The irony of this story coming out now is that Favre’s addiction to the painkillers started in 1994, & lasted (at least) till 1999- well before there was social media.
Keep in mind, some of the first major celeb stories- where we heard openly abt their MH challenges, came via tabloid magazines, starting in the early 2000s. At the time we heard: “Britney Spears has depression, shaved her head, is crazy.” We also heard: “Lindsay Lohan has anxiety, dresses like a hot mess, can’t put her makeup on properly.”
“Train wrecks” were what we were led to believe. They fit in the “1 in 5” w mental illness category, & thus began the bogus narrative that you are either a sick individual in that “ill group,” or you’re “not,” & if you’re not, you’re healthy/fine/normal/ok.
On the next slide, I shared the brave post from one of Alabama’s football coaches yesterday- talking openly abt how he needs to take time off to address his MH. This is off the heels of a number of D1 college bball players, like @noah_freidel, bravely sharing that they’d be taking off to do the same.
So, what’s the reality here? Are we still of the belief from the early 2000s of what the media & big industry have fed us- that mental illness & MH are the same things? That only a select group ever gets affected? That the affected always have far end of the spectrum behaviors that come over them? That if you don’t act “like them,” this isn’t a topic for you?
Or does a story like Favre’s- off the heels of many hundreds of public figures sharing their stories in recent yrs, finally start to show the thread that we ALL struggle at times…all are susceptible to pain- physical & emotional…often turn to vices to help us thru that pain bc we aren’t taught any better in school, or by society?
It’s better for the media eyeballs if these stories are train wreck one-offs. It’s better for industries that sell us fixes if there is a thick line between sick & healthy.
The reality is these public figures are just amongst the early ones to share. We ALL have stories of challenges. Diff times in our lives, diff degrees, but all of us are part of this tribe.
