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The Birth Rate is Collapsing Because of... Therapy?
In this episode, we explore the impact of bad therapy and redefined concepts of trauma on birth rates through the lens of a National Review article. The discussion references shocking findings from a New York Times article by Michael Leitz, highlighting the cultural shift in how Americans define harm, abuse, neglect, and trauma. This shift has led to increasing rates of estrangement between parents and adult children and a nearly impossible standard for parenting. The conversation also dives into the toxic culture of trauma, the role of the mental health industry, and how therapy practices encourage cutting ties with family. We also discuss the implications of these trends on demographic collapse, supported by both personal anecdotes and broader societal observations.
Malcolm Collins: Hello Simone. I'm excited to be with you today. Today we are going to be talking about how bad therapy and therapists and bad psychology tanked birth rates, and we're going to be doing it through the lens of an article in the National Review titled Bad Therapy Tanked the Birth Rates, oh, this was
Simone Collins: shared with us from by a fan.
Malcolm Collins: Yes.
Simone Collins: Thank you.
Malcolm Collins: And it is going to reference a New York Times article. Those are written by Michael Leitz. So we'll be going between their quotes of the New York Times article and their commentary on these quotes of the New York Times article. Okay. Okay. And the New York Times article is like shockingly based.
So if we start with the New York Times article here, over the past few decades, Americans have redefined harm, abuse, neglect, and trauma. Expanding those categories to include emotional and relational struggles that were previously considered unavoidable parts of life. Yeah, adult. Children seem increasingly likely to publicly even righteously cut off contact with a parent.
This cultural shift has contributed to a new, nearly impossible standard for parenting. And then the other writer says, potential parents have become more and more atomized, cutting themselves off from their own parents and their future children. Mm-hmm. Leitz drives into this was the rise of estrangement between parents and their adult children.
Most of the time it's the offspring, not the parents who initiate the initial instr estrangement. Yeah. As Lebowitz rights in 2019, Carl Piman, a Cornell sociologist, found that 27% of adult Americans reported being exchanged from a family member. They're the true numbers, probably higher. The most commonly severed relationships were . Parent slash adult child. And in most cases it was the adult child who initiated the estrangement. Many psychologists, a physiologists believe this is becoming more common. Mm-hmm. Now note here, I love that they keep calling it the adult child. They don't mean this as an insult. Oh my gosh.
Simone Collins: Right. But they're not even thinking about it. But we, we've come to infantalize adults so much that we're just like. Ah, is it is a toddler child? Is it a teen child? Is it an adult child? Is it a geriatric child? Everyone's a child. Now, no one can handle themselves.
Malcolm Collins: Let's talk about like the few points of data that are really highlighted here so far.
Okay? Okay. First is that Americans have come to redefine harm, abuse, neglect, and trauma,
Simone Collins: right?
Malcolm Collins: This is absolutely true to mean things that people used to think were normal. A parent not affirming you for whatever you wanna believe about yourself, that's trauma. A parent not being with you all the time.
A parent allowing you to feel bad. You know, we have been people. Act guilty. Act guilty. We abuse our kids 'cause we use light non-pain. Corporal punishment. Whi
Published on 6 months, 3 weeks ago