a moment to learn and have compassion and empathy, as a therapist should, he criticizes and tears down what he sees as dangerous and unhealthy rather than opening himself up to a new perspective.

Ironically, this statement would likely be met with the author writing it off as overly divisive and me buying into the political polarization that's plaguing our nation.

I cannot recommend this book for anyone just beginning their journey with therapy and mental health. The author is far too black and white and believes that the ideas and thoughts portrayed in this book are infallible truth.

I think the biggest issue is that Alpert wrote this as a therapy book that dipped into politics when it would've done much better as a politics book that dipped into therapy.

If you're more deep into your journey and have a strong relationship with your clinician(s), this book may be worth a read if you want to expose yourself to an opposing view point.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the book isn't all bad. There are certainly some ideas worth exploring and the author, despite his right-wing bias, is never explicitly bigoted. He's just tone-deaf and naive, likely due to his privilege and lived experience.

All in all, this book was a mixed bag and I'd only recommend it for people who have very strong critical thinking skills and won't easily be swayed by someone who claims to know what's best.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uhhh, mixed bag. My short review is that the thesis is interesting enough, and it's clearly a topic the author feels quite close to, but the book takes too much of a "one of my patients told me this happened, please believe me" and "stupid SJWs and their woke agenda" tact to really feel useful.

A shockingly small amount of this is actually about bad therapy practice/education with any data to back it up--it's mostly just old-man-on-Twitter gripes about the sensitive libtards and their participation trophies. Which is annoying because I do overwhelmingly agree with him!!! But my dude, you can't be releasing a book in 2026 that unironically uses "social justice warrior."

---

My long review:

I was drawn to this book because therapy buzzwords have melted into every corner of my social life. I know more of my friends' diagnoses (or self-diagnoses) than their last names, not to mention the mental illnesses of half the strangers I scroll past on social media. I can't look up reactions to a new episode of a show without commenters theorizing on characters' neurodivergence (did you know not jaywalking is a sign of autism or perhaps childhood trauma regarding car accidents?). My decision to stop therapy and medication (for what I suspect was a dishonest diagnosis of the mentie-illness-du-jour, ADHD) was met with friends assuming I'd search for another therapist who I liked more, because how could I NOT be in therapy?? I knew that therapy-speak was being misused by people (both accidentally and maliciously), but I was interested to learn about how actual therapists are reacting to or entrenching this weird cultural fetish for "trauma" and "dysregulation" and "neurospiciness."

And I guess I kind of got that......? Problem is--I know this is not the best way to approach a book, but--I just did not believe his anecdotes. They sounded fake as hell. (Oh, yeah, totally an epidemic of therapists telling white patients that they're evil privileged monsters. Lucky those patients hired you right after, huh, Alpert?) And it's like ALL anecdotes, so what am I left with?

Well, mainly a lot of complaining and willful misinterpreting of outrageous events to fit his thesis. (I dunno, man, I don't think Elliot Rodger's or the Tree of Life shooter's issues were the same thing as what makes people take selfies at dangerous waterfalls...) Plus a lot of "Back in my day we all supported each other and were mentally so strong! Remember 9/11??"

Alpert INCOMPREHENSIBLY starts with politics. I'll focus on that because it was such a mood-killer, and also because I think it summarizes my experience with the entire book.

I agree that we've lost basic tolerance for people with different political beliefs, because even a statement like that causes people to leap to the worst interpretation possible--"What, you want me to respect someone who wants to KILL ALL IMMIGRANTS?" I regularly see friends interpret minor misunderstandings, minor deviations in beliefs, as signs of outrageous bigotry. I recently read Adult Braces by Lindy West, a wonderful liberal whiner whose work I love very much, and it's stuffed with her automatically deciding "white people in the American south" are evil, ignorant, racist Trump voters, seemingly before they say a word to her.

However, Alpert loses all credibility for me on the topic when he writes this absolute gem:

Politics now influences who we date, where we shop, what shows we watch, and even which restaurants we're willing to support.

Sorry for the liberal hysterics, but, uhhh... Someone not wanting to give their cash to an organisation whose goals or beliefs they don't support is going too far? This can only sound reasonable to someone who has never, ever had their life changed by a political decision, and never will, and is extremely ignorant to those who have experienced otherwise.

