Jonathan Alpert argues that the therapeutic movement has fundamentally altered American civic life in ways that undermine personal responsibility and collective governance. Rather than fostering genuine self-awareness, therapy has created a cultural framework where individuals attribute their problems to external forces and other people's failings.
Alpert contends this shift carries consequences for political discourse and democratic participation. When citizens increasingly view themselves as victims of circumstances beyond their control, they become less inclined to engage in the compromise and negotiation that functional governance requires. Instead, they demand that institutions and other groups change to accommodate their grievances.
The piece critiques how therapeutic language has permeated American culture, from workplaces to schools to political movements. This vocabulary of trauma, boundaries, and healing has reshaped how people narrate their lives. The problem, Alpert suggests, is that it often stops at identification of harm rather than moving toward personal agency or problem-solving.
Alpert doesn't dismiss therapy's genuine value for those facing clinical mental illness. Rather, he questions the expansion of therapeutic thinking into domains where it discourages individuals from accepting responsibility for their choices and relationships. This cultural shift creates fragmentation when large populations adopt victim narratives as their primary framework for understanding conflict.
The column reflects broader conservative critiques of therapeutic culture, though Alpert frames his argument around governance rather than partisan politics. His core claim centers on how widespread therapeutic frameworks may corrode the resilience and personal accountability historically expected in American civic life.
This analysis surfaces a real tension in contemporary politics. As identity-based movements gain traction across the political spectrum, questions about individual agency versus systemic oppression shape how Americans interpret their circumstances and demand change from institutions.