Celebrities and mental health

Stephen Fry and Ruby Wax.
They have both been open and honest about their mental health problems and are patrons of mental health charities.
Stephen Fry for Mind and Ruby Wax for Black Dog Tribe.

I agree with Helen - I can't imagine that being followed around by cameras would be good for anyone's mental health! There's also a lot more pressure on celebrities, particularly women, to conform to certain expectations from the public, especially with regard to things like weight, which I'm sure would add a great deal more stress and unhappiness to their lives.

I'm never quite sure where I stand on this issue. I think the writer makes a lot of good points. The media has a tendency to glamourise mental illnesses - bipolar is one that has received particular attention and there has been a tendency to focus on the so-called positive aspects, like increased creativity and productivity that celebs say they get from it. But the reality for a lot of sufferers is very different. They may not have flexibility in work, the support systems or the money to work around their illness and so on. Then there is the difference between the "mainstream" illnesses, such as bipolar, which has received lots of media attention and depression, which is much closer to "normal" experience and diagnoses such as schizophrenia or BPD which are still highly stigmatised. You don't see celebrities coming out with these diagnoses do you? And as the writer said, it is one thing for these privileged people who are able to book into clinics like the priory and something else for someone who in sectioned or refused treatment as there isn't enough bedspace - most experiences of psychiatric treatment are much less positive.

That said, I don't think it is particularly beneficial to focus on "how bad" each of our problems are - we already see enough stigma, without stigmatising each other too. That way it turns into a battle of whose problems are worst, and that helps no one. All of our problems are real and there will always be someone better off and someone worse off than you. When I was really ill, feeling that my problems weren't justified only made things ten times worse - we need to stop judging things that way and just accept that we all deserve help.

Yes there are still many issues with media portrayal of mental illness - but celebs like Ruby Wax and Stephen Fry have brought it out in the open and at least helped to begin the discussion. Sure there is still a long way to go, but judging each other won't help advance the cause.

I think that's true. I recently looked into an online support group for Bipolar sufferers. I found it a really horrible place though as it was dominated by people who had self-diagnosed and who said how much they loved their illness. I feel so out of control whether I'm low or high and recently I thought my medication was working better but then I came crashing down again. I'm not suggesting that people can't be positive or make the best of things but I find it difficult that people can think it's such a positive thing. The likelihood is that if they have Bipolar (and especially if they are unmedicated) that the episodes will become more severe over their life. Research has shown the more episodes you have, the more you will have.

I really wish Schizophrenia would become much less stigmatised - and personality disorders. I do also think that depression is still seen as not a real illness when it clearly is.

OCD is also stigmatised heavily too. Pees me right off when any mental illness is stigmatised or used as a joke