Therapy, unlike other health interventions like say, medicine, are not observed, or held to the same quantitative standard or testing. Therapy for teens is particularly problematic just from some of the incentives. I recently spoke to a PhD LMFT who said, “I don’t think talk therapy typically works on male teens” for example. Sheier outlines a lot of this in her book.

So any parent should be well informed before falling victim to the well-intentioned but misguided statement that “therapy is good”. It can be! It often is. But it is not always.