Jung and Others on Our Disease-Care Industry
Doctors in general not only have a repugnance to reading voluminous books, they also have a regular horror of thinking, for which they have ceased to be trained ever since their high-school days.[1]
The accumulated greed of a nation becomes utterly uncontrollable unless counteracted by all the forces (civil and military) a government is equipped with. No suggestion works unless one is convinced of its power. Arguments are ineffectual.[2]
“From regarding the body as an object, it is a short step to regarding it as a commodity. It seems normal in the United States to see the body as a source of profit.”[3]
“In important areas, such as health care, the market provides a poor service. If the body is a site of profit, it is not a site of health. We need to understand our bodies, and treating them as commodities makes this much harder to do…. Prevention is the most important part of health care, but it is hard to make money from keeping people well, so we let it go…. When Americans enter a hospital, their first encounter is often with a financial officer. This verification of insurance reminds the sick that money comes before the body[4].
Sometimes synchronicities give me ideas for blog essays and such is the case with this essay. I was reading Timothy Snyder’s On Freedom recently and put my usual NB in the margins next to the two quotes above.[5]
Later that day I had my semi-annual appointment with the dental hygienist. She was new to me, someone I had not worked with before, and she waxed on about how they would take a full set of X-rays, then replace all my old fillings and….–at that point I tuned her out, as I value the mantra “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And then I remembered what I had just read hours before. This hygienist had been thoroughly indoctrinated in the value system of the health care industry, in which human beings are no longer thought of as “patients” but as “income-generating biological structures,”[6] or, as Snyder notes, as “commodities.”[7]
That “money comes before the body”–before our physical well-being and humanity– reflects how greed has corrupted our culture. Jung warned us about this feature of American culture years ago, when he wrote of our love for “the yellow god.”[8] From his many trips to America Jung knew how the capitalists of Wall Street projected the values of capitalism beyond the realm of investing, to infest other institutions of our society.[9] It was only a matter of time before our health care system transformed into yet another industry driven by the profit motive.
As Snyder notes, we are not well served by such a transformation. Since, as a doctor told me bluntly years ago, “There’s no money in keeping people well,”[10] it is really a misnomer to speak of our health care system now: it is really a disease care system imbedded in the market, seeing our bodies as potential profit streams.
I observed the truth of this several years ago when a friend was diagnosed with some ailment that would require treatment, before which he would have to have some tests. These tests turned out to be myriad procedures over six months, leaving my friend with major damage to his body (e.g. urination now requiring a catheter, where before he had had no problem in this regard). But all the doctors and hospitals made lots of money testing for non-existent diseases. Where’s the Hippocratic oath (“First, do no harm.”) when greed rationalizes the pursuit of profit?
Snyder is not the only observer of our American scene to note how capitalism and its profit motive have infiltrated health care. Uwe Reinhardt, the renown expert on the economics of American health care, wrote extensively for decades about how costly, inefficient, wasteful and inferior our disease-care system is, compared to the systems in every other developed country. But when asked why he did not advocate for a single-payer model for the United States, Reinhardt explained that our American government is “too captured by special interests to manage one well… because our government is too corrupt.”[11] Medicare operates like “a large insurance company” but its “board of directors” is in fact the Ways and Means and Senate Finance committees, i.e. members of Congress. When they come up for re-election, they get contributions from the “vendors to the company,” e.g. insurance companies, drug companies, and organizations representing various providers.[12] Reinhardt recognizes how this opens the door widely to corruption. “In the private market, that would get you into trouble.”[13] But the American public does not seem to mind this corruption, nor how poorly our disease care industry treats us. Is there nothing to be done about this dehumanizing state of affairs?
