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Tag: mental health stigma

  • "Frozen 2" Star Kristen Bell Talks Depression, Anxiety

    "Frozen 2" Star Kristen Bell Talks Depression, Anxiety

    “I’m like ‘bubbles, glitter!’ No, it’s not always that way. I am someone who takes a medication for her anxiety and depression.”

    Kristen Bell is in a good place. Her new movie Frozen 2 debuted at number one arround the world, bringing in an estimated $350 million globally, according to The Hollywood Reporter. During a press tour for the hit movie, Bell opened up about mental health.

    In a Sunday Sitdown interview with Willie Geist, Bell got candid about living with mental illness.

    Living With Depression In The Public Eye

    “The last few years you’ve been very open about anxiety and depression and things you struggle with that so many people in this world suffer with and I think they think there’s some shame in it,” Geist said to the Veronica Mars actress, “But if they see Kristen Bell, who projects — even sitting right here — she’s happy, she’s smart, she’s bubbly.”

    Bell was quick to add that while she may appear happy all the time, it’s not always the case.

    “I’m like ‘bubbles, glitter!’ No, it’s not always that way. I am someone who takes a medication for her anxiety and depression. I am someone who has to check myself and sometimes — if I’m feeling really low — make a checklist of good and bad things in my life to see if it’s my mental state or if we really have a problem,” Bell shared. “And me talking about that actually came from — ugh, I hate to give him credit for everything, it’s so annoying that he’s so right about everything.”

    Encouragement From Dax

    Bell’s husband actor/podcaster Dax Shepard is famously open about his past drug use and subsequent sobriety. 

    “He was like ‘Why don’t you talk about your anxiety and depression?’ and I had never thought about that before. And I immediately felt incredibly irresponsible,” she said.

    Bell then began publicly discussing her struggles with depression and anxiety during interviews. 

    Bell went in-depth about her mental health in a 2016 interview with Sam Jones for an episode of Off Air With Sam Jones.

    “I’m extremely co-dependent. I shatter a little bit when I think people don’t like me,” Bell explained. “That’s part of why I lead with kindness and I compensate by being very bubbly all the time because it really hurts my feelings when I know I’m not liked. And I know that’s not very healthy and I fight it all the time.”

    She also revealed some advice that her mother gave her when she was experiencing mental health issues at age 18.

    “[My mom’s] a nurse and she had the wherewithal to recognize that in herself when she was feeling it and when I was 18 said, ‘If you start to feel like you are twisting things around you, and you feel like there is no sunlight around you, and you are paralyzed with fear, this is what it is and here’s how you can help yourself,” Bell said.

     

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Patriot Act" Host Hasan Minhaj Talks Mental Health, Stigma

    "Patriot Act" Host Hasan Minhaj Talks Mental Health, Stigma

    “I remember telling my dad, ‘I’m feeling really sad.’ He’s like, ‘Drink some water and take a nap.’ Ironically, if you know someone who is drinking and sleeping all day, they might be depressed.”

    Netflix’s Patriot Act recently returned for a new cycle and host Hasan Minhaj is tackling the hot button topic of mental health. Ahead of the show’s return, the comedian spoke to Teen Vogue about mental health care, stigma, and how good it feels to talk to a therapist because they can’t “legally snitch on you.”

    “It is something that I think is very much finally being spoken about, but in communities of color there’s still a stigma around mental health,” Minhaj said. “I kind of wanted to tell my own personal story in regards to that, but also talk about the systemic mechanisms put in place that are preventing people from getting the mental health care that they need.”

    He then described his personal relaitonship with mental health and how his family views the highly-stigmatized topic.

    Sweeping Depression Under The Rug

    “Well for the longest time, you know, in our community we just didn’t think of mental health as a thing. I remember talking to my parents about it, and it’s like in our community if you’re ever feeling down or if you feel like …you’re going through issues, it’s like, you need to pray more and you need to sleep,” he explained.

