TW: This article contains mentions of mental illness, sexual assault, and concepts that some may find disturbing. If you, or someone you know, are affected, help is available here.
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The practice of manifestation is a concept that has become increasingly popular, especially among girls and young women, over the past few years. While being intertwined with journaling, gratitude, and all-around optimism can mean manifestation presents itself as a harmless positivity practice, a darker side goes unmentioned that can negatively impact so many of its followers, something I never see talked about or disclaimed on both social media and literature on the topic. This desperately needs to change for the sake of its target audience.
Manifestation: your thoughts become reality
For those unfamiliar with the sensation, manifestation is a spiritual practice that has made its debut in the Western World through literature such as Vex King’s ‘Good Vibes, Good Life‘ and Rhonda Byrne’s ‘The Secret‘, creeping its way into pop culture through social media influencers’ endorsement.
The practice itself revolves around the Law of Attraction suggesting that, with faith in a universal power, whichever of your thoughts you spend the greatest energy on and investment in will manifest into tangible existence. An example used in Amazon Prime’s adaptation of ‘The Secret’ is one man who, when experiencing financial hardship, created a vision board. In the middle was a picture of a large, expensive house, something he aspired to eventually be able to afford and live in. He claims to have ‘made it’ through his practice of manifestation, determination and hard work and finally moves into a big house in a wealthy area only to find out he has bought the exact house he pinned to his vision board all those years earlier, after repeatedly affirming to the universe that he ‘lives in a big house’. Essentially, manifestation promises to bring your thoughts into reality, and that this happens whether you are aware of it or not, all the time, regardless of whether you are conscious or unconscious in your thoughts. It preaches that coincidence is simply the denial of its existence; everything that comes into your life is a result of your thoughts and the level of energy you pour into them.
my Problem
Manifestation relies on this idea that your thoughts are not, in fact, just thoughts: they have power. When addressing negative events, believers often attribute these to the fault of the individual, claiming they unintentionally manifested the incidence through focussing their energy on negative thoughts. I remember watching a YouTube video on this when I was younger, and the young woman stating ‘You’re all going to say “well I didn’t manifest that car crash!” Well, I would argue you did, by focussing, even in your subconscious, something you don’t want to happen, you manifest it’.
“Remember that your thoughts are the primary cause of everything”
Rhonda Byrne, ‘The Secret’
For those with any background knowledge on cognitive distortions, particularly those associated with Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD), with which I have first hand experience, this begins to strongly resemble magical thinking.
I remember reading Vex King’s ‘Good Vibes, Good Life’ and his explanation on why not to worry about negative thoughts because ‘positive thoughts have 20 x more power’ (or something equally ridiculous along those lines). Those who have experience with magical thinking will know, this only encourages the delusion that you need to ‘counteract’ your negative/ intrusive thoughts and cancel them out, that they are your responsibility to control.
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For example, when I was around 7 (and grossly undiagnosed) I remember hanging the washing out in the garden with my dad, when I experienced an intrusive thought that I wished he was dead (in hindsight this probably had much to do with a close family friend passing away, but that is completely irrelevant here!).
I was so cripplingly terrified that this would manifest into reality and felt such a magnitude of responsibility on my shoulders. It was up to me to keep him alive.
In line with the ‘Pink Elephant Theory‘ (the more you try not to think about pink elephants, the more you think about them) my fear at the power of this thought only made it repeatedly rehearse itself in my head, so I devised a plan: for every ‘I wish my dad was dead’, ‘I want to die’, and any other intrusive thought that may be plaguing my mind at that given time I would consciously and continuously repeat ‘I don’t want _________’… Over… And over… And over… From the second I woke up until I went to sleep to stop the negative thoughts from being able to get in.
Of course my negative and shameful thoughts had no power to control anything but my emotions, in reality, thoughts are just thoughts! But it becomes explicitly obvious how manifestation completely plays into this narrative that your thoughts have power and it is your responsibility to control that. The harmful effects of manifestation go much further than myself, Sian Ferguson relays in her article ‘My Life With OCD: When You Fear Manifesting Negative thoughts‘ (which is a brilliant read) “I read ‘The Secret’ at the age of 12, a few months after I was sexually assaulted. I sincerely believed that I had attracted the rape into my life”.
“I sincerely believed that I had attracted the rape into my life.”
Sian Fergusson, ‘My Life With OCD’
This becomes increasingly concerning when noticing that the target age bracket for manifestation aligns with those most susceptible to developing OCD symptoms. Since people are born with a susceptibility to the disorder (or not), it has to be triggered by something. Most diagnoses occur (in women) around age 21, but symptoms have usually occurred for ~10 years prior, with particular increase surrounding the birth of their first child. The immense responsibility that comes with having a child and being completely and inarguably responsible for another human triggers many with no prior symptoms or tendencies. It is quite common for maternal OCD to arise as visions of stabbing your child, a horrific image for any parent, made unbearable by the addition of the manifestation concept to the mix.
I fear the main issue in this instance is not necessarily those who are aware of themselves experiencing cognitive distortions and/ or OCD tendencies, but those with no prior knowledge of OCD who are exposed to this highly popular craze, such as the teenage girl (who thinks OCD is just liking things clean) scrolling through Instagram or reading Influencers’ books — who already feels so much newfound responsibility– now believes her thoughts are not her own. I don’t think manifestation is something to be banished or even discouraged, in many cases I believe it truly provides an outlet for many to practice positivity, gratitude and assess their goals. I even believe that unwavering confidence, and a positive attitude that something you want will happen, can help tremendously to get you there. However, I think SO much more awareness needs to be made available surrounding mental illness, toxic positivity and victim blaming and how they all play into manifestation’s design.
Overcoming Obsessive Compulsive disorder, David Veale – I highly recommend this book to anyone affected by OCD.
Practicing manifestation with ocd
Whilst I don’t think this is the best idea, like I said, I am aware of manifestation’s ability to help so many people, I would encourage those who want to go ahead with the practice to work on separating their conscious thoughts from their unconscious ones. YOU CANNOT CONTROL YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS and that voice in your head is NOT YOU, nor does it reflect your desires or beliefs… usually quite the opposite. Most importantly, it will not manifest into your life. Being able to differentiate this is something that anyone with an internal monologue (~25% of the population) struggle with, it takes years of practice and will never be completely mastered; it takes constant work. But it’s worth it when you don’t have to fight against yourself every day.
be the change you wish to see
Even though manifestation is a positivity practice, the risk associated with it should not be ignored. I am so sad to see this go unmentioned and, unless deliberately searching for the link myself, I have never come across any mention of its play into OCD. This leaves the most vulnerable people out of the loop and exposed to completely avoidable suffering, just having the awareness there is invaluable ammo that is completely missing from the information available on manifestation. I critically hope to see this change and that I am able to be a part of it.