Are They Really A Healer Or….

This is a cranky, elder millennial rant, so fair warning. There is this thing that I’ve been seeing more and more on social media where a lot of clinical psychology and mental health terminology/ concepts have been adopted and bastardized by people, particularly the New Age spiritual girlies and what I guess you could call “self-help influencers.” While on the surface it isn’t technically a bad thing, because it kind of speaks to society shifting to viewing mental health and emotional issues as real, worthy of examining, and beneficial to heal. There are also a lot of people with more than a surface-level understanding of this subject matter that do give very good, research-backed, and helpful advice as well as offer reliable resources.  

You can easily find how some of these trend over the years by checking the rates in which they are searched. 

The downside really comes into play when the terminologies and concepts aren’t used correctly or responsibly. There is either no follow-up with actionable coping mechanisms or treatment options, or the treatment options are harmful or generalized. These types of accounts/influencers/people aren’t interested in actual healing work, destigmatizing mental illness, or helping anyone for that matter. They have seen that this is a trending topic and a fertile target market and use the general public’s desperation, lack of access to quality mental health care, and overall ignorance about mental illness to garner engagement, market themselves, and sell products.

These types have repackaged victim-blaming and wrapped it in words like karma, divine feminine/masculine, twin flames, and vibrations. Somehow you are failing and at fault for not just manifesting your way out of depression and anxiety. Somehow the negative and oftentimes, traumatic experiences that shaped your formative years should no longer matter because you’re an adult. Somehow, you have attracted and allowed the abuse that you may have faced from others. And if you reject these ideas it’s because you lack accountability, aren’t trying hard enough, or are a sheep that has fallen for the lies of some shadowy entity of the elite that wants to keep you from true enlightenment. 

It is advantageous for their audience to remain believing that they are broken, unworthy, unenlightened, and “low vibrational.” They continue to berate their audiences in soft tones and sugar-coated poison. People will doubt themselves because “why would a high vibrating, empath want to cause pain.” These aren’t empaths my friends. They are spiritual gurus, They are priests or priestesses. They are charlatans. They are predators. They are dangerous. 

They benefit from keeping their audiences in a circular pattern of realization, guilt, shame, aha moments, and the need to do more “inner/shadow work.” This is different from the understanding that healing is not linear and has peaks and valleys. They are the diet industry of mental and spiritual wellness. Some practices are more harmful than others, some practices can show short-term results, but in the grand scheme, their success is predicated on making their audiences feel as awful about themselves as possible. You won’t get repeat clientele if what you offered the first time was a permanent fix. 

While a lot of these people have had no experience even living with a mental illness, working with individuals that have, or studying mental health outside of a 101 psych class, some do. I’m definitely someone who believes we should be able to share our experiences, but I also believe we have a responsibility to frame what we say correctly. I do my best to state upfront that I am talking from my own point of view and that what has worked or not worked for me isn’t universal for everyone. However, not everyone does this. The first such group that comes to mind are those that are anti-medication. They aren’t just anti-medication for themselves, but also for everyone else. Doesn’t matter if people who take medication tell them that it has improved the quality of their lives or even saved them. They are stuck on demonizing, not just medication, but the people who take them. They rely on stoking fear and shaming those of us who choose the pharmacological route, simply because it wasn’t not a positive experience for them.

There are the “holistic” warriors who tell you that schizophrenia can be solved with an alkaline diet and yoga. Or that if you simply “detoxed” (that’s a whole other can of worms) you would rid yourself of the symptoms of PTSD. Or you can treat an eating disorder with seamoss and sungazing. (I’m being hyperbolic, but I know most of us have seen some sort of variation of these). You and I may easily be able to brush this type of talk off as being ridiculous or a band-aid solution, but not everyone can. Particularly people who are desperate for help but don’t have the means, access, or understanding of how to find a professional to diagnose and treat them. 

There can be and there is a healthy balance that can be struck between Western medicine, holistic medicine, and spiritual practices that will benefit one’s mental health. It’s a bit of a trial and error process, but it’s possible. However, the way to find that balance has been tainted by people looking to soothe their own egos and/or make a quick buck.