This article explores how cognitive therapies contribute to a dangerous medical paradigm for chronic illness. We shall focus on Paul, ‘he’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty boy’, Garner’s opinion piece for the BMJ and his appearance at the SIRPA conference. We examine the historical, rhetorical, and systemic forces behind mind-body medicine and how they obscure harm through compassion-washing, concept laundering, and misplaced optimism.

Welcome to this critical exploration of therapeutic uses of mindfulness and meditation in medicine. Together, we shall look at the skyrocketing of mindfulness in healthcare, examine its assimilation into cognitive behavioural therapy during its third wave, and unpack the influential role of Jon Kabat-Zinn.