When Jung was approached by Unesco[14] in 1948 for advice on how to change mental attitudes, he wrote a memorandum describing his brand of psychotherapy as a “technique for changing the mental attitude.”[15] In eight pages he described the unconscious, his methods of dream work and other treatments, and he cautioned his readers about the four “moral evils” that stem from greed: “the power-drive, lust, and moral laziness. These three moral evils are supplemented by a fourth which is the most powerful of all–stupidity.”[16]
Jung had little respect for the intelligence level of doctors. In a letter to Walter Robert Corti, Jung called Corti’s doctor “a stupid shitbag,”[17] and he noted elsewhere that doctors were not trained in critical thinking.[18] Given that doctors have a financial incentive to maintain our corrupt system, Jung would not have us expect any improvement in our disease care system to come from within the profession; rather, he thought we might anticipate change coming from those persons with “immunity” from the moral evils of greed who would be “a leading minority” which is “immune to the evil.”[19] Jung also warned us not to expect help from the nation’s leader unless he is “absolutely immune” to the temptations of greed. If the leader is not immune, Jung warned, “he will inevitably fall a victim to his own will-to-power.”[20] In the years since 2016 we have certainly seen this prediction come true!
What Each of Us Can Do to Become Part of the Leading Minority
In practical terms, this essay can help you wise up to the reality of our disease care industry, which is the first step in becoming part of that “leading minority.” As Timothy Snyder noted, our market-driven system does not work well for us, and it is all too easy for those unaware to fall victim to it.
The second step is to avoid as much as possible using the disease care system by choosing wellness (e.g. eating properly, avoiding toxins, getting regular exercise, keeping yourself informed about new discoveries in preventive medicine, etc.) Remember that the system provides no incentives for conventional medical professionals to keep you well: there’s no money in that. So your physical and mental well-being rests in your own hands. You may find wholesome assistance, as I have, from alternative practitioners, e.g. naturopaths, homeopaths, chiropractors, and a wide range of wellness publications (but see my addendum below). As you focus on maintaining your health, trust your intuition: when you first meet a practitioner, read a journal article, or hear about a new discovery, check in with your inner wisdom, as it knows what you need and whom you can trust. This step has the added benefit of fostering your developing trust in the Self.
Thirdly, when dealing with professionals, be your own advocate. If/when you sense a practitioner would treat your body like a commodity, as the hygienist tried to do with me, speak up. Know your rights. You have the right to refuse care that seems unwarranted or excessive (like removal of all tooth fillings and 19 tests over six months). Jung would not have us “become victims to any power that cares to assume authority,”[21] and if you feel uncomfortable for any reason, leave and get a second opinion.
Finally, and more broadly, develop independence of mind. By definition, a “minority” is not a big popular movement. Jung would not have us be blind followers of convention, including conventional medical modalities. Be willing to march to your own drummer so as to protect your mental and physical health.
Below is an account of my experience a few weeks after I wrote this essay.
A Legitimate Process or the Exploitation of an Elderly Person?
An Example of a Helpful Synchronicity
Some forty years ago, when I was half the age I am now, I developed sciatica in my right hip and leg. I was then living on Long Island and found a chiropractor who used his hands to eliminate the problem in 20 minutes. I never forgot this amazing cure, and when I developed this very painful condition again in 2023, I assumed it would be a simple thing to find a chiropractor and be relieved of my suffering. Not so!
I went to my naturopath and she told me to get a new mattress. While I investigated various mattresses I also looked up local chiropractors, but, to my amazement none were taking new patients. Finally after 18 months of fruitless searching, I went back to my doctor and told her the new mattress (an $1100 purchase) was far from being a solution: it made my pain worse, and then I added that no chiropractors in our area were taking new patients. She said she would investigate and call me if/when she found someone who would see me.
A few days later, my doctor came through and, having the name and phone number of a chiropractor’s office, I set up an appointment. The address was about 8 miles up the road, amid a group of buildings, but none had a sign indicating a chiropractic office. I wandered around, checking each building and finally came to a structure with no sign–big boxy with steel girders and a huge wooden door on one side that suggested some sort of lumber yard. I checked the address again: all the other buildings had addresses very close to the one I was seeking. I found it hard to believe that the lumber yard type building was where I was to be, as it had none of the features of a health-related structure, i.e. it was not ADA compliant. But it was the only other building around so I went in.
A receptionist assured me I was in the right place, and proceeded to sweep me up in what was a role she had been well tutored to perform: take the ID & insurance info, describe the package, the processes, the schedule, the practitioners, the X-rays, the…–I tried to get a word in edgewise that all I needed was a simple session much like I had years before. She shook her head and told me the doctor would be with me shortly.
A young man soon appeared, led me down a hallway to their X-ray room and took a series of X-rays which, I was told, would give them a clear idea of what was going on with me. Once again, my suggestion–that my pain could easily be addressed with a 20-minute hands-on technique–met with deaf ears. I was then told to come back in 3 days for the follow-up.