Guys, is it totally woke nonsense to not shop at Hobby Lobby because I disagree with how they treat their employees? Is it pathetic and emotionally frail of me to not buy fast fashion because of the abusive labour practices? Is it ignorant and stupid of me to not want to build a life with someone who fundamentally lives their life according to different rules than me?

Imagine having an entire chapter implying there was no difference between Trump and Harris in 2026 I MEAN HOLY SHIT. Credibility for the entire book destroyed by the 15% mark lmfao.

I want this topic discussed by someone else, I honestly think that's the crux of my experience. A lot of repetitive page-space is devoted to the idea that we now see therapy as a long-term (or forever) thing, rather than a short-term project geared towards solutions, which leads people to depend on their therapists and ingratiate themselves in a culture of therapy. They've got the lingo, they think they have new skills, they diagnose strangers, they coddle themselves, they blame everything on their diagnoses...and their therapists have the endless flow of cash and a culture treating them like the only answer to a thousand different problems. Agree, agree, agree. And then he has a whole section unironically and at length comparing a therapist's office to a legitimate cult and I'm like nope nope nope nope goodbye. You aren't serious.

[Travis Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Therapy Nation
By Jonathan Alpert
Pub Date May 19 2026

This book is very thought provoking. Therapy is definitely an individual bases thing. It is works for some and not for others.
The only thing I struggled with is this book is pretty dry. That being said it is very informative and I think anyone can get something out of it if they so choose to read this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the opportunity to read this book early in return for my honest review.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

TLDR; Some fantastic and legitimate points made about modern therapy culture that were undermined by some polarizing viewpoints that seemed rigid and dismissive.

Ohhhhh boy. I don’t think I’ve ever had more polarizing thoughts at once about a book… especially a non-fiction one in my field of work. For a quick background on where I’m coming to this book from, I am an LMHC, licensed for 13 years and have worked in leadership and administration for over 5 years. I have been gently accused by colleagues, at times, of being too harsh or rigid in some of my philosophies and practices such as my insistence on charging no show fees and my refusal to write letters for things like emotional support animals. What I’m trying to say, is that, if anyone, I would be the therapist that aligns more with much of what this author said.

So all that being said, there were so many parts of this book where I was screaming YESSSS in my mind because I wholeheartedly agree with some points about therapy in our culture and the ways in which it’s gone wrong.

But this is heavily contrasted by other areas where I so strongly disagree with the author and was so frustrated that I almost metaphorically threw my digital audiobook. As such, it was hard to rate, but I decided to average what would otherwise be my 5 and 1 star reviews and give it a 2.5, rounded to 3.

The author posits that our culture has created a climate in which we glamorize therapy as a more superficial part of daily wellness and, in effect, remove the actual benefit of therapy, leading, instead, to increased dysfunction and societal decay. He calls it the “cult of therapy” and says that a culture where therapy is supposed to be ongoing indefinitely creates fragility in clients rather than strength. This, I can agree with. I agree that the practice of therapy has turned into one of “endless venting, complaining, and blaming”. I also agree with the various examples he provided of “bad therapy”, as I have seen it myself on so many occasions.

One piece, in particular, is misdiagnosis and pathologizing of regular behaviors or responses. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had challenging another clinician in a diagnosis that was provided to a client, only to learn they casually gave the diagnosis because the client believes that’s what they have or because a previous practitioner had provided it, but, upon discussion of actual criteria and presentation, there is not enough evidence to provide the diagnosis. I believe in challenging clients and holding them accountable to their treatment and moving toward actionable change. I agree that we’ve moved to a place of “catering to customers” rather than “treating clients”. And don’t get me started on the colloquial misuse of clinical terms like narcissism and gaslighting.

However, here’s an area I strongly oppose. While I might understand where the author comes from with not feeling he should be a direct advocate for social justice causes, I think he takes his beliefs against these causes so far that it makes me question his credibility. He mentions the reasons our field had to implement cultural competence standards, but he failed to mention that the new standard is cultural ‘humility’, which I don’t think he fully demonstrates. He may not necessarily be a direct supporter of our political administration, but his talking points seemed to echo their political rhetoric which I find concerning from a clinical context. Which, fine, we can disagree on that. But when you’re treating actual human beings, you can’t so readily dismiss societal realities. Of course it’s true that not every single client will be impacted in the same way by social injustices, even if they are of that demographic. But many actually are, and this author’s treatment of what he termed “woke therapy”, felt overly dismissive. I can agree that in many cases, the therapist should not be the one to bring up the social issues if it’s not necessarily relevant, but the attitude presented in this book felt so extreme. He gave one example of challenging a bisexual client who suggested that bisexual people were going to be rounded up and put in concentration camps. While I agree with challenging catastrophic thinking, like this author did, I also felt he minimized the very real increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, legislation, and fear many clients are currently experiencing.

