When Therapy Makes Kids Worse: Why Building Capacity Matters More Than Teaching Feelings

Teen mental health is in crisis—but what if some of the solutions we’ve embraced are actually making things worse?In this episode, I unpack a surprising finding highlighted by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic: a school program that taught teenagers dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills resulted in worse mental-health outcomes and poorer relationships with parents compared with a standard health class.How could a respected therapy approach backfire when taught in schools?We explore an uncomfortable possibility: when psychological frameworks are applied universally to healthy teens, they can sometimes create iatrogenic effects—harm caused by the intervention itself.In this episode we discuss:• Why many well-intentioned youth programs—from D.A.R.E. to self-esteem curricula—have failed to deliver results• How teaching adolescents to constantly monitor their thoughts can unintentionally increase distress• The difference between resilience and psychological capacity• Why teenagers may need challenge, responsibility, and competence-building more than emotional analysis• Practical ways parents can help children develop the ability to handle stress, failure, and uncertaintyParents today are told their children are fragile and constantly at risk. But raising mentally healthy adults may depend on something different: building the capacity to carry the weight of life rather than trying to remove the weight altogether.This episode offers a practical framework for parents who want to support their children’s mental health without unintentionally undermining their strength.