A Therapist’s Rebuttal to Scott Galloway’s “The Cult of Therapy”

Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at NYU Stern, a bestselling author, and the voice behind the No Mercy / No Malice newsletter. In his December 5th article, The Cult of Therapy, he argues that therapy has become a cultural obsession, particularly for men, and dismisses it as “nonsense.” His background in business and marketing is impressive — he’s founded companies, sits on boards, and commands a large audience. But none of that makes him an authority on therapy. And in this piece, he admits he hasn’t really tried therapy himself, yet he has all kinds of opinions about it. That contradiction alone is maddening. 

It irritates me to have to respond to performative nonsense, but I can’t let people think what he talks about is even remotely true. I’ve worked with many men in therapy who have benefited enormously. Men who walked in burdened by stress, trauma, or silence, and walked out with new tools for communication, healthier relationships, and a stronger sense of self. To dismiss therapy as a “cult” is not only simplistic — it’s dangerous. It risks encouraging people not to seek help, and that’s what angers me most.

The evidence is clear: therapy works. Studies show that 75–80% of patients benefit from therapy, and when combined with medication, effectiveness for depression rises to 85%. Another large‑scale review found that up to 75% of people in therapy see improvement within six months, with approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy especially effective for anxiety, depression, and PTSD. These aren’t fringe numbers — they’re mainstream, peer‑reviewed outcomes that demonstrate therapy’s real impact.

Therapy is not a cult. It’s a practice grounded in science and compassion. Yes, financial stability and relationships matter too — but therapy often enables those things. A man who learns to regulate his emotions is more likely to succeed at work. A man who learns to communicate openly is more likely to sustain a healthy partnership. Therapy doesn’t replace success; it supports it.

Let me be really clear, Scott: I consider myself a mental health advocate. When you denigrate my peers, denigrate their education and expertise, and dismiss the hundreds of people who have been helped by therapy, I’m going to LOUDLY push back. You gave me no choice, really. 

The only reason you published The Cult of Therapy was because we challenged your views, and the article reads like an ego response. If you can’t stand the heat, Scott, maybe get out of the kitchen?  Sounds like we got under your skin a little — especially after therapists (me included) challenged you on your view that  masculinity is in crisis, and how to solve that, is to tell men they need to get married or find a woman.  What are you talking about?  Partnership is a beautiful thing, but it does not heal trauma, or take away what has happened in a man's life that causes him to reach out for help. Male therapists have pushed back even harder on your views. For example, Reuben Brody, LCSW, wrote a review of Galloway’s book Notes on Being a Man and reflected on how Galloway’s framing misses the therapeutic perspective. Brody noted: "To dismiss therapy as nonsense, is to ignore the very tools men need to evolve.”   

In my almost three decades of being a therapist I have worked with men who have been sexually assaulted by a relative or peer, held a partners hand while they died of cancer, sobbed in my office because a women they loved deeply left or was unfaithful, military members who watched their best friend get blown up, police who have held dying babies in a car accident, 911 operators who listen to people being assaulted, murdered, or dying in a fire. Does this sound like a cult?  Or a profession that deeply cares about the people they serve? This profession is a safe space, that also has evidenced based, and researched techniques that improve the outcome of men's lives. 

And....you are contradicting yourself: how can you preach that men need to be better and evolve, Scott, and then retort to therapists who don’t agree with you with an ego response? That’s not leadership — that’s defensiveness.

Here’s an even bigger issue this brings out into the open: we are so drawn to performance‑based media and personalities that we rule out the real, evidence‑based, researched data. We reward hot takes, controversy, and charisma over substance. It’s like we have personalities who throw spaghetti on the wall just to see what opinion will cause the most outrage — and it causes damage.

This is the danger of elevating performance over expertise. When someone with influence trivializes therapy, it risks silencing the very people who most need to speak. Therapy is not weakness. It is strength. It is progress. And it matters.

Benefits of Therapy (With Real Stories From Men in Media)

• Improved Emotional Regulation: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has spoken about battling depression and how opening up — and seeking help — allowed him to regain balance.

• Better Communication Skills: Ryan Reynolds has shared that therapy helped him manage lifelong anxiety, giving him tools to communicate openly rather than bottling things up.

• Resilience & Coping: Logic, the rapper, has been candid about how therapy and mental health support helped him cope with suicidal thoughts, ultimately leading him to write the song “1‑800‑273‑8255.”

• Healing From Trauma: Prince Harry has talked about using therapy to process the trauma of losing his mother, explaining that it gave him the ability to live more fully and break cycles of silence.

• Enhanced Self‑Awareness: Tom Holland revealed that therapy helped him recognize triggers and manage the pressures of fame, especially during filming of The Crowded Room.

• Support for Men: These stories show that therapy is not weakness — it’s strength. When men in media speak openly about therapy, they challenge outdated stereotypes of masculinity and normalize vulnerability.

Rallying Cry

Stop listening to the nonsense. Stop rewarding hot takes over hard data. Therapy is not a fad, not a cult, not a weakness. It is evidence‑based, life‑changing, and deeply human. The voices that dismiss it are loud, but they are not right. Listen to the research. Listen to the people who have been helped. And most importantly — don’t let performance personalities drown out the truth.