‘Almost everyone is left with trauma’: The impact of American’s unregulated wilderness teen therapy industry

Tens of thousands of “troubled” teens have, with their parents’ consent, been forcibly lifted from their beds and sent into the wilderness. Decades later, many are still haunted by the trauma of the experience and of being told they are “worthless” and “troubled.” It is a “dark and mysterious way of trying to fix someone who was underlyingly depressed and anxious,” says Kenneth R. Rosen, author of “Troubled: The Failed Promise of America’s Behavioral Treatment Programs.”

KCRW’s Jonathan Bastian talks with Rosen about the lasting impacts of the largely unregulated wilderness teen therapy industry.