| ***** | Don't be taken aback by the book's title, which is clearly designed to pique interest and drive sales. Abigail Shrier's primary thesis isn't that therapy is innately bad or malevolent. Rather, her point is that something fundamental has changed with this generation of parenting, which has become over-reliant on therapy and medication as tools for teaching children to deal with the disappointments and challenges of inhabiting a world beset by entropy.
Whether you agree with her or not — and I myself take issue with some pieces of the book, particularly her insistence that phones and social media are an unmitigated negative in the lives of teens — the book is well-written, compellingly argued, and marshals an impressive amount of research and hard date, all threaded together with well-chosen stories and anecdotes.
...Better and more widely available dental care has meant fewer toothless Americans. And as we developed immunizations and cures for childhood illness, child mortality rates nose-dived. Yet as treatments for anxiety and depression have become more sophisticated and readily available, adolescent anxiety and depression have ballooned.
This is a great researcher who also happens to be a very good writer, making an important point about an issue of extreme import. Anyone who interacts with teenagers, whether parent, teacher, or [fill in the blank], would do well to read it and consider the arguments. I think it would be fascinating to read along with a teen or group of teens, to hear their thoughts and responses to the information it contains.
Copy is available in Garzon Library for anyone interested.
Comentarios