From the author of Irre­versible Dam­age, an inves­ti­ga­tion into a men­tal health indus­try that is harm­ing, not heal­ing, Amer­i­can chil­dren. 

In vir­tu­al­ly every way that can be mea­sured, Gen Z’s men­tal health is worse than that of pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions. Youth sui­cide rates are climb­ing, anti­de­pres­sant pre­scrip­tions for chil­dren are com­mon, and the pro­lif­er­a­tion of men­tal health diag­noses has not helped the stag­ger­ing num­ber of kids who are lone­ly, lost, sad and fear­ful of grow­ing up. What’s gone wrong with America’s youth?

In Bad Ther­a­py, best­selling inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist Abi­gail Shri­er argues that the prob­lem isn’t the kids — it’s the men­tal health experts. Draw­ing on hun­dreds of inter­views with child psy­chol­o­gists, par­ents, teach­ers, and young peo­ple, Shri­er explores the ways the men­tal health indus­try has trans­formed the way we teach, treat, dis­ci­pline, and even talk to our kids. She reveals that most of the ther­a­peu­tic approach­es have seri­ous side effects and few proven ben­e­fits.

Men­tal health care can be life­sav­ing when prop­er­ly applied to chil­dren with severe needs, but for the typ­i­cal child, the cure can be worse than the dis­ease. Bad Ther­a­py is a must-read for any­one ques­tion­ing why our efforts to bol­ster America’s kids have back­fired — and what it will take for par­ents to lead a turnaround.