Mental Health in MLM

How Neurodivergence Can be Exploited

“Maybe you were BORN for such a time as this! Meet our team of purposeful, passionate entrepreneurs who have taken their health back and helping others to do the same! There has never been a better time to ask yourself, "What if..?" Meet our team, hear stories of dreams coming true, and ask us anything.” Behind the event details, the flyer had images of smiling women, a braceleted wrist, and a beautifully garnished smoothie bowl. The title of the event, inspired by the words of a tippy-top leader in the pyramid-within-the-pyramid I was part of, inferred that everything happens for a reason. That maybe, this crisis of the pandemic could become the opportunity of a lifetime! A born optimist, I really believed that and was almost high on the possibility of providing the answer the world needed right now.

The event was on May 11th, 2020, and was one of many we hosted during the Covid-19 pandemic when unemployment rates soared, and many of those who were employed were suffering from excessive worry, burnout and exhaustion. Mental health was in a state of crisis that hasn’t seemed to let up much still, several years later. The world continues to exhibit no sign of return to a peaceful homeostasis. And when under such intense duress, as humans, it is natural to be afraid, to look for signs of some glimmer of hope. We want to know that we are safe, and maybe we even feel a need to escape.

MLMs often utilize explicitly deceptive and manipulative recruitment and retention tactics to take advantage of individuals in emotionally vulnerable positions—which is pretty much all of us right now. Who isn’t vulnerable to a friend inviting them to “take a look, and if it’s not for you, no big deal!” But as I would later learn, this seemingly innocuous invitation becomes a slippery slope.