Therapy is Often Junk Science

Last updated on July 26, 2026

The headline for this blog post probably evoked a strong reaction. 

Notice that I did not write, “Therapy is Junk Science.” The qualifier “often” clarifies my view, which is based on too much experience. Way too much experience, sadly.

My children, my wife, and I have all engaged with therapists. Our daughters are Neurodiverse and from the foster-adopt system. They have been to see counselors with master’s degrees, psychologists, and psychiatrists. Susan and I have received training from therapists to support our daughters. We have also had couples counseling, and I saw an educational psychologist many years ago. 

Only psychiatrists have proved useful, and their expertise is in prescribing medications. The girls continue to receive medical interventions for their diagnoses, especially ADHD. 

Undeniably, ADHD can be treated with medications. We’ve also observed the benefits of medications for other mental health diagnoses. 

However, I also dislike medicating our daughters. Our goal remains a gradual elimination of medications as the girls mature and learn strategies for addressing their Neurodiverse traits.  

Talk-based therapies were useless for our family. Yes, some people benefit from excellent therapists. Not us. 

Worse, the therapists sometimes suggested ABA and behavioral modification approaches to “help” the girls be more “normal.” 

I dislike and distrust behaviorism, especially Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), as a way to change autistics so they don’t upset their caregivers so much. That’s really the point of ABA: making the parents and educators more comfortable. I’m autistic. Our oldest is autistic. We don’t need to be cured. 

I also have little faith in talk-based therapies. Medications have proved to be about as effective in meta-analyses of studies. That doesn’t mean people don’t benefit from having someone to listen, but I certainly doubt there’s some magic to these “neutral” friends for hire.

Therapists supposedly know the right questions to ask. They have been trained to guide people toward truths. I don’t buy it. The scary truth is that science doesn’t have great treatments for most mental health conditions that lack a clearly identifiable cause. We have a shallow understanding of how the human brain works.

I do believe in neurological differences, and there’s no doubt mental health can be supported by medical interventions. 

Unfortunately, Neurodiverse families often find therapists don’t understand that we don’t want to be “cured” of our autism, ADHD, or other differences. We simply want to develop healthy coping strategies.