Nick Taber
@nicktaber.bsky.social
Thinking about authoritarianism in the school system, mental health industry, & families. Self-awareness & human potential. #TroubledTeenIndustry survivor.
https://imaginal-cell.org/about
https://imaginal-cell.org/about
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Nick Taber
@nicktaber.bsky.social
· Nov 19
Nick Taber
I offer personal development resources with an anti-authoritarian lens. On my channel, you can expect to find regular videos discussing:
- how to heal from the impact of authoritarian families, schoo...
youtube.com
My YouTube channel where I discuss:
- healing from authoritarian mental health institutions, families, and schools
- recovering your potential from the negative effects of conventional schooling
- the nature of rebellion in young people
youtube.com/@nicktaber29...
- healing from authoritarian mental health institutions, families, and schools
- recovering your potential from the negative effects of conventional schooling
- the nature of rebellion in young people
youtube.com/@nicktaber29...
Because of mental health professionals’ interpretive power, they have basically unbounded latitude to define your life and mind in a way that serves their narrow self interest and the club they’re in.
January 17, 2026 at 11:11 PM
Because of mental health professionals’ interpretive power, they have basically unbounded latitude to define your life and mind in a way that serves their narrow self interest and the club they’re in.
Probably the biggest reason youth mental health treatment doesn’t face much accountability for the widespread harm it causes is because the kids are coerced into adopting the interpretive frame of the mental health professionals.
January 14, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Probably the biggest reason youth mental health treatment doesn’t face much accountability for the widespread harm it causes is because the kids are coerced into adopting the interpretive frame of the mental health professionals.
Reposted by Nick Taber
The third episode of the Youth Rights Podcast (Ep. 2 "Authoritarianism in Schools, Teen Mental Health and the TTI Ft Nick Taber") is out now w/ @nicktaber.bsky.social!
Watch on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB3...
Watch on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/1WGT...
Watch on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB3...
Watch on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/1WGT...
Youth Rights Podcast Ep 2: Authoritarianism in Schools, Teen Mental Health and the TTI Ft Nick Taber
YouTube video by National Youth Rights Association
www.youtube.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:37 AM
The third episode of the Youth Rights Podcast (Ep. 2 "Authoritarianism in Schools, Teen Mental Health and the TTI Ft Nick Taber") is out now w/ @nicktaber.bsky.social!
Watch on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB3...
Watch on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/1WGT...
Watch on Youtube:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB3...
Watch on Spotify:
open.spotify.com/episode/1WGT...
The mental health profession really is like the new priesthood because it also claims jurisdiction over the soul.
January 11, 2026 at 9:05 PM
The mental health profession really is like the new priesthood because it also claims jurisdiction over the soul.
Organizing mental health, an interpretation and meaning based domain, as a technical discipline is inherently dehumanizing and will predictably cause widespread harm. Not in every case, but regularly and predictably. It’s a category error with enormous consequences.
January 10, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Organizing mental health, an interpretation and meaning based domain, as a technical discipline is inherently dehumanizing and will predictably cause widespread harm. Not in every case, but regularly and predictably. It’s a category error with enormous consequences.
The line between excellent psychotherapy and dreadful psychological abuse can get very blurry very quickly.
January 10, 2026 at 6:46 PM
The line between excellent psychotherapy and dreadful psychological abuse can get very blurry very quickly.
Teenagers/kids get stigmatized very often for being “angry”, like “oh they’re an anger person”. But let’s think about why they might be angry. They’re powerless to an environment that’s harming them, then they get told they have a made-up biochemical problem.
January 10, 2026 at 12:03 AM
Teenagers/kids get stigmatized very often for being “angry”, like “oh they’re an anger person”. But let’s think about why they might be angry. They’re powerless to an environment that’s harming them, then they get told they have a made-up biochemical problem.
Even if on one level you sometimes technically have the right to disagree with a mental health professional, can you really disagree with someone who is the official state-backed authority on the mind, thoughts, life etc?
January 9, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Even if on one level you sometimes technically have the right to disagree with a mental health professional, can you really disagree with someone who is the official state-backed authority on the mind, thoughts, life etc?
The whole idea of behavior problems in kids is very misunderstood by psychiatrists, psychologists, child experts, schools, parents, etc. Looking at my own experience, I certainly had a lot of energy and at times behaved in ways that could really bother people. It’s not that those things aren’t real.
January 9, 2026 at 2:06 AM
The whole idea of behavior problems in kids is very misunderstood by psychiatrists, psychologists, child experts, schools, parents, etc. Looking at my own experience, I certainly had a lot of energy and at times behaved in ways that could really bother people. It’s not that those things aren’t real.
The value of psychotherapy is upsold all the time, but I think it can be really hard to tell when and where therapy does actually have value because it justifies itself and creates markets by the way it shapes people.
January 8, 2026 at 9:06 PM
The value of psychotherapy is upsold all the time, but I think it can be really hard to tell when and where therapy does actually have value because it justifies itself and creates markets by the way it shapes people.
The premise behind therapy for children is nonsensical, as far as I can tell, UNLESS the goal is to condition them so that they fit into toxic or broken environments. Think about it, the kid is suffering in one of these settings, then the therapist provides genuine understanding?
January 8, 2026 at 3:28 AM
The premise behind therapy for children is nonsensical, as far as I can tell, UNLESS the goal is to condition them so that they fit into toxic or broken environments. Think about it, the kid is suffering in one of these settings, then the therapist provides genuine understanding?