    “I remember telling my dad, ‘I’m feeling really sad.’ He’s like, ‘Drink some water and take a nap.’ Ironically enough if you know someone who is drinking and sleeping all day, they might be depressed. It’s one of those things where it’s like we’re finally getting to a place where okay, we can have that conversation, overcome the stigma.”

    For those who are able to overcome the stigma and reach out for help, access to care remains a pervasive issue. Something Minhaj acknowledged in both the Teen Vogue interview and on The Patriot Act.

    “The saddest part is, is that if you are one of the few people that are actually lucky enough to have healthcare in this country — if you think getting physical healthcare is hard, getting proper mental healthcare treatment is incredibly difficult by design”

     

    Fans of The Patriot Act know that while the topics can be heavy they are always infused with humorous asides. In this case, Minhaj cracks on how awesome it is to tbe completely honest about your feelings to a therapist because they are legally obligated to keep your info confidential. 

    Benefits Of Talk Therapy – No Snitching

    “One of the things that we talk about in the episode is, ‘Hey, can we all just admit it’s nice to talk to somebody who can’t legally snitch on you.’ We all have this fear of if I tell people, even people that I love, things that are hurting me or concerning me, this could come around and hurt me later. Or, maybe I’m telling them too much, or maybe I’m being a burden. I think that just being able to say that I think is a step in the right direction of like, ‘I think I just may need someone to talk to.’”

    Minhaj added, “Approximately 43 million Americans suffer from a mental health issue. Again, it is sort of a sliding scale and it varies case to case, depending on what your personal circumstances are, what your biological and genetic circumstances are, and also substance [use disorder]. What substances you are taking or not taking. The thing that we wanted to focus on is just let’s just focus on mental health as an overarching topic, you know. I just love that we were able to actually tie it into a very specific piece of legislation called the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Comedian Gary Gulman: Opening Up About Depression Has Been "A Reward"

    Comedian Gary Gulman: Opening Up About Depression Has Been "A Reward"

    “The easiest way and the most comfortable way for me to address anything real is to make jokes about it.”

    Back in October comedian Gary Gulman released a vulnerable and inspiring HBO special called The Great Depresh where he discussed his lifelong struggles with depression. Critics and fans alike applauded Gulman for being so open and honest about what depression looks like and how it has changed his life.

    Gulman recently sat down with People magazine to discuss how the special has affected his life and how he treats his chronic depression.

    “The easiest way and the most comfortable way for me to address anything real is to make jokes about it,” the comedian explained.

    “Depresh” is a cutesy nickname that Gulman gave depression to make it easier to digest for those who have never battled the mental health disorder. For Gulman, it’s all about starting a conversation about mental illness in an effort to end the stigma surrounding it.

    “I had called it that to sort of lighten the impact of the illness,” Gulman said. “I mean, I either consciously or subconsciously figured out that people would feel more comfortable if you were immediately making fun of it.”

    Normalize It

    Gulman feels as though using his voice to normalize the disorder that affects more than 300 million people globally. 

    “I got such a reward for opening up about this,” the 49-year-old told People. “I thought that this was a great way to sort of redeem the experience and exact some revenge on the time lost and that it was actually a way to, I guess, make the two-and-a-half years that I had suffered not be just useless.”

    Though Gulman has lived with depression since his childhood, the disorder hit him hardest in 2015 when he was placed in a psychiatric hospital for treatment.

    “By the time I did go in, there was no question that that’s where I belonged. I wasn’t functioning on any level.”

    Sleep changes are one of the most common symptoms of depression. During his lowpoint with the disorder, he was sleeping 18 or 19 hours a day and when he wasn’t sleeping, he was experieincing anxiety and suicidal ideation.

    His Darkest Moments

    “I was spending every moment I was awake — which was sometimes only like five or six hours a day — … in pain from anxiety and also just contemplating painless suicides and ruminating on mistakes and regrets,” he detailed.

    Electroconvulsive therapy, meds, talk therapy and support from loved ones, Gulman was able to make it through his darkest days to tell his tale. 

    If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org. 

