The dark side of wellness

Unfixed prompt

“Wellness has both empowered and enslaved women.”

-Rina Raphael, author THE GOSPEL OF WELLNESS

Rina Raphael is an investigative journalist who specializes in all things health and wellness, and authored the relatively new book The Gospel of Wellness, an exploration of the multi-trillion-dollar wellness industry/godless spiritual movement, its role in women's lives, and the lengths many will go to “heal” themselves. Raphael exposes the dark side of the wellness boom, observing that wellness has become an “aspirational obsession for some and close to religious dogma for others.” Many identities, communities and lifestyles are now defined by this movement—rendering even my own journey of “unself-helping myself” sticky and layered.

And while, at its core, wellness retains good intentions, its been hijacked and distorted by consumer culture and exploded into an idealized state-of-being, preying on people’s insecurities and sending many, especially those gaslit or dismissed by the medical system, into a downward spiral of expensive hopelessness.

“Self-care promises salvation and deliverance from the evils of stress. But if it’s a toxic workplace, a meditation program isn’t going to fix it. A fitness app won’t solve the uneven distribution of housework within your marriage; CBD gummies will not enforce better childcare policies; bath salts won’t stop late-night work emails. Buy whatever makes you feel good, but realize that these are short-term mental Band-Aids that do not ensure long-term redemption. Wellness remedies help, but the problem is that they’re sold to the public as miraculous cure-alls.”

-Rina Raphael, author THE GOSPEL OF WELLNESS

• What does wellness mean to you?

• Has the wellness industry been helpful or harmful to you?

• How do you navigate your own well-being amidst false claims and promises?