My understanding is that “social emotional learning” is basically universal in schools now across the country. These programs were developed by companies and sold to the school system supposedly to teach kids “emotional intelligence”.
January 7, 2026 at 11:34 PM
My understanding is that “social emotional learning” is basically universal in schools now across the country. These programs were developed by companies and sold to the school system supposedly to teach kids “emotional intelligence”.
Reposted by Nick Taber
'Psychotherapy must surely be the only profession to posit fundamental principles such as client 'resistance' to account for its inability to deliver the goods.'
David Smail 2005
David Smail 2005
January 4, 2026 at 4:09 PM
'Psychotherapy must surely be the only profession to posit fundamental principles such as client 'resistance' to account for its inability to deliver the goods.'
David Smail 2005
David Smail 2005
The idea that child therapists will inherently help the child with their real problems is false.
What’s more likely: They’ll accept the parents’/schools’ framing that the child is the problem, pathologize their responses to the toxic environments, judge them based on modifying those responses.
What’s more likely: They’ll accept the parents’/schools’ framing that the child is the problem, pathologize their responses to the toxic environments, judge them based on modifying those responses.
December 30, 2025 at 11:38 PM
The idea that child therapists will inherently help the child with their real problems is false.
What’s more likely: They’ll accept the parents’/schools’ framing that the child is the problem, pathologize their responses to the toxic environments, judge them based on modifying those responses.
What’s more likely: They’ll accept the parents’/schools’ framing that the child is the problem, pathologize their responses to the toxic environments, judge them based on modifying those responses.
I think a very significant amount of child psychiatry is basically people who don’t have alot of emotional depth, either haven’t read much literature/watched quality cinema or don’t understand it, who then pathologize authenticity.
December 30, 2025 at 2:19 PM
I think a very significant amount of child psychiatry is basically people who don’t have alot of emotional depth, either haven’t read much literature/watched quality cinema or don’t understand it, who then pathologize authenticity.
One of the main narratives from people who defend conventional, factory-model school is that it’s needed to be successful in conventional adult life.
This argument falls apart under but a modicum of scrutiny, I’m afraid.
This argument falls apart under but a modicum of scrutiny, I’m afraid.
December 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
One of the main narratives from people who defend conventional, factory-model school is that it’s needed to be successful in conventional adult life.
This argument falls apart under but a modicum of scrutiny, I’m afraid.
This argument falls apart under but a modicum of scrutiny, I’m afraid.
If not that long ago it was the norm to use fists, belts and paddles to coerce and break children, why would we not use psychiatric drugs and other mental health services to do roughly the same thing today? Of course we would.
December 9, 2025 at 5:37 AM
If not that long ago it was the norm to use fists, belts and paddles to coerce and break children, why would we not use psychiatric drugs and other mental health services to do roughly the same thing today? Of course we would.
I think people really underestimate how easily and frequently the mental health field gets weaponized. For example a really common, if not standard practice in residential youth mental health treatment is basically using peer bullying to break down kids/teens.
November 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I think people really underestimate how easily and frequently the mental health field gets weaponized. For example a really common, if not standard practice in residential youth mental health treatment is basically using peer bullying to break down kids/teens.
Perfectly stated
There is no denying that lack of access to resources can absolutely make trauma recovery exponentially harder-- & there's also no denying that the only real security we can count on in recovery comes from developing skills & tools NO ONE can take away from us.
November 25, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Perfectly stated
Diagnosing someone with ADHD isn’t inherently “helping them understand why their lives have been difficult”. I was diagnosed with ADHD and never liked that framework. If I’d bought into it, I wouldn’t have actually sought to heal the psychological/emotional wounds that were the real problem.
I have so much respect for people who are 60+ who seek ADHD assessments after a family history is discovered. These are some of my most gratifying assessments if I ever have the privilege of doing them. Helping people understand why their lives have been difficult beyond personal blame is humbling.
November 25, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Diagnosing someone with ADHD isn’t inherently “helping them understand why their lives have been difficult”. I was diagnosed with ADHD and never liked that framework. If I’d bought into it, I wouldn’t have actually sought to heal the psychological/emotional wounds that were the real problem.
I think intuitively many people sense that the massive phenomenon of kids labeled with ADHD, behavior problems and various disorders is really a story of marginalization, much of the time. They’re being mistreated.
November 23, 2025 at 11:57 PM
I think intuitively many people sense that the massive phenomenon of kids labeled with ADHD, behavior problems and various disorders is really a story of marginalization, much of the time. They’re being mistreated.
One of the cool things about developing self-awareness is you become harder to manipulate through fear, guilt, judgment, tribal identity etc.
November 22, 2025 at 7:30 PM
One of the cool things about developing self-awareness is you become harder to manipulate through fear, guilt, judgment, tribal identity etc.
A lot of what’s happening for many people who enter into the mental health system is they are suffering because they’ve been trapped in environments where their inner guidance got suppressed and broken down.
November 22, 2025 at 4:34 AM
A lot of what’s happening for many people who enter into the mental health system is they are suffering because they’ve been trapped in environments where their inner guidance got suppressed and broken down.
“We are coming to see ourselves as an unfolding and perhaps infinite potentiality…As a species, we are not a fixed point in the universe, but an upward trajectory.”
- Theodore Roszak
- Theodore Roszak
November 21, 2025 at 9:51 PM
“We are coming to see ourselves as an unfolding and perhaps infinite potentiality…As a species, we are not a fixed point in the universe, but an upward trajectory.”
- Theodore Roszak
- Theodore Roszak
