The Christian in a Therapeutic Age
Surviving the catastrophic feedback look of therapy culture and social media
I recently had an essay published in Mere Orthodoxy’s print journal. Today, they released it online. I’m sharing a preview of it here. If you’ve been keeping up with my writing, you know this is a topic I’ve grown more passionate about. This is the longest treatment I’ve given it. I’m excited to share it here. I hope you find it helpful. I’m eager to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks.
There have been numerous pieces published by secular media outlets and influencers lately warning of the rise of “therapy speak.” While hard to define, you could loosely say that it is the prescriptive use of psychological and therapeutic terms in everyday language to describe one’s experience, identity, and the various situations in life. You hear it most in the overuse of words like “trauma,” but it shows up in many other places. Shame, attachment, inner child, trigger, holding space, gaslight, anxious, depressed, narcissism, boundaries, vulnerability, PTSD, OCD, self-care. The list of these words and phrases seems nearly endless and, more importantly, suddenly ubiquitous in the lexicon of the average Millennial and Gen Z person today.
The important thing to say immediately is that all of these mental ailments are real, which is why it’s almost impossible to write a critique of a therapeutic culture without sounding like you’re diminishing the reality of these experiences. In no way do I wish to say that these things aren’t legitimate. They are. But the fact that these things are real is almost the point. The “prevalence inflation,” as Derek Thompson at The Atlantic called it, leads to people who don’t actually suffer from clinical mental health disorders seeking help they don’t need and drains resources from those who actually do.
Take one example that was reported by The Verge—the rise of self-diagnosed Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID; previously known as multiple personality disorder) on TikTok. Doctors across the country realized that they were beginning to see patients who were seeking confirmation for a self-diagnosis regarding the disorder after they had learned about it on TikTok. Many of them didn’t have it. One doctor said, “I’ve had people cry in my office because I told them that they do not have the diagnosis that they think they have.” The patients were sad when they realized that they didn’t have dissociative identity disorder. You would think it would be the other way around.
I’ve written a book about deconstruction. It’s called Walking Through Deconstruction: How To Be A Companion In A Crisis Of Faith. It’s deeply personal, but it’s not a memoir. It’s an attempt to serve the church, to help the church understand what deconstruction is, what causes it, and how to walk with people who are experiencing it.
Jonathan Haidt has brought attention to this phenomenon as well, but we need more Christian leaders and writers addressing this, as it is not only shaping our culture, but our churches. Although I would nuance your tripartite prescription a bit, I think the categories are sound, but need more detail for them to become practical for the average church leader to shape their situation around. I will likely do some writing around these ideas soon as well.
All. Of. This.
As someone in the “actually has real, diagnosed mental health disorders,” I’m weary of those who throw heavy words onto daily life and problems. It diminishes the reality those of us who have challenges we do not want and would not wish on anyone.
These are not badges are honor, our honor is found in the strength to continue on regardless of the lot life has handed us. Yes, there is beauty in strength but oh how I wish so many didn’t have to experience the things of life, whatever they may be, that require us to choose to stand even when we don’t think we can.
Appreciate your thoughtful, nuanced and kind words, friend.