The stigma around mental health is one that often prevents people from speaking up and getting help. People suffering from mental health issues often suffer in silence and feel as though they are alone and that no one can understand what they are going through.
Amanda Seyfried recently talked about her OCD in an interview for Allure and argued that “a mental illness is a thing that people cast in a different category [from other illnesses], but I don’t think it is. It should be taken as seriously as anything else. You don’t see the mental illness: It’s not a mass; it’s not a cyst. But it’s there. Why do you need to prove it?”
Amanda Seyfried openly talking about her OCD in an interview is one way of showing society that there is no shame in mental illness. Seyfried even talks about the medication she uses: “Yeah. I’m on Lexapro, and I’ll never get off of it. I’ve been on it since I was 19, so 11 years. I’m on the lowest dose. I don’t see the point of getting off of it. Whether it’s placebo or not, I don’t want to risk it. And what are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?” A celebrity like Seyfried talking about her mental illness helps to take away the stigma that so many others have to deal with, while simultaneously showing her fans that they are not alone.
Another public figure also shared her struggle with mental illness very recently. Alexa Losey, a YouTuber with over 900,000 subscribers released a video sharing her story of how she noticed something was wrong, got the help she needed, and came out stronger.
Alexa opens up the video by saying, “I have filmed this video twenty times and I am scared. Just as I was the first time I tried to film this.” Alexa goes into detail about her experience at the mental hospital and how the people she met there have helped shape her into who she is today. “The nurses that were there, were just the kindest people and they were so understanding and they were so motivational and I literally do not think I would be in the amazing place I am now if it wasn’t for one of the nurses and the things he would say to me.”
Yes, Alexa was scared to open up this much. She was scared to start this conversation and to reveal these details about herself to thousands of people, but she didn’t let that hold her back. She talked openly and helped take away the stigma for her fans. If we keep having open conversations like these, hopefully more people will be able to learn that they are not alone.