Women are flocking to wellness because modern medicine still doesn ’t take them seriously - Quartz

The wellness movement is having a moment. The more luxurious aspects of it were on full display last weekend at the inaugural summitof Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop, from crystal therapy to $66 jade eggs meant to be worn in the vagina. Meanwhile, juice cleanses,"clean eating," and hand-carved lamps made of pink Himalayan salthave all gone decidedly mainstream. I myself will cop to having participated in a sound bath —basically meditating for 90 minutes in a dark room while listening to gongs and singing bowls. (I felt amazingly weird afterward, in the best possible way.)It seems that privileged women in the US have created their own alternative health-care system —with few of its treatments having been tested for efficacy, or even basic safety. It's easy to laugh at the dubious claims of the wellness industrial complex, and reasonable to worry about the health risks involved. But the forces behind the rise of oxygen bars and detox diets are worth taking seriously —because the success of the wellness industry is a direct response to a mainstream medical establishment that frequently dismisses and dehumanizes women.To be fair, the American health-care system is generally unpleasant for everyone: impersonal, harried, and incredibly expensive."The doctor-patient relationship has been slowly eroding, not only with specialization and the fact that people now see panels of doctors, but because emergency rooms are slammed, there are insurance-cov...
Source: Psychology of Pain - Category: Anesthesiology Source Type: blogs