How Internet Guru Teal Swan Lures Followers – and Why It Should Worry Us (Podcast)
The self-styled healer is great at getting attention. But is she qualified to treat mental illness?
Tim Molloy | June 15, 2018 @ 12:03 PM
Last Updated: June 21, 2018 @ 3:42 PM
Teal Swan at her spiritual retreat. Credit: Nora Ballard and Matt Laumb (GMG/FMG)
If you’ve found this article by Googling “Who Is Teal Swan,” you can bet Teal Swan isn’t happy about it. The online guru and self-styled healer attracts followers through her own search-friendly self-promotion, sometimes by using provocative phrases that people type into YouTube or Google at their most desperate moments.
Teal Swan is the subject of Gizmodo’s excellent new “The Gateway” podcast. For our new “Shoot This Now” podcast, about stories we think should be movies, we interviewed “The Gateway” host Jennings Brown and producer Jessica Glazer about why Teal Swan may be dangerous. You can listen on Apple or Spotify or right here:
Teal Swan has legions of followers who say she has helped them. But she also has many online detractors who say she plays with fire by trying to treat serious mental illnesses despite a total lack of formal qualifications. (Teal says she can see people’s auras and souls, among other abilities.) The Gateway focuses on a former follower of Teal Swan’s who killed herself, and investigates whether Teal Swan was a factor in her decision.
Teal Swan is blunt in her talk about suicide, sometimes asking her followers to envision themselves dying, in very specific terms. The Gateway notes the concern that such an approach can be a trigger for vulnerable people who would benefit more from traditional mental health treatment.
No regulations prevent anyone from presenting themselves online as a spiritual guru and healer — or from giving potentially bad advice about mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts. In our talk with Brown and Glazer, we discuss what if any responsibility companies like YouTube have in helping people like Teal Swan promote themselves.
We’re in completely new territory: People are free to believe what they believe. But Swan’s case suggests that the person who is best at luring people online may not be the best person at at actually helping them.
Here’s an example of how Teal Swan uses search terms to her benefit. If you type in the phrase, “I want to kill myself” on YouTube, one of the first videos to appear is a Teal Swan video entitled simply “I Want to Kill Myself (What To Do If You’re Suicidal).”
It includes the number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — 1-800-273-TALK — and a disclaimer saying Teal Swan’s words should not be taken “a substitute for medical advice.” But what follows is a 24-minute talk from Swan, which offers up both advice and self-promotion.
It has received more than 160,000 views. Swan has more than 460,000 YouTube subscribers.
Should YouTube change its algorithm to promote traditional mental health services? Should the government regulate so-called healers like Swan? There are difficult First Amendment issues here, as Brown and Glazer note.
Let us know what you think, and please check out The Gateway. It’s engrossing and entertaining — Teal Swan is a fascinating character, who is disarmingly direct in answering her critics — but it also digs deep into issues that go far beyond one guru.
12 Podcasts That Should Be Turned Into TV Shows (Photos)
With a slew of recent podcast-to-TV adaptations -- from "My Brother, My Brother, and Me" to "Startup" to "2 Dope Queens" -- the industry is primed for even more. With so many podcasts to choose from, which ones should get the small screen treatment? We looked at ones that make for the best long-form series that tackle a unique subject and that have the elements to translate into a visual medium. Here are our picks.
"You Must Remember This"
Karina Longworth has a unique perspective on classic Hollywood that is readily apparent the moment you put on an episode. Just listen to her "Dead Blondes" series, which is running at the time of this writing, and it's clear we need more women educating people about "Hollywood's first century."
Wikimedia
"99% Invisible"
It's like "This American Life" but for the smallest, least interesting sounding stories. Somehow, the producers make something like cargo containers seem interesting. I'd be very curious to see how that would work on TV.
99% Invisible
"The Black Tapes" A fiction podcast about a batch of supernatural tapes and people with a lot of secrets seems like it should've been a TV series to begin with.
"The Black Tapes"
"Hardcore History With Dan Carlin" The internet is filled with history podcasts, but few are as intricate and detailed as "Hardcore History." I think it's time to bring back classic History Channel with some long, educational, but entertaining documentaries on history.
"Hardcore History"
"Hello From the Magic Tavern" It's an improvised story podcast about a guy who fell into a dimensional portal behind a Burger King and ended up in a magic land. It has a homespun, low-key feel that could work as a show if you kept it looking as amateurish as possible.
"Hello from the Magic Tavern"
"How Did This Get Made"
There are plenty of bad movie podcasts on the internet, but few go beyond the typical format, where a bunch of friends talk about, well, a bad movie. "How Did This Get Made" has a number of different segments, a slew of celebrity guests and a visual element that would translate well to TV.
"How Did This Get Made"
"Judge John Hodgman" Comedian John Hodgman is a judge in this podcast, where he takes the most mundane and absurd cases from everyday people. Now you just need to put that in a "Judge Judy"-style setting.
"Judge John Hodgman"
"Pod Save America"
Any of the Crooked Media podcasts would work on television. The podcasters are incredibly smart and educated in politics (two of the hosts were speechwriters for President Obama) and have a lot of inside scoop. We have enough politics on TV, but Jon, Jon and Tommy can be the "no-bulls--" commentators we need, combined with a bit of White House gossip.
"Pod Save America"
"With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus" "With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus" is a spiritual successor to "Comedy Bang Bang." Each episode has a different celebrity guest, who engages in improv with Lapkus in a false talk show scenario. It works over audio, but costumes and a set will only heighten the entertainment factor.
"Special Guest With Lauren Lapkus"
"This American Life" "This American Life" already ran as a Showtime series for two seasons that ended in 2009. Please bring it back? We want to see and not just hear where and how the show's subjects live.
"This American Life"
"Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me" NPR's weekly trivia show is already good as it is, but imagine if you could see the special guest comedians or the contestants instead of having them call in on the phone?
"Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me"
"Alice Isn't Dead"
The sister podcast to "Welcome to Night Vale" isn't as popular, but it might work better as a visual adaptation. The narrator is so good at explaining the grotesque horrors around her that we almost want to see some of them in action.
"Alice Isn't Dead"
1 of 13
Which ones can translate the best into a visual medium? We broke down some of our favorites
With a slew of recent podcast-to-TV adaptations -- from "My Brother, My Brother, and Me" to "Startup" to "2 Dope Queens" -- the industry is primed for even more. With so many podcasts to choose from, which ones should get the small screen treatment? We looked at ones that make for the best long-form series that tackle a unique subject and that have the elements to translate into a visual medium. Here are our picks.