When Therapy Weakens Instead of Heals

Public discussion about Gen Z’s rising demand for therapy often swings between two caricatures. One treats therapy as an unqualified good; a universal response to distress. The other dismisses it as a symptom of cultural decline: indulgent, infantilizing, and corrosive.

Both miss the deeper issue. The question is not whether therapy or faith is superior—it is whether our dominant models of care restore adult agency or quietly erode it. That concern is articulated sharply in a recent essay by Mary Rooke, pointedly titled “ Therapy Is an Exercise in Weakness .” Drawing on her own experience, Rooke argues that contemporary therapy often encourages dependency rather than resilience, reframes hardship as permanent injury, and displaces sources of authority once provided by marriage, family, and