It also makes me wonder whether his typical client base may be one that is generally more high functioning and/or of a higher socioeconomic class. This is just a guess. But this would also help explain his rigid alignment with CBT as the only real therapy (plus of course DBT, EMDR). The other therapy types he described can definitely be problematic. (Questioning the practice of past life regression hypnosis I get..) But CBT is also far from the only evidence based therapy available. And I think the way it was presented in this book, it was a bit of black and white thinking (see what I did there?) to describe CBT as essentially the only legitimate therapy.

So, what can I say.. I think that, if nothing else, this book opens up a ton of discussion points, positive and negative. He makes a lot of great points that we, as clinicians and as clients, should take seriously, but I really wish he would demonstrate more self-awareness into how his inherent privilege may limit his perspective in some areas. He spoke a lot about good therapy vs bad therapy, and I think a mark of a good clinician is someone who readily questions their own beliefs and practices as well.

[Victoria Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went into this thinking it would be an examination of therapy, not therapists. Unfortunately, this book is a big middle finger to all the "bad" therapists who listen and validate, but don't challenge their patients to actually get better. Okay, I can deal with that.

I agree that therapy should be short-term and oriented toward fixing a problem (in the less-extreme cases). I also believe that discomfort does not equal trauma and that the thera-speak we use and the validation of "boundaries" and such by these bad therapists have left many of us stuck in victimhood, perpetually in therapy but not getting any better.

His insistence that Trump is just the same as Kamala, and therefore our thoughts on him and unwillingness to engage with his supporters are divisive and harmful? Um, no. Trump is not politics as usual and starting the book out with an incredibly long chapter on politics, and then segueing into another long chapter about Covid was a big miss. He scorns "Social Justice Warriors" throughout and pretends that therapists are not trying to help people, but are actively trying to get them to recognize their racism and privilege instead. I mean, what? Yes, DEI programs in offices probably do this sort of thing and this is popular on social media, but therapists are ignoring a person's individual issues and instead trying to convince them about their role of oppressors?? No.

Throughout, the author kept repeating his basic tenet that therapy should be short-term and results-focused, as he practices it, and enough already! I get it! Really, this book could have been a magazine article and probably should have been. The author was arrogant, repetitive, and not engaging in the slightest. I'd skip this one!

Thanks to Edelweiss for this ARC!

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Duuuuuuude. The author is recommending less therapy for some, but I think I’m recommending a little more for the author.

I might not have had such a strong reaction if he hadn’t gone for politics right out of the gate. He declares himself a proud moderate (aka The Reason We Can’t Have Nice Things) and then announces that Trump is exactly like every other President the U.S. has ever had, doing the same things in the same way. I don’t know anyone, liberal or conservative, who would agree with that sentiment, but he says it like it’s objective, non-controversial fact. Is he willfully obtuse, or has his stock portfolio simply done well enough for him to develop selective blindness?

Shortly thereafter, he says that “something” happened in 2016, and suddenly people became a lot more anxious and a lot less mentally healthy. Gosh, I wonder what that could have been?

While castigating people for too much screen time and not enough connecting with other humans face to face, the author explains what a good move it was for him to close his office and begin practicing exclusively through online sessions. Don’t do as I do, do as I say!

The undercurrent through every topic is one of “suck it up, buttercup,” and is that what one wants in a therapist?

I looked forward to this book for a long time prepub-- I should have looked up the author. He’s been making headlines with controversial statements for a long time, and also phrasing his credentials in a way that makes it sound like he has more education than he actually does. He’s been beating the “therapy shouldn’t be a long term thing” drum since at least 2012.

Abandoned at about the 40% mark, still counting it as read for my pain and suffering.

[Mama K · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. It says what has needed to be said for decades. We need to stop pathologizing all the irritants life hands every single one of us. Doing so minimizes and victimized those who actually do suffer lifelong mental illness, instead of just having their feelings hurt, being stressed by busyness, or upset by having to hear something they disagree with.
The controversy I expected, though has already begun. Many reviewers are already decaying every aspect of the book. My guess is because they are guilty of the very criticisms raised.
I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.