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Raw foodism, Scientology, wellness salons… In France, there are numerous holistic and spiritual movements that surf on people’s quest for meaning and flirt with sectarian excesses. For a year, Le Figaro journalist Etienne Jacob decided to observe various movements by infiltrating training courses. The result is a shocking book which confirms that the health of the followers is in danger. Doctissimo asked him 3 questions.
Etienne Jacob. I don’t know if I wanted to “check” anything. On the other hand, this infiltration technique allows us to have the most authentic testimonies possible in movements on the fringes. Freed from the label of the journalist, we can see the distress of the followers present, what is sought in these movements, the magnetism of the gurus implemented and how they get hold of their “victims”. My choice (whether it is the raw food movement of Irène Grosjean, Scientology, Raël or Herbalife…) fell on movements known to as many people as possible for a more concerning subject (even if smaller movements can involve larger drifts). I was also interested in the excesses around health and spirituality, the themes that spoke to me here, but not in the derivatives of religions for example which are yet another subject.
What were the most memorable experiences?
For me, the strongest immersion experienced was in the course of Irène Grosjean (a naturopath who advocates eating raw, Editor’s note) because it was mind-blowing to realize that a single course intends to deconstruct everything that we learned in terms of health, in our lives”eating cooked is eating dead”, “proteins are not necessary”, “you have to purge yourself to remove the ‘glue’ that food has put in your body” were tirelessly repeated. We also have a permanent, low-key discourse, this visceral hostility towards conventional medicine, which insists that doctors are not there to treat you.
In terms of mental health, however, it was Scientology that seemed the most dangerous to me. I was treated to a “dianetics” session, which requires remembering a painful memory again and again to get better (even though it is proven that the method causes trauma), and rejects everything about psychiatry, suggesting this method costs several thousand euros over years as the solution. For my part, I came away with thoughts of suicide. The Church is also being prosecuted for tragedies.
Among the risks involved, is the health of fans particularly in danger?
Yes, because on the one hand by seeking to denounce medicine which can only stop the disease and not cure it, and by proposing their solutions, by positing their truth (whether they believe in it or not) this leads to a loss of chances among people ready to turn away from medicine, particularly in cancer situations. Remember that in the raw eating movement, the naturopath Miguel Barthéléry, for example, is condemned for the death of a patient who stopped his treatment and followed his “plan” based on fruits. But all this does not deter the followers, on the contrary, who take the side of these gurus (if we harass them, it is because they are right!)
The reality is that these victims are sometimes dragged for 30 years in a movement and face the wall of reality. When you realize that it was just a hoax, that your health and your assets were taken, it’s violent. When you have decided in addition to stopping chemo to follow courses costing 2,000 euros which intend to treat you through meditation, or that you hope to walk again thanks to a course with a star chiropractor, the loss of luck represents the worst risk of these sectarian excesses, without a doubt.