Beyond The Lights
By Raven Scurlock
Mental illness does not discriminate. The richest, the prettiest, the most
handsome, and the glossiest are all vulnerable to substandard mental health. Even with
all of the advantages in the world hence, money and fame, depression, anxiety, and
other mental health debacles are still factors celebrities are susceptible to. Things are
not always what they seem. The image that celebrities put out is typically just the front
cover of their narratives that gradually fade as each chapter distinctively unfolds. There
can be a lot of hurt and damage behind those beautiful smiles and fancy clothes. The
pressures of fame and fortune can be hard to overcome, and leaves room to be trapped
in a personal and professional lifestyle that does not reflect who he or she is or wants to
be. Imagine being scolded every day for wanting to find out who you really are in a
world that has already determined your actuality, without ever having met you. That is
the life of a typical mainstream celebrity. That alone has detrimental effects on human
mental health. Recently, many celebrities such as Demi Lovato, Lady Gaga, and Summer
Walker have unveiled their struggles with mental illnesses. Their ailments range from
bipolar disorder, depression, and even social anxiety, all of which, are subjects
celebrities are not expected or in a since are not allowed to have due to their
prominence.
Society needs to understand that celebrities are human and deserve the right to
go through life like any other average individual. While at the National Council for
Behavioral Health in Washington DC. Demi Lovato said, “I think it’s important that
people no longer look at mental illness as something taboo to talk about, It’s something
that’s extremely common, one in five adults has a mental illness, so basically everyone is
essentially connected to this problem and this epidemic.” Following that, she opened
up about struggling with bipolar disorder in her own life. The typical ideology of bipolar
disorder is that someone is joyful and happy at one moment and upset or angry at the
next. However, struggling with bipolar disorder goes far beyond the general ignorant
stereotypes.
There are multiple aspects and levels of having bipolar disorder such as Bipolar I,
Bipolar II, and Cyclothymic disorder. Lovato happens to suffer from Bipolar II where
she experiences hypomanic episodes alternating with depressive episodes. According to
Stanford’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, a hypomanic episode is “a
distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting throughout
