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Personal development, coaching, psychological problems… Podcasts on good (or bad) being are among the most listened to in France since Covid but some claim to be therapeutic without legitimacy, observers worry.
If, on social networks, false information has free rein, “the podcast market is more shared”, notes Pierre de Bremond d’Ars, general practitioner and president of the healthcare collective No FaKeMed.
He welcomes the success of the scientific programs of France Inter or France Culture and welcomes the podcast “Méta de choc” by Élisabeth Feytit, launched in 2019, which warns in particular of the abuses of parallel therapies.
The big machines are called “Metamorphosis, awaken your consciousness!” (4th most listened to podcast in 2023, with 1.16 million monthly downloads on average, according to the Alliance for Press and Media Figures, ACPM) or “Emotions” (371,305 downloads in March 2024).
The latter was born in 2019. Its founders, journalists Charlotte Pudlowski and Mélissa Bounoua, noted that there was “a lack of serious media” on this theme while there is “a real need”, one in five French people being affected in her life by psychological disorders, explains the latter to AFP.
But many of these contents — “Les mals bleus” (2021), “Encoreheureux” (2022) — appeared after the pandemic and its consequences on the mental health of the French.
Scientific knowledge and pseudo-science
Feminist, environmentalist and anti-racist struggles have also “drawn the spotlight on the notion of well-being,” journalist Lauren Bastide, who launched “Folie Douce” in February, told AFP.
This receives personalities who “remove a taboo” by talking about their mental health. Like Mélissa Bounoua, she insists on her “work as a journalist”: “I am not a coach or psychologist”.
In “Metamorphosis”, Anne Ghesquière has been inviting philosophers, psychiatrists and theologians since 2019. “Experts who are well established,” she assures AFP, citing the media psychiatrists Christophe André and doctor Frédéric Saldmann.
The author of “Go, live and become aware of yourself” (Eyrolles, 2023) claims a “biodiversity of words” with safeguards: she does not deal with mental pathologies.
But this “holistic vision” irritates Élisabeth Feytit because “it blurs the lines between scientific knowledge and pseudo-sciences such as sophrology, naturopathy, numerology, psychogenealogy”.
Certain podcasts convey “a lot of false and dangerous things”, warns the creator of “Méta de choc”, who recalls that “Métamorphose” received the psychiatrist Olivier Chambon, a follower of shamanism who calls into question the psychiatric pharmacopoeia, or the raw foodist Thierry Casasnovas, indicted for illegal practice of medicine.
“Métamorphose” is “not intended to replace a consultation”, insists Anne Ghesquière, who claims more than 72 million plays.
“Gurus 2.0”
Élisabeth Feytit also highlights “Life is enough” by Chloé Bloom, followed by 335,000 people on Instagram. The influencer “offers all the trendy practices” (hypnosis, meditation or sensory isolation) which “can harm mental health”, according to her.
Contacted by AFP, Chloé Bloom did not react.
Miviludes, which fights against sectarian aberrations, told AFP that it had not received any reports concerning “Metamorphosis” or “Life is enough”.
However, at the end of 2022, she highlighted the risk of abuses in mindfulness meditation and personal development, “particularly among people suffering from psychological pathologies”.
“The health crisis was a catalyst through a proliferation of new players“, these “2.0 gurus” “mastering the web and its codes” and “exploiting fears, loss of bearings“, explains the organization.
The podcast market is growing: 306 million downloads in France in 2023, or 9% more than in 2022, and 436 new podcasts out of the 842 certified, according to the APCM.
Gold “the controls are more difficult than with writing. There is no way to verify everything on a large scale“, notes Pierre de Bremond d’Ars. Listeners can, however, send a report to Arcom, the audiovisual regulator – with a Podcast Observatory since 2022 – or to broadcasters (Apple, Google, Spotify …).
Free podcasts are ad-supported. “Folie Douce” also offers paid versions of its newsletter, “Métamorphose” and Chloé Bloom promote their coaching.