The Part of Therapy That Conservatives Forget

The human need for consolation goes deep. Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photos via Getty Images). Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Many conservatives are skeptical of the role that therapy has come to play in our society. They point out that therapists are overwhelmingly left-wing, which can alienate patients who don’t share their political views. They think that therapy can make us self-absorbed and emotionally fragile. They oppose the expansion of the therapeutic mindset because they don’t want people to go through life constantly thinking about “trauma,” “boundaries,” “triggers,” and so on. Christian Alejandro Gonzalez is a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in political theory from Georgetown University. More on Philosophy