We all have mental health: feeling a range of emotions from joy, relief, pride to fear, disappointment to anger. Sometimes, our mental health consumes us: paralysing anxiety or even clinical depression. It is very easy to feel alone; nobody has ever felt the way we have. So when celebrities we see celebrities talking about mental health, it helps lift the stigma, normalising the conversation.
At the Purple House Clinic, we came across a fantastic book which compiles many of these stories all in one place- It’s Not Okay to Feel Blue (and Other Lies), curated by Scarlett Curtis. It makes inspiring reading. Here’s just a flavour of some of the stories below.
Physician, heal thyself: Professor Tanya Byron
Chartered Clinical Psychologist, Professor Tanya Byron knows all about mental health. She’s worked in the NHS and privately for thirty years, specialising in child and adolescent mental health. She is a familiar TV Psychologist, gracing our screens, as presenter and expert clinician on series such as: Little Angels,Teen Angels and Child of Our Time.
Tanya experienced a bout of clinical depression after a series of unexpected family bereavements, combined with her own postnatal depression. Her husband supported her and after an extended period of therapy, she eventually recovered. She admits now that at the time, she hated her depression and found it hard to accept that as a mental health clinician, that she could become ill. She had to learn to accept treatment, without shame, the same message she had given her clients. She now maintains that her experience of clinical depression has made her a better clinician.
Stiff upper lip: Adam Kay
Echoing Professor Tanya Byron’s lived experience of mental health, bestselling author Adam Kay believes the, “stiff upper lip is as much a part of the doctor’s uniform as the stethoscope.” When it comes to celebrities talking about mental health, Adam Kay has been a leading example. His junior Doctor experiences were candidly chronicled into the now infamous book, “This is going to hurt.” Following the publication of the book, Adam received countless messages from other Doctors thanking him for making them feel less alone. There is a distorted mythology around Doctors- just because they wear scrubs, they’re not superheroes. They are also allowed to cry.
Silver linings: Fearne Cotton
The world of television is similarly distorted and life can be, “warped to appear bigger, brighter and better on our screens.” It’s all smoke and mirrors. Famous people can appear confident, bubbly and invincible- but they can feel depressed too. When veteran broadcaster Fearne Cotton fell into her own black hole, it took a lot of time, medication, family and friends and eventually a whole new mindset to get out. Having been there- to the black hole- and survived, she has created her own toolkit to ward off depression. She now has hope– if she does ever feel depressed again, there will be a silver lining, reminding her that she will come out of it.
Zest for life: Alastair Campbell
The stand-out essay is by Alastair Campbell, the writer, communicator and political strategist. It is a breathtaking, poignant eulogy about his brother, Donald. For 27 years, his brother worked as a security guard at The University of Glasgow and in his free time, was a principal piper. Donald was also schizophrenic, took antipsychotic medication and was sectioned multiple times.
Alastair writes movingly about his brother’s zest for life, never wanting sympathy for his condition and never complaining, even when he could not no longer play the pipes, due to breathing side effects from his medication. There is an enduring, insufferable stigma around schizophrenia; with a cliché representation of split personality.
Alastair maintains that Schizophrenia is indeed a severe illness, where the mind is separated from reality. Donald was violent when sectioned; hearing voices telling him to do immoral things. Despite this, his workplace offered him the opportunity to thrive in his employment, where they didn’t see Donald’s diagnosis, they did “not see him as a Schizophrenic. He was an employee who had schizophrenia.”
Alastair’s essay is a timely reminder of the trenches of mental health stigma and in reality, many families desperately want to help a family member live the best life they can.
People Telling Their Story Helps
The book ‘It’s Not Okay to Feel Blue (and other lies)’ is an excellent example of celebrities talking about their own mental health for the benefit of others. The fact that these stories come from accomplished, famous people who often live on ‘superhuman’ pedestals, shows the reader that everyone can feel depressed or anxious. The thread running through these stories: ”it’s ok not to be ok,” normalises narratives around mental health. The stigma of getting help for depression and other mental health conditions is slowly dissipating through society. The other important message is that we all have different experiences of mental health; unique presentations but by sharing our experiences, we can learn to understand and help each other.
The book is available to buy on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feel-Blue-other-lies-Inspirational/dp/0241410886
Accessing Services
At Purple House Clinics, there are many expert Clinicians to help with a range of presentations from depression, anxiety, OCD, postnatal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, childhood trauma, and personality disorder in a safe, therapeutic setting. For more information, please visit our website. https://www.purplehouseclinic.co.uk/