     

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Alanis Morissette Details Postpartum Depression On "Stop The Stigma"

    Alanis Morissette Details Postpartum Depression On "Stop The Stigma"

    “This time around, it’s less depression, it’s more anxiety and a little more of the compulsive, obsessive thoughts,” the “You Oughta Know” singer shared.

    With each birth of her three children, Alanis Morissette has shed light on postpartum depression (PPD) by sharing her personal experience with the “baby blues”—which can be more serious and longer lasting in some women.

    The singer-songwriter sat down with CBS This Morning’s Mireya Villarreal for the show’s Stop the Stigma segment on mental health challenges.

    Postpartum depression is a mood disorder suffered by some women after childbirth. Symptoms include extreme sadness, anxiety and exhaustion which affect the new mother’s ability to function.

    “This time around, it’s less depression, it’s more anxiety and a little more of the compulsive, obsessive thoughts,” the “You Oughta Know” singer shared. She would be consumed by “images that are horrifying, just a lot of times about safety about the people you love, your loved ones, your children,” she said. But having gone through it twice before the birth of her third child, Winter Mercy Morissette-Treadway, in August, Morissette had the presence of mind to stop and recognize the symptoms of PPD.

    Getting Help Instead Of Powering Through On Her Own

    Her first instinct was to overcome it on her own, but she was advised otherwise. “My survival strategy is to just push through,” she told Villarreal. “And then I spoke with a professional who knew all about postpartum depression, and I asked her, does this go away if I just white-knuckle through it? She said, no, it actually gets worse.”

    With the help of medication and the support of loved ones, Morissette has faced PPD with each birth, as she described in a recent essay.

    The singer detailed her most recent experience with PPD in a blog post published to her website in early October.

    “I have been here before. I know there is another side,” she wrote. “I saw how things got richer after I came through it the last two times.” With the birth of Winter, she was better prepared for the impending “postpartum tar-drenched trenches” that came with sleep deprivation, hormones, physical pain, isolation, anxiety, marriage and “all kinds of PTSD triggers,” she wrote.

    Stigma-Free Perception Is The Goal

    Sharing every detail of this experience is important, she explained. “There’s something about chronicling the experience in real time…If the goal is stigma-free perception of any mental illness or mental health conversation, understanding and giving the details of what it really looks like from the inside is important,” she told Villarreal.

    Morissette said that PPD would not deter her from doing it all over again. “Because I had experienced the other side of postpartum depression… I know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. I’d be willing to go through it again. I know that sounds a little insane,” she said.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Jane Pauley Talks Bipolar Diagnosis, Ending Stigma

    Jane Pauley Talks Bipolar Diagnosis, Ending Stigma

    “Words have power. The word ‘stigma’ is its own stigma. So every time you say ‘stigma,’ it is a reminder for people like me that I’m fighting two wars.”

    Veteran broadcast journalist, Jane Pauley, is something of a household name, since debuting on the Today show as Barbara Walters’ replacement at the age of 25. Now 68, the CBS Sunday Morning host has continued her advocacy for mental health awareness, since being diagnosed with bipolar disorder nearly 20 years ago.

    Pauley appeared on CBS This Morning to speak on the issue for the show’s “Stop the Stigma” segment.

    “When I was 49, I was not bipolar. When I was 50, I was,” she said. “I was switched, flipped…”

    “I Was In Pretty Deep Trouble”

    Pauley described how a bout of hives led to her diagnosis. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2001—a mood disorder that is characterized by dramatic mood swings.

    She had no family history of the mood disorder “that I know of,” so her diagnosis came as a surprise, especially in middle age. “It unmasked what doctors described as a genetic vulnerability to a mood disorder, and by that time I was in pretty deep trouble,” she said.

    A Cover Story From Her Doctor

    Pauley’s doctor was so reluctant about sharing Pauley’s diagnosis with others that he offered her a cover story to hide her bipolar disorder.

    “The only time in my life… that I experienced stigma was that day, day one, when I recognized that my doctor was giving me a cover story to tell my employers that I was being treated for a thyroid disorder, which was true, but I knew it was not the whole truth.”

