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Tag: Kanye West

  • Kanye West Talks Porn & Sex Addiction

    Kanye West Talks Porn & Sex Addiction

    The Grammy winner has openly spoken about mental health, including publicly disclosing that he’s bipolar.

    Kanye West is back with his latest album, Jesus is King, and on the eve of its release, he candidly spoke with Beats 1 about being addicted to porn and sex.

    West started with a ritual many young boys go through, finding an issue of his dad’s Playboy, which he called a “gateway to a full on pornography addiction. It has impacted every choice I have made in my life from age five to now, having to kick the habit. And it just presents itself in the open like it’s okay and I stand up and say, ‘No, it’s not okay.’” 

    Drowning Himself In Sex — A Rock Star Cliché

    West saw himself living a cliché that many musicians fall into.

    “That was such a script out of a rock star’s life. You know that Playboy that I found when I was five years old was written all over the moment when I was at the MTV awards with the Timberlands, the Balmain jeans and the Hennessy bottle. My mom had passed a year before. And I said some people drown themselves in drugs, and I drown myself in sex.”

    West said that sex “fed the ego too. Money, clothes, paparazzi photos, going to Paris fashion week, all of that.” 

    Asking Employees To Abstain From Premarital Sex

    Coming to his realization about porn and sex addiction also affected how he crafted the Jesus is King album. “I was asking people to…this is gonna be radical what I’m about to say. There were times where I was asking people to not have premarital sex while they were working.” 

    West has openly spoken about his mental health issues, including publicly disclosing that he’s bipolar (he subsequently claimed he was misdiagnosed), and he’s used it as material for his lyrics as well.

    On the cover of his album Ye, “I hate being bipolar it’s awesome” is scrawled in neon green. And as he told radio personality Big Boy, “I am so blessed and so privileged because think about people that have issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make that [music] and make you feel like it’s all good. I’d never been diagnosed and I was like 39 years old. That’s why I said on the album it’s not a disability, it’s a super power.” 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kanye West Talks Mental Health With David Letterman

    Kanye West Talks Mental Health With David Letterman

    “It’s a health issue that has a strong stigma on it and people are allowed to say anything about it and discriminate in any way,” West told Letterman.

    Kanye West is featured in the second season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, where he discusses mental health in a wide-ranging interview.

    The rapper and artist is no stranger to this subject. In the last three years, West has been hospitalized for “temporary psychosis,” battled painkiller abuse after cosmetic surgery and revealed a bipolar diagnosis—only to later walk back on his claim, saying he “wasn’t actually bipolar” but suffered from sleep deprivation. He also stunned many by suggesting that slavery was “a choice” and openly embracing Donald Trump.

    In his new interview with David Letterman, which will be available on Netflix on May 31, West continues to share his views on mental health.

    “It’s a health issue that has a strong stigma on it and people are allowed to say anything about it and discriminate in any way,” he said. “This is like a sprained brain, like having a sprained ankle. And if someone has a sprained ankle, you’re not going to push on him more.”

    West said that because of the stigma surrounding mental health, it is treated differently from any other ailment, with little compassion. “With us, once our brain gets to a point of spraining, people do everything to make it worse. They do everything possible. They got us to that point and they do everything to make it worse.”

    He described the moment he was handcuffed and brought to treatment. “They have this moment where they put you—they handcuff you, they drug you, they put you on the bed, and they separate you from everyone you know,” he said. “That’s something that I am so happy that I experienced myself so I can start by changing that moment.”

    West said that maintaining a medication regimen keeps him from losing control. “If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have a potential to ramp up and it can take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital. And you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it.”

    He continued, “When you ramp up, it expresses your personality more. You can become almost adolescent in your expression. This is my specific experience that I’ve had over the past two years, because I’ve only been diagnosed for two years now.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kanye West Says He Was Misdiagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

    Kanye West Says He Was Misdiagnosed With Bipolar Disorder

    The rapper discussed the misdiagnosis during his highly publicized sit-down with President Donald Trump.

    In a recent conversation with President Trump, rapper Kanye West expressed that he believes his diagnosis of bipolar disorder was a mistake and he was actually suffering from sleep deprivation.

    According to The News-Herald, West met with President Trump on Thursday, October 11 and discussed the importance of communication when it comes to mental health. 

    “What I think is we don’t need sentences, we need pardons,” he told the president, according to The News-Herald. “We need to talk to people. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I was connected with a neuropsychologist that works with the athletes in the NBA and NFL. He looked at my brain. I wasn’t actually bipolar, I had sleep deprivation which can cause dementia 10 to 20 years from now when I wouldn’t even remember my son’s name.”

    In a previous interview, West discussed his diagnosis and said he was happy to know he had bipolar disorder. 

    “I think it’s important for us to have open conversations about mental health – especially with me being black,” West said. “Because we never had therapists in the black community. We never approached taking a medication. I think it’s good that when I had my first complete blackout at age five, my mom didn’t fully medicate me. Because I might have never been ‘Ye. And there’s times where at least I’m happy that I know [I’m bipolar.] Like, even like for this interview, I knew I wanted to stay in a calm state.”

    West has also worked his mental health diagnosis into his songs. In a song called “Yikes” on his album Ye, West sings, “ain’t no disability, I’m a superhero.” 

    According to Time, West also told radio personality Big Boy that he is grateful to have the resources he does.

    “I’m so blessed and so privileged because think about people that have issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make that [music] and make you feel like it’s all good,” he stated. “I’d never been diagnosed and I was like 39 years old… That’s why I said on the album, ‘It’s not a disability, it’s a super power.’”

