The Traumatic Legacy of Psychologist, Dr. James Dobson
Originally published August 21, 2025 by Kit Morgan, LCSW on Substack
“Ding dong,” I heard all day from former Evangelicals (or “Exvangelicals”) reacting to the news of Dr. James Dobson’s death. I half-expected them to break into the song, “Ding-dong! The Witch is Dead” from The Wizard of Oz, but they didn’t. Instead, they shared about Dobson’s books, broadcasts, and family programming that taught their parents how to abuse them in childhood and avoid Child Protective Services reports (The Cut, 2018).a
Dobson was no witch, but his words flew through evangelical households like flying monkeys— snatching up vulnerable children, carrying them back to homes where love was conditional, and violence was demanded.
But Dobson wasn’t solely responsible for the epidemic of abuse in evangelical homes. People who want to harm others always find justification. What Dobson offered to abusive parents was validation. He gave the “godly” stamp of approval abusive parents craved with his academic, occupational, and spiritual authority of being a Christian psychologist. In return, evangelicalism elevated him while dismissing many other psychological voices as “ungodly” or “fraudulent” (Washington Post, 2025).
James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, speaks at a 2006 rally in Philadelphia. Photo by Jeff Fusco/Getty Images
Who Was Dr. Dobson?
James C. Dobson was born in Louisiana in 1936, the son of a Nazarene revivalist preacher (Wikipedia, 2025). He often told the story of becoming a Christian at age three and having a spiritual awakening at age seven. Child development research makes clear that children that young cannot grasp complex theological concepts like sin and salvation, yet this narrative defined Dobson’s identity and shaped his later teachings.
Dobson pursued psychology rather than ministry, but he became a revivalist in his own way. His academic background looked impressive:
B.A. in Psychology – Pasadena College, 1958.
M.A. in Psychology and Ph.D. in Child Development – University of Southern California, 1967.
Pediatric psychologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for 17 years.
Associate Clinical Professor at USC School of Medicine for 14 years (AP News, 2025).
In 1977, Dobson founded Focus on the Family, which grew into a media empire influencing evangelical households nationwide. With books, radio broadcasts, counseling programs, and lobbying arms, Dobson became one of the most powerful leaders of the Christian Nationalists. Later, he launched Family Talk, where he continued to promote radical right family policy (Washington Post, 2025).
Dobson and Child Abuse
Dobson’s most famous works—Dare to Discipline (1970) and The Strong-Willed Child (1978/1992)—became staples in evangelical homes. These books encouraged parents to view confidence as sinful defiance, and corporal punishment for “defiance” as a god-given duty.
Some of his most infamous claims include:
“Pain is a marvelous purifier.” (Dobson, 1970)
Parents should spank until a child “cries genuinely.” (Dobson, 1970)
A strong-willed child is “looking for a fight,” and parents should “not disappoint them.” (Dobson, 1978/1992)
Dobson compared children to dogs and urged parents to establish dominance through physical punishment. He praised children who hung their heads in shame, walked behind their parents, and answered without questioning.
His books normalized abuse. Evangelical parents could beat their children while believing they were following “biblical” and “psychological” wisdom. Dobson offered them cover and language to describe violence as love.
Dobson’s Anti-LGBTQ Views
Dobson’s authoritarian theology extended far beyond parenting. He became a leading voice against LGBTQ rights, positioning himself as a defender of “traditional family values.”
In Marriage Under Fire (2004), he argued that legalizing same-sex marriage would inevitably lead to group marriages involving “three men and two women or any combination thereof.”
He insisted that LGBTQ people could never be a family: “They have freedom to behave in the ways that they do, but they cannot be a family. They cannot be married.” (Dobson, 2004).
In The New Strong-Willed Child (2006), he framed nondiscrimination protections as a public safety threat, suggesting that allowing gay and trans people access to bathrooms would put “every woman and little girl” at risk of sexual assault or harassment.
In 2017, he endorsed the Nashville Statement, which declared it sinful to affirm LGBTQ identities (Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 2017).
Please note: two-spirit and LGBTQIA+ was not referred to in Dr. James Dobson’s anti-LGBTQ crusades because he ignored two-spirit, intersex, and asexual identities in his anti-LGBTQ work. On rare occasion, he referenced these identities, but to focus on these identities would topple his previous anti-LGBTQ tenants for his work.
Focus on the Family and Political Power
Dobson’s words carried weight not just in evangelical homes, but in United States politics. Under his leadership, Focus on the Family became one of the most powerful lobbying organizations of Christian Nationalism.
The group spent millions of dollars campaigning against same-sex marriage in the 1990s and 2000s.
It supported “Defense of Marriage” amendments across the U.S.
It promoted “bathroom bills” in the 2010s that targeted transgender people.
It worked to undermine nondiscrimination protections at both state and federal levels (Washington Post, 2025).
Dobson provided the intellectual and theological framework for anti-LGBTQ policy, cloaking discrimination in the language of family, morality, and Christian faith.
For the Strong-Willed Children
I have written a eulogy, not for Dr. James Dobson but for the children he harmed in his books, broadcasting, and family programming:
For the strong-willed children whose parents justified your pain. Your strength was never a flaw. It was your fire that lit you up to shine.
For the strong-willed children who were called defiant. Your defiance was not sin—it was confidence. Your confidence helped you stand up every time you were knocked down.
For the strong-willed children who were told pain would purify you. You were never toxic. They were. You were whole from the start.
For the strong-willed children whose tears were beaten out of you. You deserve to cry freely, not from fear, but from love and release.
For the strong-willed children accused of “looking for a fight.” That was projection. You were fighting to exist as yourself. You deserve peace.
For the LGBTQ+ children who heard his words and believed you were broken. You were never broken. It was their moral compass that was broken. You are worthy to live shamelessly.
A Final Word
James Dobson spent his life insisting that fear equals love, that breaking a child’s spirit equals saving them, that erasing two-spirit and LGBTQIA+ people equals righteousness. But every strong-willed child and every queer person he sought to erase has proven him wrong simply by existing, by growing into adults who still claim their dignity, their voice, and their worth.
References
AP News. (2025, August 21). James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder and key leader on the Christian right, dies at 89. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/51a9dbf50e26eaee2ac01d457e9d46aa
Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. (2017). The Nashville statement. https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/
Dobson, J. C. (1970). Dare to discipline. Tyndale House Publishers.
Dobson, J. C. (1978/1992). The strong-willed child. Tyndale House Publishers.
Dobson, J. C. (1996). Love must be tough: New hope for marriages in crisis. Tyndale House Publishers.
Dobson, J. C. (2004). Marriage under fire: Why we must win this battle. Multnomah.
Dobson, J. C. (2006). The new strong-willed child. Tyndale House Publishers.
The Cut. (2018, October 17). The evangelical obsession with corporal punishment. New York Magazine. https://www.thecut.com/article/the-evangelical-obsession-with-corporal-punishment.html
Washington Post. (2025, August 21). James Dobson, influential voice of the religious right, dies at 89. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2025/08/21/james-dobson-dead-focus-on-the-family/
Wikipedia contributors. (2025, August 21). James Dobson. In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dobson
