I think she contravenes all the ethical guidelines laid down by the BPS and the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. And therapy doesn’t come as one size fits all, it’s a bit like what Ana Bey does, preying on the vulnerable and less educated, parting them from their money on the promise of a life like her’s.I also bought the course and didn’t find it very helpful - it felt like armchair psychology at best.
Leaving aside some of her addictive and narcissistic tendencies, I think she imagines she does care about others. And she does care about her own kids(of course). So of course, nothing is black and white.
However and it is a big however, it does look like she is fleecing less fortunate, less educated, less privileged women. As a previous poster said, charging ludicrous prices for self help booklets when you can spend a tenner on a full book on Amazon.
Granted it’s expensive to see a therapist one on one. But perhaps she imagines she can commoditise an entire profession...?
But how ludicrous for people to buy into this? Beyond some basic general advice that you can read in many places, ie ‘love yourself/be kind/let go of others expectations’ - the whole point of therapy is the context of you, your life, all the things that make your experience different from the next. It is a deeply intimate unwrapping of who you are.
Sadly, if it’s done at a skin deep level, ie., a social media level, i think it can be more damaging than not. I can’t imagine Ana believes her followers read her course/her posts/even buy the darn book and then leave her site. She knows they won’t, she knows she has them where she wants them. Searching for more Ana therapy.
Our personalities, our context, is what leads us to how we behave and lead our lives. And our contexts are as different as our individual personality.
Yes there are things that make us very similar but she is praying on the very thing that makes her different to her followers - ‘ i got this... by the way..I have a beautiful house, beautiful little kids, a fabulous husband BUT...listen to me...you can be like me too..if you buy my brand.’
If her backdrop was different - ie, not a very beautiful house, money actually being a bit tight, no domestic help or childcare, no time for exercise and glamming up (as knackered and feeling exhausted) it would be a very different fan base.
Anyway, I am stating the blooming obvious. Rant over. Nearly - charging what she has charged is not on. And I can’t imagine the British Psychological Society would be thrilled.
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