    In addition to his bipolar disorder, the rapper has also struggled with substance use disorder. On an episode of TMZ Live, West discussed his battle with pain pills after having liposuction. 

    “I was drugged the f— out,” he stated. “I was drugged out. I was on opioids. Two days after I got off opioids, I’m in the hospital. Two days before going to the hospital, I was on opioids. I was addicted to opioids. I had plastic surgery because I was trying to look good for y’all.”

    In another interview, this one with radio personality Charlamagne tha God, West explained that he uses anyone he speaks to as his therapist. 

    “I use the world as my therapist. Anyone I talk to is my therapist,” he said. “I will pull them into the conversation of what I’m feeling at that point and get their perspective… I like just talking to acquaintances, friends, family, and I keep them on the phone for 45 minutes at a time, talking through things. It’s kind of narcissistic.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kanye West: Mental Health Intervention Led to 'Scream Therapy'

    Kanye West: Mental Health Intervention Led to 'Scream Therapy'

    Kim Kardashian staged an intervention for West’s anxiety and enlisted the help of famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who then turned him on to scream therapy.

    Most people know the term “primal scream,” but they may not know that it was named after a type of therapy created by a psychotherapist named Dr. Arthur Janov. Now scream therapy is back in the news, thanks to Kanye West, and it may indeed be an effective way to shout away anxiety and depression. 

    West told the New York Times that Kim Kardashian staged an intervention for his anxiety and enlisted the help of famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Robbins turned him on to scream therapy, and West recalled, “He could look at me and you know, I don’t know why he mentioned suicide, but he could tell I was very low. Really medicated, shoulders slumped down, and my confidence was gone, which is a lot of the root of my superpower because if you truly have self-confidence, no one can say anything to you.”

    Robbins had West stand in a warrior pose, and West screamed his head off. “I was so self-conscious about the nanny and the housekeeper that I didn’t want them to hear me screaming in the living room. I think that’s such a metaphor of something for the existence of so-called well-off people that they’re not really well-off—they won’t even scream in their own house.” 

    As Yahoo reports, Dr. Janov treated John Lennon and James Earl Jones, and called his research, which is called Primary Therapy, as “the most important discovery of the 20th century.”

    Screaming can indeed be therapeutic, and as psychotherapist Gin Love Thompson explains in Shape, “For the inner-child that was silenced by being repeatedly intimidated, the domestic abuse survivor that couldn’t scream back when attacked, anyone who has suffered severe bullying, anyone dealing with grief or common psychological issues such as depression and anxiety, ‘scream therapy,’ or ‘primal release’ has the potential to be therapeutically beneficial.”

    Thompson recommends that people should not perform scream therapy unsupervised, or rely on it as the only tool in fighting off anxiety and depression. “The client must be taught coping tools before such a therapy is implemented in order to manage what it may very likely stir up,” Thompson continues. “If attempted before the client is ready, or in poorly managed situation, it could potentially be psychologically damaging… The key is learning healthy ways to express our anger and the vital tools responsible for the processing of it.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Kanye West On Mental Health Issues: It's Not a Disability, It's A Super Power"

    Kanye West On Mental Health Issues: It's Not a Disability, It's A Super Power"

    The rapper opened up about being newly diagnosed with a “mental condition” during a recent interview.

    Kanye West has just released his new album, Ye, which tackles a wide variety of subjects, including his marriage to Kim Kardashian, as well as his mental health with the song “Yikes.”

    In “Yikes,” West says he is bipolar, which he calls a “superpower,” and in the song he states it “ain’t no disability, I’m a superhero.”

    Bipolar disorder is also a major focus on the cover of the album. “I hate being bi-polar it’s awesome,” is scrawled in neon green across the cover, while the mountains of Wyoming loom in the background.

    West then opened up to radio personality Big Boy about his mental health, saying, “I’m so blessed and so privileged because think about people that have issues that are not Kanye West, that can’t go and make that [music] and make you feel like it’s all good. I’d never been diagnosed and I was like 39 years old… That’s why I said on the album, ‘It’s not a disability, it’s a super power.’”

    Naturally, West’s revelation has stirred up a wide variety of reactions and controversy. As Yahoo reports, the reaction on Twitter has been mixed.

    One fan tweeted, “Kanye calling Bipolar his superpower was inspiring,” while another added, “Quite a way to end Mental Health Awareness Month to have Kanye West, one of the biggest people on the planet, reveal he’s dealing with bipolar disorder and call it a superpower.”

    Yet another person remarked, “Look, I’m not gonna tell someone how they should feel and talk about their mental illness. But someone with Kanye’s platform glorifying bipolar disorder as a ‘superpower’ and potentially discouraging folks from seeking treatment and help is not good.”

    Mental health advocates also have mixed feelings about West’s revelation. Eric Youngstrom, PhD, who is the acting director of The Center for Excellence in Research and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder, felt that West coming forward about his mental health condition “reduces the shame and stigma around it. The messaging of this is that having a mental health condition doesn’t mean you’re ill or broke, and that’s extremely powerful.”

    Yet John Mayer, PhD, tells Yahoo, “Saying [bipolar disorder] is a superpower denies your need to cope and accept your illness.”

    West’s mental health revelation comes on the heels of his previous confession that he was hooked on opioids. “I was drugged the fuck out,” he told TMZ.

    He was also featured on the Travis Scott song “Watch,” in which he rapped, “Wanna know how pain feels? I got off my main pills. Bet my wifey stay close, she know I’m on my Bezos. Opioid addiction, pharmacy’s the real trap. Sometimes I feel trapped, Jordan with no Phil Jack.”

    View the original article at thefix.com