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by Braeden Sorbo –\nWe traded confession for catharsis\u2014and now we process instead of repent, vent instead of change, and wonder why no one gets better.
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\nWe replaced confession with therapy. And now no one gets better.<\/p>\n
by Braeden Sorbo –
\nWe traded confession for catharsis\u2014and now we process instead of repent, vent instead of change, and wonder why no one gets better.
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\nWe replaced confession with therapy. And now no one gets better.<\/p>\n
In a post-religious culture, therapy has become the new priesthood. When people feel guilty, anxious, ashamed, or directionless, they don\u2019t look to faith; they book a session. But the problem isn\u2019t that people are asking for help. The problem is that they\u2019re asking the wrong questions and getting the wrong answers.<\/p>\n
Confession is built on moral structure.<\/strong> It requires you to name your sin, own it, and seek forgiveness; not just to feel better, but to become better. It holds you accountable and demands that you change. There\u2019s no hiding in confession. No euphemisms. No hashtags. Just you, your conscience, and the weight of what you\u2019ve done. And that\u2019s precisely why people avoid it.<\/p>\n Confession is hard. It confronts you with the reality that you\u2019re not just hurting, but you may be the one who caused the hurt. That you\u2019re not just broken, you might be the one who did the breaking.<\/p>\n Therapy, on the other hand, is easy. It\u2019s softer. It offers a listening ear without the expectation of repentance. It\u2019s more comfortable to sit on a couch and be reassured than to kneel before a priest and take onus.<\/p>\n Because of this shift, we\u2019ve replaced repentance with venting. Priests challenge us to grow. Therapists validate. Where a priest would say, \u201cGo and sin no more,\u201d a therapist says, \u201cYou\u2019re doing your best.\u201d But what if you\u2019re not? What if the thing keeping you stuck isn\u2019t your childhood, your nervous system, or your ex, but your refusal to take responsibility?<\/p>\n I want to make something abundantly clear: this isn\u2019t a hit piece on all therapy. There are good therapists, just like there are good doctors and coaches. But the culture of therapy, the one pushed online, in TikToks, on Instagram, and in every mental health awareness campaign, is not helping people. It\u2019s infantilizing them.<\/p>\n We see the fruits of this everywhere. Every minor conflict is now \u201cemotional abuse.\u201d<\/strong> Every tough situation is a \u201ctrauma response.\u201d Every slightly unpleasant boss is \u201ctoxic.\u201d Life is hard? Must be your parents\u2019 fault. You\u2019re struggling in a relationship? Must be because of your attachment style. You\u2019re 28 and you ghosted someone for the twentieth time? Let\u2019s talk about your inner child.<\/p>\n What people are too afraid to say is, maybe you\u2019re wrong. Maybe you\u2019re selfish. Maybe you\u2019re the problem.<\/p>\n Modern therapy treats discomfort as dysfunction. In the absence of confession, therapy becomes moral anesthesia. It numbs guilt instead of addressing it. And when people stop feeling guilty, they don\u2019t gain freedom; they lose it.<\/p>\n Confession offers a way forward.<\/strong> You go to confession to be forgiven and to start again. You go to therapy to \u201cprocess,\u201d which increasingly means talking in circles while everyone nods.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re being honest, this is by design. The therapy industry thrives when you stay broken. As the saying goes, \u201cA cured patient is a lost customer.\u201d Healing becomes a lifestyle brand. There\u2019s no finish line, just more sessions, more self-diagnoses, and more content. You\u2019re not taught to overcome. You\u2019re taught to \u201chold space for your wounds.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s no strength in endless introspection. No clarity in a worldview that puts your feelings at the center of the moral universe. What we\u2019ve built is a culture of therapeutic narcissism where every feeling is sacred, and every responsibility is optional.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no coincidence this coincides with the decline of faith. Confession is threatening. It means you don\u2019t get to hide. You don\u2019t get to blame your ex, your parents, or your anxiety. You get on your knees, you say what you did, and you ask to be forgiven. Then you get up and do better.<\/p>\n That\u2019s real healing.<\/strong> That\u2019s adulthood. And that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019ve lost.<\/p>\n What people need is not just someone to talk to. They need truth. They need to know the difference between right and wrong, between trauma and selfishness, and between victimhood and responsibility. And they need to be called to something higher\u2014not just emotionally, but spiritually.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t fix your life by \u201cprocessing.\u201d You fix it by repenting. By choosing better. By becoming stronger than your past.<\/p>\n Therapy is not a bad thing. But it\u2019s not a substitute for moral correction. And it\u2019s definitely not a replacement for confession.<\/p>\n