This is happening all too often now. Celebs revealing to the media nothing more than a disorder name & “difficulties.”
Those w an opposite view might say: “ But Eric, celebs talking abt MH/complications is great no matter the angle. It makes it more mainstream. Gets the conversation going.” But does it?
Here’s the background I’m coming from. The majority of our society knows that 1/5 ppl have “mental illness” bc every campaign you see on the topic of MH drives home that stat. That creates this perception that when it comes to MH, there are 1/5 “affected”…leaving 4/5 “unaffected.” This mentality is literally killing us.
Look at Bebe Rexha’s TWEETS to open up on this topic. She mentions a disorder name, she says she has had highs/lows that have been severe, &, she says bc of this realization, her next album release will be her FAVORITE album EVER.
Although I would never downplay the struggle that those w MH complications go through, the way this is communicated is problematic for many reasons: It continues to hammer home labels only. We are having discussions over twitter abt a complex topic most don’t understand. Bc of the backdrop in our society, she is now just placed into the 1/5 category. We know little to nothing abt her day-to-day, to shed light on what these complications entail, & how common the symptoms are. A tweet abt an album release & why it’s going to be special, is mixed within.
This topic takes hard WORK to break down. If ppl w platforms are going to open up, they need to do it in a way these folks have – not just by a twitter announcement w a disorder label & talk of an album release. They need to get face-to-face & TALK abt the why/how/day-to-day/commonalities. It’s these heroes who make the difference.
Just getting celebs to announce disorder labels on social media, think abt it – can that really be good for helping us as a society better grasp this topic?
