A large number of my patients ascribe their current unhappiness to the fact that they were not offered counselling at the time of an unpleasant occurrence, such as a surgical operation or the death of a friend or relative. Every form of human suffering, it seems, is susceptible to the magical powers of therapy. It is the superstition of our age. —Theodore Dalyrmple reviews Therapy Culture by Frank Furedi
—We need to pull ourselves together  (Telegraph)

Dalyrmple notes that, while Furedi is critical of therapy as a catch-all, “many people may nevertheless benefit personally from the sympathetic ear and disinterested advice of third parties when they have no one else suitable to turn to.”