14 Funny or Insightful Takes on Mental Health from Celebrities Who Struggle
Come for the John Mulaney, stay for the Rodney Dangerfield.
Philip K. Dick
He said a rational person living in cruel times is right to feel a bit off: “Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.”
Jennifer Lawrence
She says honing in on important tasks can be a great way to endure the pressure of her career: “I’ve got to try to let it go, and try to be myself, and focus on important things, like picking up dog poop.”
Richard Lewis
He said you can only get better when you want to get better: “I quit therapy because my analyst was trying to help me behind my back.”
Halsey
She raises a great point: Do you really want someone with no mental health issues making the art you consume? She says she often encounters the attitude that “‘if you can’t take the heat, you shouldn’t be a musician.’ I think that’s messed-up. I think I deserve to chase my dream and do what I love even though I have a mental illness.”
John Mulaney
He says it took one particularly bad weekend to realize he needed to seek help: “I went on a bender that weekend that was just, like, fading in and out of a movie. It was just crazy. A weekend that was… I’m never going to tell you. That’s mine. I didn’t kill anyone or assault anyone. But yeah, I was like, ‘You’re fucking out of control.’ And I thought to myself, ‘I don’t like this guy anymore. I’m not rooting for him.’”
Lena Dunham
She says exercise may not be the answer to mental health struggles, but it is important: “I know it’s mad annoying when people tell you to exercise, and it took me about 16 medicated years to listen. I’m glad I did. It ain’t about the ass, it’s about the brain.”
Charles Schulz
He found a great way to ration his irrational fears: “I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at a time.”
Lady Gaga
She says a big part of self-care is saying no, early and often: “I check in with myself throughout the day and I say, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ and if the answer is no, then I don’t do it. And you shouldn’t either.”
William Gibson
The author has some timeless advice that social media self-diagnosers may want to take to heart: “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounding yourself with assholes.”
Demi Lovato
She has a message for anyone suffering silently: “You don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it.”
Mark Twain
He really hit the nail on the head when it comes to anxiety: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
Kerry Washington
She wants to remove the stigma from going to therapy. A great start would be to not call it a “shrink,” but that aside, it’s a fantastic comparison: “My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?”
Michelle Obama
She also says mental health, in some crucial ways, is no different from physical health: “We would never tell someone with a broken leg that they should stop wallowing and get it together. We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of.”
Rodney Dangerfield
He found that there’s always a silver lining: “I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous — everyone hasn’t met me yet.”