“Train your mind for a healthy life”. The medicalization of mediatized mindfulness in the West

Abstract

The study analyses how the functions and purposes of mindfulness meditation practices are constructed in the narratives of the Headspace mobile application. The quantitative component deployed a semi-automatic, computer assisted text analysis of 964 posts on the Headspace blog, and involved topic modelling and keyword co-occurrence analysis. This step identified dominant topics within the sample, and key term associations, which informed the in-depth qualitative text analysis of the recordings of four Headspace meditation packs, and 45 blog posts written between 2014 and 2018. The analysis focused on identifying the narratives, defined as structured storylines with plots, actors, and attached meanings. The analysis has shown that in the Headspace narratives, the function and purpose of mindfulness is constructed with reference to science and medicine, which also positions the app and the services it offers among scientific achievements, rather than spirituality or alt-med movements. The medical authoritative framework manifests itself in links to research, and referring to problems and solutions in medical or therapeutic terms. Apart from the medicalization of the practice, its healthicization is also manifested in the repetitive encouragement to monitor one’s health and actively improve one’s wellbeing. In effect, the narratives associate taking care of one’s health with the morally desirable behavior. The study concludes that the medicalization and healthicization of mindfulness identified in the app narratives shift the meaning and function of the practice from spiritual growth and enlightenment to a “will to health” and the obligation of constant self-monitoring.