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America is in the midst of a mental health crisis, not necessarily because more people are getting sick. The bigger issue is culture, amplified by the media and partially fueled by my own profession. They blend real mental illness with everyday emotional discomfort and weakness.
After over 20 years as a psychotherapist, I have seen patients stick to this idea of feeling helpless rather than rewarding vulnerability, increasing victimization and giving people the resilience they need to face life challenges.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 29% of US adults have been diagnosed with depression, an increase of nearly 10% since 2015. That year marks a turning point in American culture. National conversations about race, power and identity by white police officers following famous incidents like the shooting of Michael Brown, a young black man from Ferguson, Missouri.
According to a 2023 Gallup poll, 29% of US adults have been diagnosed with depression, an increase of nearly 10% since 2015. (istock)
Over the next few years, deideology swept almost every major institution, including the mental health sector. Treatment has shifted from developing resilience to developing systemic injustice. Patients were increasingly cast as oppressors or repressed, reinforcing their feelings of helplessness.
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Yes, there are real social issues, but treatment is not to verify the complaints. It's to build people. When it becomes a space with waru, it stalls growth and strengthens the sense of victims.
This way of thinking doesn't just weaken individuals. It is tearing the country apart. Celebrate the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and watch the crowd lifting his murderer Luigi Mangione to the status of folk heroes. Look at the abused Tesla burned across America and the families broken by political differences.
Modern complaint-based therapy convinces people that their problems are insurmountable and convinces them that they are not equipped to face life challenges. It promotes the idea that discomfort is treated as trauma and builds a generation that is not prepared for the real world. We have become an emotionally lightweight country: fragile, split, undealable.
I think this directly as a psychotherapist in New York City and Washington, but the DC patients came to me after years of treatment and I was convinced that their struggle stemmed from injustice. They are pathologized and politicized. It was verified in their victims, but never pushed to grow. What they need is no more ventilation for an hour. They need direction and accountability.
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For example, one patient spent years experiencing anxiety without learning how to confront it. Her therapist said her problems were beyond her control, due to social inequality. The more she believed this, the more insecure and helpless she felt. But as we put our focus into action, her anxiety began to rise.
Therapy that sacrificed growth and stuck to social justice is not healed – it locks people into anti-mission. It has spread to schools, workplaces and media. Young people are taught that all challenges are traumatized and that discomfort should be avoided.
It wasn't always the case. Americans faced difficulties and became stronger. That way of thinking has built this country. It's time to get it back. This is not about politics. It's about whether we still believe in a spirit of independence and resilience, or we traded it for our victims.
Success, family, personal agents are not left or right. They are the foundation of who we are. They continue to be key to updating. If we want to revive our cultural and spiritual backbone, we must reject vulnerability and regain the strength that once defined us.
Faith and religion promote strong mental health.
Here's how:
At the heart of the crisis of facing the idea of helplessness is a worldview that tells Americans that they are helpless. This creates passivity and a cycle of defeat. It is important to remember that Americans don't have control over everything, but they have control over how they respond. Growth comes from facing obstacles rather than avoiding them. Harmful ideological therapies that lock people in responsibility and helplessness promote a culture of vulnerability. We must challenge the mental health industry and demand therapy that encourage accountability, behavior, and individual institutions. Emotional self-cooperation apps and AI-based platforms like BetterHelp and Talkspace have become self-skilled in the business of cultivating dependencies. Instead, we should focus on teaching coping skills, how discomfort and discomfort promote growth. True progress comes from interaction with the real world, not from “safe spaces.” Restructuring these bonds will help people recover and thrive in social fabrics that they are anchoring.
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This is greater than mental health. It's about who we are as a nation. Following the path of victims and responsibility, there is a risk of fragility and dependency. But once we regain the idea that built this country – grit, responsibility, and determination, we can create a culture of resilience and strength, something stronger and lasting than any policy.
Promoting classic American values of resilience and responsibility can lead the way. It's time to rebuild the American backbone – not just for ourselves, but for future generations.
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