Did Iyanla Push Kamiyah Mobley Too Far, Too Soon?

There are plenty of people who argued that OWN should not have even aired the episode of “Iyanla Fix My Life” featuring Kamiyah Mobley. After all, if you watched the show, expecting to witness Kamiyah undergo some type of miraculous healing you would not have found it. Instead, the outcome of the show, didn’t go beyond what we saw in the teasers…except it was far worse.

Pretty early on, Iyanla noticed that Kamiyah was completely shut down. She was numb to all that she had experienced. You could see it in her eyes. And in order to break her out of her shell, out of her comfort zone, she knew she either needed to “break her heart” or “make her angry,” in order to see just some type of emotion.

I think we can stop right there.

There were more than a few people who believed that Iyanla decision to intentionally trigger Kamiyah was unethical, representing one of the biggest complaints they have about “Iyanla Fix My Life.” Iyanla is not a therapist. And so without medical training, there really is no good gauge on how her methods could cause additional harm to her guests.

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Then there were those who felt like if you sign up for the show, you get what you get:

While I’m sure OWN has guests sign documents that state this fact, it doesn’t absolve the network, the “Iyanla Fix My Life” crew and Vanzant herself of all the fault if guests of the show leave there worse off than when they came.

Things took a turn toward all hell breaking loose when Iyanla told Kamiyah that she would not be able to leave the house that evening. And what made a bad situation worse is that she informed her that she’d instructed her father and boyfriend not to answer the phone if she decided to call them. The two men agreed.

But before anyone left, Kamiyah popped off. She called Iyanla every manner of b*tch, threatened to fight her, spoke about her other conquests, fighting women much bigger than Iyanla. At some point her boyfriend steps in to intervene, Kamiyah questions him for agreeing not to answer the phone. That exchange ends with her slapping him across his face.

Eventually, Iyanla wipes her hands of the whole thing.

The night the program aired, Kamiyah’s father launched a Facebook Live to discuss what happened during the show, defending his daughter against the process and Iyanla’s son specifically, who he claims jumped in Kamiyah’s face. You can check out of a clip of it below.

After the blow up, Iyanla also sat down with her crew, including her son, to discuss what happened the night before.

I don’t know what could have been done differently with this episode. It broke my heart to see that producers had arranged for Carlina White, another woman who had been kidnapped at birth, to speak to Kamiyah. Even if Kamiyah wasn’t able to receive what Iyanla had to offer, she could have benefited from hearing from one of the few people in the world who understands her plight. Perhaps it would have been better to introduce her on the first day to establish trust.

I think it’s also fair to assume that Kamiyah’s mother not showing up for the process, after she nominated her daughter felt like another level of betrayal for Kamiyah. Since Kamiyah will always have a relationship with the woman who raised her, it’s a shame that her biological mother couldn’t use this opportunity to be there for her daughter. Who knows if Kamiyah would have behaved any differently, but I don’t think this situation could have gotten any worse.

What did you make of Kamiyah’s episode of “Iyanla Fix My Life”? Do you think Iyanla overstepped? What could have been done differently?

 

 

SOURCE: MadameNoire.com

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