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I hate magical thinking. I most especially hate magical thinking around mental illness and mental health. And that's because magical thinking actually harms people with mental illness, people like me. And many, people believe in magical thinking without realizing it. In fact, whole bestselling books have been written and devoured that posit magical thinking (the Secret, anyone?). So let's dismantle magical thinking and stop it from harming people with mental illness.
Step on a crack, break you mother's back.
A black cat is a sign of bad luck.
Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck.
Most of us understand the ridiculous nature of the above statements. We can recognize them as superstitions and illogical. Of course, stepping on a crack doesn't break your mother's back. Of course, randomly seeing a black cat doesn't mean anything. Of course, breaking a mirror doesn't do anything to you for seven years. Those things are ridiculous. If you truly believe any of those things, that would be an example of magical thinking.
But if magical thinking is so ridiculous and obvious, then how can it be harmful? After all, if you decide to throw salt over your shoulder in the kitchen, who are you really hurting?
In that case, no one, of course. The problem is the more modern forms of magical thinking. The one that comes up all the time is the law of attraction. It's the idea that like attracts like. It's been called the "most powerful law in the universe." Many people buy into many aspects of it but it's based around positive thinking attracting positive things into your life.
But there are other forms of magical thinking too. For example, have you ever heard of a vision board? It's this idea that if you envision something that you want, put together a board that represents that thing and then look at that board every day that thing will "manifest" in your life.
Want a Ferrari? No problem. All you have to do is put a bunch of pictures of a Ferrari together, maybe a picture of you standing next to a Ferrari, and then "the universe will provide."
What it comes down to is that people want to believe they have control over their lives. They want to believe they can "put something out into the universe" and the "universe will provide." Similarly, they want to believe by never putting something negative out into the universe, that negative thing will never happen. They want to believe they have control over their future so that it's a good future and so that bad things won't happen to them.
The worst thing about it is that magical thinking puts the onus on others to think magically and if they don't then the bad things that happen are their fault. This automatically leads to blaming people with mental illness for not thinking magically. They obviously aren't doing it or aren't doing it right if they got a mental illness.
So it's not bad enough to have a life-threatening illness like bipolar disorder, now it's my fault for not believing in superstition. This is a huge amount of harm. Feeling like you're to blame for a devastating illness is horrific.
But on top of that, it's all the little things. It's the idea that if you "thought positively" your medications would work. It's the idea that if you had a vision board, you would get better. It's the idea that not only the illness is your fault, but so is your lack of recovery.
People truly believe that their positive thinking, their magical thinking, will protect them from things like mental illness. But here's a wake-up call: it doesn't matter what you believe. Anyone can get cancer. Anyone can get a mental illness. Anyone can die a horrible death. It doesn't matter how positively you think. It doesn't matter how much "like" you try to attract.
I believe that magical thinking hurts everyone. It can stop people from taking real steps that can help get what they really want, while they just faithfully believe in magic.
But, regardless, what I really want is for people to stop forcing that false, magical thinking on people with real mental illnesses. We need better. We need science. We need medicine. We need doctors. We need things that will actually help us and not crappy Oprah-isms that help no one except the author of a 15-year-old book.
If you insist on believing in the tooth fairy, Santa Clause and the danger of stepping on cracks, that's your business, but keep that nonsense away from people dealing with illnesses that could actually kill them. It's not our fault that we have these illnesses. Positivity had nothing to do with it. And positivity won't fix the situation either.
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
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Your posts are always so well written and helpful. I, too, have been so irritated at the religious folks who say things like, “If you have enough faith you’ll be healed.” Leaving the person in despair when they are not only not healed, but also now ashamed of themselves. I have a small and misshapen place in my brain that regulates my mood. No amount of sunshine, happy thoughts or fairytales is going to change that. I need support for who I am, not for what someone else thinks I should be.
Thanks, Natasha. Good post.
I think you’re being a little too negative here. Yes magical thinking on it’s own isn’t helpful to people with mental illness, but if you sprinkle a little in it helps. Like anything else it’s a tool when used properly. I’m bipolar and have been stable on my meds now for a few years, I’ve been working with the same therapist for 6 years and the mantras have helped me replace negative self talk and self depreciating behaviors. I’ll always be bipolar and need my doctor and meds but that doesn’t mean I can’t put positive vibes in the world or mean I won’t have days that are more difficult. I have a little motivational poster that says “A bad days doesn’t mean a bad life. Tomorrow will be different” and it really sums up how I’ve learned to live with my bipolar.
Hi!
Well said! One of my friends ( she lives in a different country so I can’t help her much) has serious mental health issues, most likely bi-polar. She is the most beautiful human being, but you can clearly see how she starts spiraling down :( First she starts to talk about ancestors, her being a relative of king Arthur, then it goes further about her being a higher being, spiritual and it ends up her ” seeing ghosts”. When she has a stable period,she totally refuses to have medication, because she says it’s a spiritual awakening, and she wants to cleanse her body, going on weird diets, to the point where her body just gets seriously ill. It is so sad to see that this caused her to lose her job, daughter, marriage and most of her friends :(
Hi Natasha. I am new to your blog and looking forward to reading more. You have taken the words right out of my mouth on this topic! If I have to hear “manifestation” again to overcome my “life choice” …….. It’s all very well and good when we are on an even playing field, but if we are off the scale then no amount of hot air can help us.
So true! Other forms of magical thinking are even widely accepted societal pressures such as: that person just needs Jesus, if that person prayed more they would be better, or they are bringing trouble on themselves because they don’t believe “right.”
Thanks for the non-magical logical writing. It’s good to read. / bill
Spot on, well said!
Hi Harry,
Thank you :)
– Natasha Tracy