Our Obsession With Wellness Is Hurting Teens — and Adults
About this episode
The central question is whether our culture's obsession with wellness is making teenagers — and adults — less healthy. Clinical psychologist Lisa Damour argues we have pathologized normal emotional life: stress, anxiety, and sadness are often healthy, adaptive signals, not disorders, and reflexively labeling distress as mental illness can make it worse. Teens need accurate emotional vocabulary, coping strategies, and above all sleep, rather than a steady diet of self-care content. She treats social media's role with nuance — the harm, especially for girls, is real, but it is not the whole story — and discusses gender differences in how distress shows up. Her parenting guidance: listen and validate first, help teens problem-solve rather than rushing to fix feelings, and distinguish everyday struggles from conditions needing treatment.