    Instead of hiding her truth, Pauley wrote down her experience in her book published soon after her diagnosis, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue. (An excerpt can be read on NBC News.) Pauley said that her doctor “went pale” at her decision to write about it, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

    Ending Stigma

    “Words have power. The word ‘stigma’ is its own stigma,” she said on CBS This Morning. “So every time you say ‘stigma,’ it is a reminder for people like me that I’m fighting two wars. It’s not enough that I have a disorder that’s pretty serious, but I’m also fighting this front.”

    She added, “My goal is that we fight stigma, which is real, but we fight it with sophistication. It’s a medical disorder.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Julie Andrews: Therapy “Saved My Life, In A Way”

    Julie Andrews: Therapy “Saved My Life, In A Way”

    The icon detailed her experience with therapy on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    The legendary Julie Andrews revealed that seeking therapy during a difficult time in her life “saved my life, in a way.”

    While promoting her new memoir Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years, out this month, Andrews shared her experience with therapy during a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

    Mike Nichols Nudged Her Into Getting Help

    The Sound of Music star said that a famous friend inspired her to seek help after separating from her first husband, set designer Tony Walton, in 1967.

    “Sadly, I separated from my lovely first husband. And separations were always inevitable and the marriage was over and my head was so full of clutter and garbage,” she told host Stephen Colbert. “Believe it or not, it was Mike Nichols who really tipped me into wanting to go to therapy.”

    Nichols, who directed The Graduate and The Birdcage, among others, had a certain quality that resonated with the young actress. “He was so sane, and funny and clear. He had a clarity that I admired so much. I wanted that for myself. And I didn’t feel I had it, so I went and got into it and it saved my life, in a way,” she told Colbert.

    She said there was no harm in sharing her experience with therapy, especially if it could help someone else. “The truth is, Stephen, why not [share it], if it helps anybody else have the same idea? And these days, there’s no harm in sharing it. I think everybody knows the great work it can do, and anybody that is lucky enough to have it, afford it, and take advantage of it, I think it would be wonderful, yeah.”

    “I’d Felt Like I Lost My Identity”

    Losing her voice in 1997 was also difficult to cope with, she said in the October/November issue of AARP The Magazine. “When I woke up from an operation to remove a cyst on my vocal cord, my singing voice was gone. I went into a depression. I felt like I’d lost my identity,” she said.

    The surgery resulted in permanent damage to Andrews’ iconic singing voice. She sued the hospital, Mount Sinai in New York, for malpractice in 1999 and settled with the hospital in 2000 for an undisclosed amount. The actress has tried to repair her singing voice through more surgeries, but had no success, according to the Daily Mail.

    “That was just an extremely, acutely painful time. Not physically, but emotionally,” Andrews recently told Oprah Magazine. “The thing that I felt defined me, always, was that I was a soprano… I finally thought, ‘If I don’t do something else, I’m just going to go crazy.’ Because I’m not one to ever just be idle. I’m far too curious and interested.”

    She found a different calling in writing children’s books with her daughter Emma. “So along came a brand-new career in my mid-60s,” Andrews told AARP. “Boy, that was a lovely surprise. But do I miss singing? Yes, I really do.”

    Home Work: A Memoir of My Hollywood Years is now available.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • "Joker" Hit With Backlash For Its Depiction Of Mental Illness

    "Joker" Hit With Backlash For Its Depiction Of Mental Illness

    “This plot plays to the unfortunate and false stereotype that people with mental illness are violent,” one mental health expert laments. 

    The box office hit Joker has received a wave of critical backlash for its depiction of violence and mental health issues.

    Dr. Ziv Ezra Cohen, who is a criminal psychiatrist at Weill Cornell Medical School, wrote an article for New York Daily News criticizing the controversial film.

    “Some are wringing their hands over The Joker—concerned that it might glorify violence. I have a very different concern about the message it sends,” he writes.

    Addressing The Stigma

    Cohen mentioned that some reviews of the film have brought up concerns about the stigma surrounding mental illness. The character of Arthur Fleck, who eventually becomes the Joker, starts off in a mental hospital, then becomes more dangerous as he’s treated badly by the outside world.

