We replaced confession with therapy. And now no one gets better.

In a post-religious culture, therapy has become the new priesthood. When people feel guilty, anxious, ashamed, or directionless, they don’t look to faith; they book a session. But the problem isn’t that people are asking for help. The problem is that they’re asking the wrong questions and getting the wrong answers.

Confession is built on moral structure. 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’s no hiding in confession. No euphemisms. No hashtags. Just you, your conscience, and the weight of what you’ve done. And that’s precisely why people avoid it.

Confession is hard. It confronts you with the reality that you’re not just hurting, but you may be the one who caused the hurt. That you’re not just broken, you might be the one who did the breaking.

Therapy, on the other hand, is easy. It’s softer. It offers a listening ear without the expectation of repentance. It’s more comfortable to sit on a couch and be reassured than to kneel before a priest and take onus.

Because of this shift, we’ve replaced repentance with venting. Priests challenge us to grow. Therapists validate. Where a priest would say, “Go and sin no more,” a therapist says, “You’re doing your best.” But what if you’re not? What if the thing keeping you stuck isn’t your childhood, your nervous system, or your ex, but your refusal to take responsibility?

I want to make something abundantly clear: this isn’t 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’s infantilizing them.

We see the fruits of this everywhere. Every minor conflict is now “emotional abuse.” Every tough situation is a “trauma response.” Every slightly unpleasant boss is “toxic.” Life is hard? Must be your parents’ fault. You’re struggling in a relationship? Must be because of your attachment style. You’re 28 and you ghosted someone for the twentieth time? Let’s talk about your inner child.

What people are too afraid to say is, maybe you’re wrong. Maybe you’re selfish. Maybe you’re the problem.

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’t gain freedom; they lose it.

Confession offers a way forward. You go to confession to be forgiven and to start again. You go to therapy to “process,” which increasingly means talking in circles while everyone nods.

If we’re being honest, this is by design. The therapy industry thrives when you stay broken. As the saying goes, “A cured patient is a lost customer.” Healing becomes a lifestyle brand. There’s no finish line, just more sessions, more self-diagnoses, and more content. You’re not taught to overcome. You’re taught to “hold space for your wounds.”

There’s no strength in endless introspection. No clarity in a worldview that puts your feelings at the center of the moral universe. What we’ve built is a culture of therapeutic narcissism where every feeling is sacred, and every responsibility is optional.

It’s no coincidence this coincides with the decline of faith. Confession is threatening. It means you don’t get to hide. You don’t 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.

That’s real healing. That’s adulthood. And that’s exactly what we’ve lost.

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—not just emotionally, but spiritually.

You don’t fix your life by “processing.” You fix it by repenting. By choosing better. By becoming stronger than your past.

Therapy is not a bad thing. But it’s not a substitute for moral correction. And it’s definitely not a replacement for confession.

Braeden Sorbo is the author of “Embrace Masculinity: Lifting Men Up in a World That Pushes Them Down.”