I left in wonderment. What was going on? I presented with a problem a chiropractor must see dozens of times a year, a simple sciatica. Now they were showing me films of a host of problems with my back, spine, muscles… Again I mentioned my concern–to relieve the terrible pain due to the periformis muscle squeezing the longest nerve in my body. I was assured they would get to that, as I was ushered back to reception and presented with the protocol. They impressed upon me how 40 years of stress and strain had taken a toll on my body, and I could not assume that what solved a problem 40 years earlier would work now.
I had to concede that it was probably true–age could wreak painful changes. But I still felt confused–the building, the slick procedure, all the forms and thousands of dollars to address my problem. What was going on?
At that point, the receptionist saw a buck walk past the window–something they had never seen there before. A strange sighting, but probably not a hallucination, as the building was next to a large open field.
I agreed to return for a treatment, still hopeful that relief would soon be mine, still wondering at the process and then the buck??? I knew there are no coincidences. What was I missing? I pondered these questions as I drove home.
The answers came that night, when I woke up and realized the psyche, knowing I needed guidance, had sent the buck to that place at that time so I would hear of it. Knowing the psyche loves to pun, and knowing I would be able to relate “buck” to our American slang term for “money,” my Inner Friend was alerting me to how I had gotten sucked into our modern disease care industry.
As I noted in the essay above, the health care system of 40 years ago in which I could easily find a chiropractor and quickly get relief for my pain, with a small payment of money on the spot has degenerated into our current system focused not on relieving the suffering of patients but on extracting as much money as possible from “income-generating biological structures” (aka “patients”) with a deliberate focus on “bucks”– making as much money as possible.
The appearance of the buck at the very time I was feeling confused and asking inwardly for guidance was a most “meaningful coincidence.”[22] It helped me understand what was going on, why I felt uncomfortable (and, worse, in even more pain as the jackhammer pounded my body!!) and how easy it is to get sucked into the pernicious system that now purports to provide us with healing!!!
Bibliography
Jung, C.G. (1966), Two Essays on Analytical Psychology. Collected Works, 7. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1960), The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche. Collected Works, 8. Princeton University Press.
________ (1970), Civilization in Transition. Collected Works, 10. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1954), The Practice of Psychotherapy. Collected Works, 16. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1976), The Symbolic Life. Collected Works, 18. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
________ (1975), Letters, ed. Gerhard Adler & Aniela Jaffé. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Reinhardt, Uwe (2019), Priced Out. The Economic and Ethical Costs of American Heath Care. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Snyder, Timothy (2024), On Freedom. New York: Crown Publishing.
[1] “Letter to Albert Jung,” 10 November 1948; ibid., 512.
[2] Collected Works¸18, ¶1401. Hereafter Collected Works will be abbreviated CW.
[3] Snyder (2024), 33.
[4] Ibid., 211-212.
[5] NB stands for “nota bene,” Latin, meaning “note well,” and I use it to identify a passage I will want to return to and/or discuss with students.
[6] I read this phrase years ago, and it was from Uwe Reinhardt, but now I am unable to find the citation.
[7] Snyder (2024), 212.
[8] CW 10 ¶946. “Yellow” referring to the color of gold.
[9] Ibid. ¶610.
[10] I was told this in 1985 when I was doing research on a project related tangentially to health care.
[11] Reinhardt (2019), 153.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Unesco is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The full text of Jung’s memorandum to Unesco is in paragraphs 1388-1402 of CW 18.
[15] Ibid. ¶1388.
[16] Ibid., ¶1398.
[17] “Letter to Walter Robert Corti,” 30 April 1929; Letters I, 65.
[18] “Letter to Albert Jung,” 10 November 1948; ibid., 512
[19] CW 18 ¶1400. Jung did not describe the persons who would make up this group, except that they would be “capable of combating the powerful suggestive effect of seemingly possible wish-fulfillments.”
[20] Ibid.
[21] CW 16 ¶227; cf. CW 7 ¶389, where Jung laments how “the doctor is still mana” in the eyes of his patients, when Jung would have them judge for themselves and authorize their own lives.
[22] CW 8 ¶866.