    “This plot plays to the unfortunate and false stereotype that people with mental illness are violent,” Cohen laments. “As a whole, people with mental illness have no increased rate of violence compared to anybody else, and they are more likely to be victims of crimes.”

    And considering there have been fears of violence at theaters showing Joker, Cohen adds, “On a deeper level, the movie may well make connections in viewers’ minds between mental illness and mass violence… Research shows that people who commit mass shootings in the vast majority of crimes do no have a clear mental illness that would explain their behavior. In addition, 1% of gun violence is attributable to mental illness.”

    In trying to analyze Joker, Cohen notes that “the brilliance of the character defies any psychiatric diagnosis. He does not show symptoms of delusions or a thought disorder that one would see in an illness like schizophrenia. He does not show the impulsiveness that one sees in many personality disorders and in bipolar disorder… A term we use in psychiatry to describe such people is psychopath.”

    Starting A Conversation

    As Julie Rael, chief clinical officer at a mental health facility in Salt Lake City told Fox 13, “I think [this movie] is creating conversations around how trauma can impact somebody’s well being. There is a statistic: 3-6% of people with mental illness commit crimes or are violent. People with mental illness are more likely to be harmed or harmed themselves.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Mental Illness Isn’t Associated With Gun Violence, Study Confirms

    Mental Illness Isn’t Associated With Gun Violence, Study Confirms

    Researchers say the findings should have implications for public policy as the nation struggles to respond to an epidemic of gun violence. 

    Access to guns, not history of mental illness, is the biggest predictor of whether a person will threaten someone else or commit violent acts with a firearm, a recent study has confirmed. 

    The study, published in the journal Preventive Medicine, looked at the behavior of 663 young adults over a period of a few years. Researchers asked participants about their mental health history and symptoms of mental illness.

    They also asked about participants’ access to firearms, whether they carried a gun outside their home (other than for hunting), and if they had ever threatened anyone with a gun. 

    Public Perception Is Wrong

    “Despite the prevailing public and media perception of mental health being associated with gun violence, there is generally a lack of research to support this. We conducted this study to test the link and to provide scientific evidence,” Yu Lu, lead study author and an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma, told PsyPost. 

    Researchers wrote that the findings should have implications for public policy as the nation struggles to respond to an epidemic of gun violence. 

    “We found that the majority of mental health symptoms we examined, including anxiety, depression, stress, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder, were unrelated to gun violence,” Lu said. “Instead, individuals with gun access were 18 times more likely to have threatened someone with a gun compared to those who did not have gun access, even after controlling for mental health, prior mental health treatment, and demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, race/ethnicity.”

    Lu said that despite discussions about gun control and mental health access, there has been little research that looks at the interplay of gun violence and mental illness. 

    The researcher explained, “There is an overall lack of research on gun violence. We are the first one to look at mental illness and gun access together, we are also the first one to use longitudinal data to look at the relationship overtime.”

    Still, Lu pointed out that more research needs to be done. The study had some limitations. It did not include individuals with schizophrenia, for example. In addition, the study took place in the Houston, Texas area, where gun ownership rates are higher than elsewhere in the country. 

    Lu emphasized what mental health advocates have been saying all along: that people with mental illness are more likely to be victims of gun violence than to perpetrate a gun crime. 

    “The main takeaway from the study is that we should not stigmatize people with mental health problems, not assume they are dangerous, because more than likely they are not dangerous and actually are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of violence,” Lu said. 

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Lake Bell Details Traumatic Home Birth To Destigmatize Psychiatric Meds

    Lake Bell Details Traumatic Home Birth To Destigmatize Psychiatric Meds

    “I barely take Advil but I was like, this is absolutely imperative in order for me to function.”

    Actress Lake Bell was a believer in the “organic f—ing kumbaya way of living,” but that did not stop her from seeking medication after a traumatic home birth in which she nearly lost her son.

    “It was like I need something, I can’t be a person. I don’t know how to be… I had never felt that before,” the Bless This Mess star said on a recent episode of The Conversation with Amanda De Cadenet. “My heart aches for those who feel that through the hardship of their life every day, like, I have felt it. I know what it is and it’s a monster. It’s a demon.”

