Mental health, positive or negative, is something that absolutely everybody will deal with in their lives. We live in a world now where the stigma of having less than perfect mental health is slowly being chipped away at – and it’s absolutely brilliant to see.
A lot of that comes down to visibility, and people talking openly about their struggles, but we need to remember that it’s an incredibly personal topic.
Kristen Bell opened up about her anxiety and depression in 2016, and about how it manifested as an intense desire to be liked. Looking back, she said that she felt “incredibly irresponsible” for not mentioning it sooner.
In an interview, she said that it was her husband, Dax Shepard, who first suggested speaking out.
“He was like ‘Why don’t you talk about your anxiety and depression?’ and I had never thought about that before. And I immediately felt incredibly irresponsible,”
“Me talking about that actually came from — ugh, I hate to give him credit for everything, it’s so annoying that he’s so right about everything, it really is.”
Of course it’s great that Kristen has spoken openly about her personal circumstances, but the feelings of irresponsibility are something she shouldn’t have had to deal with. People telling the world that they’ve been dealing with their own struggles isn’t something we should take for granted, and I think that it’s very easy to forget the bravery required to make a statement like that in such a public forum.
According to Kristen, despite the leaps forward that we’ve made as a society, “everyone thinks there’s some shame in it.”
Kristen also spoke about how she takes medication to manage her anxiety and depression on a day to day basis.
The movement to remove the shame from mental health is a slow, but incredibly worthwhile one. While we all wish it would hurry up, nobody should ever feel anything other than empowered for speaking about their personal experiences.
If you, or anyone you know, is struggling with mental health issues, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636.