Celebs Shine A Light on Mental Illness

05/18/2011

Celebrities. We look to them to set the standards on everything from hairstyles to handbags, but they live under a microscope, lauded for their achievements and often criticized for their faults.

Yet they are no different from the rest of us in that they are equally susceptible to experiencing mental health issues.

Earlier in the year, I was a guest expert on an MSNBC live news show where Glenn Close and her sister, Jessie, diagnosed with bipolar disorder, preceded me in a segment to raise awareness on their organization BringChange2mind.org. In addition to using their celebrity to raise awareness, Close, her sister, and the BringChange2Mind organization were aiming to decrease the stigma associated mental illness. I admired the candor in which they shared their extensive battle with and family history of mental illness.

Recently, in a Good Morning America Health segment, I was asked about on the new revisions being made to the DSM-IV TR (the big book for mental health professionals). The interviewer wanted to know if the revisions were “too inclusive” and if I thought they could lead to over-diagnosis – and ultimately over-treatment of mental health. My response? No. There are far more people who need mental health treatment that don’t receive it than the other way around. In fact, fewer than 25 percent of those affected have access to effective treatments. The reality is that depression, along with most mental illnesses, can be reliably diagnosed and treated. Depression also affects about 121 million people worldwide, and is among the leading causes of disability.

My hope is that more celebrities will recognize the immense power they have in decreasing stigma. We saw this when Brooke Shields came out on her battle with postpartum depression, an extremely common condition that affects approximately 10-15 percent of women after having a baby. Celebrities are able to mainstream and normalize these issues by bridging the paradox – that beauty and success can co-exist with mental illness.

Glenn Close shares in the Huffington Post: “It is an odd paradox that a society, which can now speak openly and unabashedly about topics that were once unspeakable, still remains largely silent when it comes to mental illness…. Yet when it comes to bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress, schizophrenia or depression, an uncharacteristic coyness takes over. We often say nothing. The mentally ill frighten and embarrass us. And so we marginalize the people who most need our acceptance.”

Celebrities help us realize is that mental illness is not a life sentence or a moral weakness but rather a medical illness that, according to Glenn Close, “needs more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation about illnesses that affect not only individuals, but their families as well”.

As a psychiatrist, my hope is that the men and women we look up to will continue to shed their sunlight on these often neglected topics.

Comments

[Threshold Ramps]

Thanks for this blog. I learn from this blog.

[Red Wing Shoe Store]

Good stuff as per usual, thanks. I do hope this kind of thing gets more exposure.

[autism attorney]

I agree. Many of us are very ignorant (and sometimes judgmental) to people who are diagnosed with such type of disorder. We tend to "know it all" and classify them as threatening, insane and dangerous. These celebrities had the initiative to tell the public their condition and what it is all about. Truly, it is very inspiring.