    Bell is hoping to lessen the stigma around psychiatric medication by sharing her story. She said that turning to Zoloft after her son Ozzy’s birth in 2017 allowed her to function and feel like herself again.

    Taking Antidepressants To Feel Normal

    “I took a medication called Zoloft, a very low dose and this was again, a person who was afraid of Advil, and I begged for it for my own well-being and for my family’s well-being… and it took me to a place where I could be. I could just be,” she said. “It was rational. I needed to just be Lake and I felt finally like I could breathe the air that Lake breathes, not like some other person that I don’t recognize.”

    She was on the medication for about a year before she tapered off.

    Bell said she was overcome by guilt after insisting that she have a home birth for Ozzy. The birth of her first child in 2014 to daughter Nova was “empowering,” she told Bless This Mess co-star Dax Shepard on his podcast Armchair Expert in July, and inspired her to have a second home birth.

    Nova was born with the umbilical cord around her neck, but Bell and her husband watched as “she came to life” with the help of the midwife.

    The Trauma Of Almost Losing Her Son 

    Ozzy was also born with the cord around his neck, but did not recover as well as Nova did. The newborn was rushed to the hospital and spent 11 days in the NICU. Having been deprived of oxygen for “longer than the four minutes that is associated with being okay,” the parents were informed that “he could [have] cerebral palsy or never walk or talk. That was our reality,” Bell said.

    She struggled to cope with the guilt and trauma of almost losing her son.

    “I’ve dealt with that since,” she told Shepard. “You could blame the midwife, you could blame yourself, but ultimately the result is the only thing that matters. I’ve gone through therapy and was medicated for a year and a half. I did wean myself off but I was on antidepressants to help kind of regulate. I barely take Advil but I was like, this is absolutely imperative in order for me to function.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Starbucks Set To Improve Mental Health Benefits For Employees 

    Starbucks Set To Improve Mental Health Benefits For Employees 

    The company is encouraging employees to “break the stigma and really normalize that your mental health is just as important as your physical health.”

    Starbuckshas announced that it will focus on improving access to mental health benefits for its workers. 

    Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson told CNN Business that mental health of employees—called “partners” by Starbucks—is essential to the company’s culture. It also makes good business sense, since employees who are in good health are more productive and engaging, Johnson said in a letter that announced the new focus. 

    “The more thoughtful we are about creating a range of benefits that matter to our partners—that helps us attract new partners,” Johnson said. “Over this past year, one of the things that partners have highlighted is the need for increased focus on mental health.”

    Employee Assistance Program

    Starbucks employees already have decent access to mental health care. Their insurance covers inpatient and outpatient mental health stays, and the company’s Employee Assistance Program offers six free counseling visits a year. John Kelly, senior vice president of global public affairs and social impact for Starbucks, said that the plan is “very comprehensive,” but less than 5% of employees take advantage of it, he said. 

    The company plans to work with employees to design a mental health benefits plan that will be better utilized. This might include coverage of telemedicine or digital appointments with healthcare providers. 

    Training Managers

    In addition to updating its mental health plan, Starbucks is training managers on how to spot employees who are struggling with mental health issues and connect them with support. The “mental health matters” training kicked off at a recent Chicago conference hosted by the company, and will be integrated throughout the chain in the future. 

    Kelly said that in addition to benefiting the company and employees, the focus on mental health will challenge the social stigma against mental illness, especially in the workplace. 

    The company is encouraging employees to “break the stigma and really normalize that your mental health is just as important as your physical health,” Kelly said. 

    Tracie Sponenberg, chief people officer for The Granite Group, said that more companies are speaking openly about their mental health benefits as a way to attract employees. 

    “This is an area that, as HR professionals, we weren’t talking about quite as much until recent years,” Sponenberg said. 

    A recent survey found that most American workers are afraid to take a mental health day. Discussing the importance of mental health more openly allows people to prioritize their well-being without fearing repercussions at work. 

    View the original article at thefix.com