One Nation Under Therapy: How the Helping Culture Is Eroding Self-Reliance - Paperback

by Christina Hoff Sommers (Author), Sally Satel (Author)

Americans have traditionally placed great value on self-reliance and fortitude. In recent decades, however, we have seen the rise of a therapeutic ethic that views Americans as emotionally underdeveloped, psychically frail, and requiring the ministrations of mental health professionals. Today---with a book for every ailment, a lawsuit for every grievance and a TV show for every conceivable problem---we are at risk of degrading our native ability to cope with life's challenges.
Drawing on established science and common sense, Christina Sommers and Dr. Sally Satel reveal how "therapism" and the burgeoning trauma industry have come to pervade our lives, with a host of troubling consequences, including:

*The myth of stressed-out, homework-burdened, hyper-competitive, and depressed schoolchildren in need of therapy and medication

*The loss of moral bearings in our approach to lying, crime, and addiction

*The unasked-for "grief counselors" who descend on bereaved families, schools, and communities following a tragedy
Intelligent, provocative, and wryly amusing, One Nation Under Therapy demonstrates that "talking about" problems is no substitute for confronting them.

Back Jacket

Praise for The War Against Boys by Christina Hoff Sommers, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year

"Provocative and controversial . . . Sommers's voice is impassioned and articulate."
- Marilyn Gardner, The Christian Science Monitor

"Ms. Sommers . . . makes [her] arguments persuasively and unflinchingly, with plenty of data to support them."
- Richard Bernstein, The New York Times

"This book promises to launch and influence an enduring national debate."
- Mary Eberstadt, The Washington Times

Praise for PC, M.D. by Sally Satel

"An excellent study of medicine and society."
- The Wall Street Journal

"A straightforward assault on disturbing and dangerous trends that have entered the arena of medical care."
- The New Republic

"An extraordinarily courageous, punctiliously researched, powerful new book."
- The Baltimore Sun

Author Biography

Christina Hoff Sommers is the author of Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys and is the editor of Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life, one of the most popular ethics textbooks in the country.

Dr. Sally Satel is a practicing psychiatrist and a lecturer at Yale University School of Medicine. She is the author of PC, M.D.: How Political Correctness Is Corrupting Medicine.

Both authors are resident scholars at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.