Oh very good @BSintolerant! More snigger-worthy “content” on this thread.
Less funny is the whole manifestation thought control. That paragraph is nail on the head @PieonaBarm. The last bit about being worse off is so true. Manifesting is at best pointless and at worse really damaging. To believe that you can in some way control the randomness of the external world and what happens to you is a psychological short cut to real distress, and if you’re already vulnerable from a MH perspective then “unsuccessful” manifesting and the victim blaming and self blame that comes with it could potentially be catastrophic.
It’s why I worry for Nurse - because she seems vulnerable in a number of ways, and worry about Nurse - delivering therapy to secondary care patients and potentially passing on the idea that they have more agency over their mental illness when in reality they really have very little and that blocking negative thinking will change outcomes and failure to do so is on them. Let’s face it, if she thinks it’s wise to school her own child in this twaddle then she isn’t going to be making good decisions with patients.
I’ve seen the results of forced positive thinking and fear of negative thoughts in depression, often from people who have tried fixes like The Secret. It’s also provides a basis for the type of intrusive thoughts and sense of over-responsibility for preventing bad or negative things in OCD; that thoughts have power and a bad thought is dangerous and must be overlaid by “good” thoughts. Of course there are many circumstances and many factors in depression or in OCD but people I’ve seen who have been schooled in manifestation and toxic positivity have even more work to do to accept that realistic thinking (never mind negative thinking) is not dangerous and that to fail is human.
Nurse is a classic case isn’t she? Manifesting has taken her off a sensible path and encouraged her to set aside realistic and helpful goals and plans in favour of magical thinking. While she’s been distracted by manifesting none of the things she wants have materialised (rather the opposite) but the whole concept is so mired in confirmation bias that should the thought “I hope there is a parking space” cross her mind, and then there happens to be a space, this becomes confirmation that manifesting can work. There is no need to face the uncomfortable reality that we all live by chance with very little within our control.
Here’s a direct quote from Byrne regarding cancer patients,
‘Illness cannot exist in a body that has harmonious thoughts’.
Can Nurse and the other manifesting bots really get behind that statement?