Selling Wellness

Another article on the perils of selling wellness

I am very conscious of the potential harm of selling wellness and commodifying healthcare. I am constantly trying to navigate how to provide therapeutic interventions (in both a clinical and non clinical settings) while not buying into the model of deficit - that every person needs healing. And that, that healing is the responsibility and burden of the individual alone.

I think there are many reasons people benefit from and may want to engage in therapeutic interventions, and I believe that mindfulness can be a great intervention to alleviate the distress of strong emotions, uncomfortable physical sensations and unhelpful thinking styles.

However, what this article captures really well is the negative impact of attributing the cause of one's distress to the individual. The article highlights the ways in which mindfulness can enable and facilitate systems that cause harm, it highlights what happens when mindfulness is commodified and sold as a panacea to the masses.

"What remains is a tool of self-discipline, disguised as self-help. Instead of setting practitioners free, it helps them adjust to the very conditions that caused their problems. A truly revolutionary movement would seek to overturn this dysfunctional system, but mindfulness only serves to reinforce its destructive logic. The neoliberal order has imposed itself by stealth in the past few decades, widening inequality in pursuit of corporate wealth. People are expected to adapt to what this model demands of them. Stress has been pathologised and privatised, and the burden of managing it outsourced to individuals. Hence the pedlars of mindfulness step in to save the day.
 

But none of this means that mindfulness ought to be banned, or that anyone who finds it useful is deluded. Reducing suffering is a noble aim and it should be encouraged. But to do this effectively, teachers of mindfulness need to acknowledge that personal stress also has societal causes. By failing to address collective suffering, and systemic change that might remove it, they rob mindfulness of its real revolutionary potential, reducing it to something banal that keeps people focused on themselves".
 

Mindfulness and other 'yogic' or eastern practices can be incredibly useful, but as this article states these cannot be applied in isolation. Environments matter, context matters. We can't fix social problems through mindfulness alone. I personally find mindfulness a helpful technique - I have seen the little bit of ease it can create in people's lives - and research also suggests it is beneficial. However, I do not think it is a replacement for social and structural change. While the prevalence of mental illness is increasing in our population maybe instead of just creating more opportunities for mindfulness we also need to look at why there are such high rates of mental illness.

As a friend wrote to me recently, "I constantly feel like a hypocrite saying to people, "yes I know the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you, but what are you doing to help yourself cope..."". I echo his sentiment. Hence why I think it is important, especially for those of us who facilitate practices like mindfulness to think and speak about the negative impacts they may have.