From DSM to Algorithm: Who profits when you blame yourself?
I have been reading Jenara Nurenber'g’s Divergent Mind over the past few weeks. This book is aimed at neurodivergent women in particular, but in the first few chapters it discusses the history of the mental health field and where those of us who are sensitive, emotional and soft land in the spectrum of mentally well and mentally ill.
The mental health profession as we see it today in Western society was built and guided by white, cisgender men and anyone else was not allowed to be “officially” in the field. The first documented woman, Mary Whiton Calkin, to complete a doctoral program in psychology in 1890 was not allowed to have the degree due to her gender. It has only been in the past 50 some odd years that women, queer people and people of the global majority have been able to be in the profession (although we know we were providing healing and mental health care long before this).
In Divergent Mind it discusses how the white men who shaped the field systemically converted qualities and responses like softness, emotionality and natural responses to harm as symptoms and diagnostic criteria.
And who bore the brunt of those labels? Women, queer people, people of the global majority. These qualities like “sensitivity” and “gentleness” became symptoms to keep power, control and violence. We see evidence of this in things like “hysteria” for women who had appropriate responses to the ideocracy they have had to endure from men for centuries, “Runaway Slave Syndrome” coined in 1851 and used for decades after for enslaved black people who appropriately hated the abuse and torture they were enduring at the hands of white enslavers, homosexuality being added to the DSM in 1952 for full grown, consenting adults loving and living with other full grown, consenting adults of the same gender, and most recently “Trump Derangement Syndrome” being popularized via propaganda as well as “Empathy” being labeled a “sin” and “toxic” amongst white, christian nationalists so that violence can persist.
The Healers Fight for Liberation.
So this got me thinking about where we are today with mental health care. When we (people of the global majority, queers, women) started to gain access to the mental health field over the last half-century, things started changing. We looked at our clients, patients, communities and said , “You are not disordered. The system is”.
We began unpacking how capitalism, patriarchy, racism and misogyny profit off of individual people hating themselves, staying unhealed and burning out. We taught people about how these systems are creating harm to them, their friends and family, their communities and the world as a whole. We started teaching people to slow down, build healthy boundaries and communication, to love themselves and those around them and how to push back against systemic pressure. We started speaking up and speaking out in the mental health field. We were changing the field in wonderful, beautiful, meaningful and impactful ways. Finally - people can heal, grow, rest, love and fight back. We can and will change these systems, for they are harming us. We are not broken.
The Corporate Backlash
I can’t help but to look at the history of the field and make connections to what is happening today. Why the system is pushing back so hard on the mental health field. Approximately 75% of mental health workers are women and it is no surprise that the current U.S. administration is labeling it “not professional”. (Remember above: women = soft, sensitive = disordered and unwell").
Insurance companies and VC backed platforms/directories continue to significantly lower pay rates for mental health workers and therapists and not signing contracts with individual practices while simultaneously, significantly increasing the cost of medical and mental health care. These companies are also funding, creating and promoting their AI “therapy” or “coaching” under the guise of accessible healthcare.
We are also seeing a surge in articles and media questioning therapists and the mental health field, trying to build distrust in our care and discredit our work. This is not to say that there are not harmful therapists in the world. There are harmful people in any and all industries; but you don’t see articles constantly being blasted about the dental industry or construction workers or churches and so on.
Lastly, I am noticing that there is also a push from these companies to revert back to a solely biomedical model of mental health care. Pushing screeners like the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 at every session to convince you that your distress is entirely internal, that you alone are clearly disordered. Take these screeners and take all these meds for all your disorders. Don’t look behind the curtain and see the wicked oligarchs controlling everything while knowing absolutely nothing about care, community, connection or peace.
The pushback is clear: control. Healers in many forms have always fought for liberation and freedom. Women, queer people, and people of the global majority (especially Black people, black women, black queer women) have been at the forefront of fighting for liberation and healing. We cannot let these companies undermine human-centered, decolonized therapy. Therapy is relational, human and rooted in community care - not an insurance company telling you your distress is your fault and yours alone to carry and to try box breathing while they destroy the world.
