He mental suffering it’s a market niche. From Ana Obregón’s duel to Shakira’s spite in reggaeton format, going through the fan of Prince Harry’s grievances, sharing anguish, abuse and duels ‘bill’. Behind, the smartest brands follow the foam with ‘real time marketing’ exercises. There are Twingo, Cassio, Lidl or Ikea, who have uploaded memes in tow of the ‘Session #53’ of the Colombian and BZRP. And while express therapy ‘apps’ and ‘online’ platforms multiply, such as TherapyChat, They provide ‘Ryders Psychologists’ and include the gift card option.
According to sociologist Mariano Urraco, the market explodes testimonials that many times are exaggerations and above all, trivializations of real problems. “They are perfect versions of the drama, because it is not ‘I’m bad, I disappear from the networks’ but rather ‘I am dosing it to retain and increase audiences’ (Shakira has four singles in 10 months; Obregón, at least half a dozen covers of ‘Hola!’ since the illness of his son Aless and Harry sold 1.4 million of the book ‘In the shadow’ in the first 24 hours).
malaise show
The former Olympic swimmer Nuria Ayala, who lost his 13-year-old son Miquel five years ago in an accident, does not judge Obregón’s preparation of mourning – “everyone lives it as they can” – but the “spectacularization” bothers him. Silvia García, a mental health trainer from Madrid and a ‘survivor’ of psychosis herself, agrees: “Nothing to say about his grief, which is terrible, but Obregón speaks from privilege, from the possibility of finding a ‘solution’ in the market (and on top of that he says that he has not used drugs or therapy)“.
‘Escape room’ of pain
“Faced with this narrative of mental suffering -García continues-, I have the impression of entering an ‘escape room’ full of special effects”. A problematic case, points out the trainer, is that of the humorist Ángel Martín, who has had 15 editions of the book ‘Por si las voces vuelven’, which “He sells that mental suffering is cool and that it makes those affected wonder ‘if he has recovered in 10 sessions, why not me?“. “The glamorization of the drama installs the idea that, if it goes away, it is not so serious either”, qualifies Urraco. Thus, the rest of the population –the ‘healthy’ ones– do not have the complete map of health severity. “Talking about discomforts has become the new talk of the time”, warn the psychiatrist Marta Carmona and the family doctor Javier Padilla, authors of the book ‘Malestamos’ (Captain Swing).
To all this, “People with mental suffering are worse than ever; first, because there are ‘categories’ within suffering and, second, because a part of the resources that were allocated to people with intense suffering are shared with others with social suffering”. Carmona and Padilla emphasize that, in reality, it has to do with the conditions of life –they say–, but where we do not feel capable of changing the conditions of life, biological determinism appears”.
question of metrics
And Lilie Chouliaraki, an expert in mediating human vulnerability and suffering at the London School of Economics, explains that the privilege of being recognized as a ‘victim’ is not granted equally. “Hierarchies of social power are reproduced, privileging the voice of the powerful while that of those who most need to be heard goes unnoticed”. And in the first third of the 21st century, “the recognition languages they adapt to the digital market requirementswrapping the therapeutic encounters in metrics“.
The algorithm knows what matters: emotions. And while it is true that there is genuine awe in the face of a drama, many heat up popcorn to enjoy the show. It is not new, but it has been updated. Franc Carreras, who advised pop artists like Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart, and today he is a professor of digital marketing at Esade, assures that the ‘pain strategy‘ is bread for today and hungry for tomorrow. “They generate immediate attention, a ‘let’s see what happens’, but it’s like fast food, it gives you instant satisfaction and then your belly hurts.” And he attributes the “fault” to leaving in the hands of celebrities a mobile with which they can, without control, reach their audiences.
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This ‘fast food’ consumption of suffering is justified, according to experts, because “people are wrong”. “But instead of wondering about the shitty job he has, he identifies with the discomfort of others. We are individualizing the collective”, says Silvia García. Carmona and Padilla call for “politicizing the malaise”, taking it out of the sphere of the intimate and placing it in the debate, because “it has to do with unlivable lives, impossible work days and damaged ties because parents can’t spend time with their children”. Spain allocates 30 million euros per year to psychoactive drugs and sick leave when, for example, “it is known that The best way to prevent suicide is the minimum income”Garcia points out.
“In the end, power benefits, which is what determines what issues are put on the table and how they must be addressed,” Urraco points out. “It generates a type of emotional, sentimental citizenship and easier to manipulate“. And destroys the social fabric because an individualistic society that does not fight for the collective is fostered”. The authors of ‘Malestamos’ conclude: “The solution is not individual psychotherapy for slaves, it is to abolish slavery”.