An existential psychologist on making a meaningful life

Research psychologist Clay Routledge wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed that the focus on mental health today is unprecedented. There are untold numbers of programs at work and in schools, plus a proliferation of apps and public health campaigns, all aimed at getting us to better understand our emotional lives.

That has had the benefit of reducing the harmful stigma around mental illness. A 2025 study by the American Psychological Association found that an overwhelming majority of Americans – 88% – said having a mental health disorder is nothing to be ashamed of.

Routledge sees a downside to this focus on mental health, which he calls the “pathologizing of ordinary life.” Instead of feeling better about ourselves, normal anxiety, stress, grief, burnout, and sadness are seen as signs that something is wrong with us. A diagnosis becomes, in his words, “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Clay Routledge explores the reasons for this phenomenon and what it reveals about our culture and ourselves. He is director of the Human Flourishing Lab at the Archbridge Institute.