Therapy does not fail because therapists care too much. It fails when caring turns into over-validation, safety-seeking, and emotional sedation . Many clinicians are exquisitely attuned, endlessly empathic, and deeply affirming—and yet their clients remain stuck for years. At some point, the work stops being therapy and becomes a well-intentioned holding pattern. This is a wake-up call: growth requires risk , and so does good therapy. When Validation Becomes Avoidance Validat