Managing Your Mental Health
- Singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, 17 years after her debut album The Fame, appears on Rolling Stone’s “Voices of the Year” cover, is sharing details of a psychotic break she endured.
- While working on the film “A Star Is Born,” she admits to being on the drug lithium for bipolar disorder and later experienced the break after completing the 2018 film.
- The term mental health refers to both our emotional and psychological well-being. Our mental health can affect how we think, feel, and behave. Certain triggers like stress, traumatic events, or change in your physical health can affect mental health.
- It’s really important to keep tabs on your mental health and, if necessary, seek treatment. This doesn’t necessarily mean traditional therapy because while it may be really helpful (even life-changing) for some, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.
- If you are facing mental health struggles, make an appointment with your doctor or mental health professional today. In the meantime, here is SurvivorNet’s guide of resources to get you started. There is never any shame in asking for help. No one should suffer alone.
Lady Gaga told Rolling Stone that while she was working on the film “A Star Is Born,” she was taking lithium, a drug which the National Alliance of Mental Illness describes as “a mood stabilizer medication that works in the brain” which is approved for the treatment of bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression).
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Lady Gaga explained, “There was one day that my sister said to me, ‘I don’t see my sister anymore.’ And I canceled the tour.
“There was one day I went to the hospital for psychiatric care. I needed to take a break.”
She continued, “I couldn’t do anything… I completely crashed. It was really scary. There was a time where I didn’t think I could get better.… I feel really lucky to be alive.
“I know that might sound dramatic, but we know how this can go.”
Expert Resources On Mental Health
- Mental Health and Cancer — The Fight, Flight or Freeze Response
- Mental Health: Understanding the Three Wellsprings of Vitality
- SurvivorNetTV Presents: Maintaining a Positive Headspace
- Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
- Can Psychedelic Drugs Help Combat Anxiety & Depression for Cancer Patients? Researchers in Utah Are Hoping to Answer That Question
- Fear, Anger, Anxiety: You’re Entitled To Your Emotions
We’re delighted to hear that Lady Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, feels that her mental health has significantly improved since her psychotic break.
She credits her fiancé, American entrepreneur Michael Polansky, for helping her reach this point, telling Rolling Stone, “Being in love with someone that cares about the real me made a very big difference.”
Still, she confessed that being in the relationship made her see how much she needed to discover who she truly is.
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Losing a Friend To Cancer
It’s important to note that Lady Gaga, who admitted she used to live for being on stage but is no longer an “adrenaline junkie,” lost her best friend to cancer around the time of her mental health struggles.
In 2017, while filming A Star is Born, Lady Gaga’s close friend Sonja Durham passed away a long battle with stage 4 cancer in her breast, brain and lung.
According to Gaga, she was on a movie set when she learned that Durham’s condition had taken a turn for the worse. She immediately rushed to the hospital to be by her side, but Durham passed away just 15 minutes before she arrived. A longtime managing director of Haus of Gaga—the singer’s cosmetics line—Durham had also been one of Gaga’s closest confidantes throughout her career.
“We were supposed to shoot in, like, 30 minutes, and I left the set because her husband called me and I could hear her in the background and I just got in the car and drove,” Gaga previously told Entertainment Weekly. “I missed her by 15 minutes and she died. I literally laid with her, with her husband, and their dog, and his son.”
Since her passing, Gaga has made it her mission to raise awareness on the impact cancer has on everyone. She still honors Durham on her birthday, and it’s so inspiring to see her use this tragic experience to help others.
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“I vow to be a little stronger everyday for her because that’s what she would have wanted, I vow to be stronger for anyone who’s lost somebody to cancer,” Gaga wrote in a passionate Instagram message.
“I’m a part of that family now. I vow to be a warrior for her and be a voice for cancer patients so the world can continue to improve the dialogue and the fight. I loved her. I still love her.”
Losing someone you love to cancer can completely change the way you see the world. For Gaga, watching Durham bravely face three forms of cancer at once became a powerful lesson in resilience and compassion—one she now shares with others through her book Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community, encouraging everyone to spread a little joy.
SN & You Presents Mental Health Coping With Emotions
Mental Health: The Basics
The term mental health refers to both our emotional and psychological well-being. Our mental health can affect how we think, feel, and behave. Certain triggers like stress, traumatic events, or change in your physical health can affect mental health. That’s why it’s important to keep tabs on your mental health, which could mean seeking treatment for some. This doesn’t necessarily mean traditional therapy because while it may be really helpful (even life-changing) for some, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.
Problems with mood and overall mental well-being can be attributed to several factors. For some people it’ss genetic, while others may be experiencing a response to some sort of stressor or past trauma.
Learning To Cope With Mental Health Struggles
“I think flexibility is really a core of how to manage it,” Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychiatrist and author, tells SurvivorNet. “Are your coping strategies that you’re using now, are they helpful in the way that they were in the past?”
Dr. Boardman suggests working to recognize any negative thoughts that may be making the process of cancer treatment more difficult, and trying to dismantle those to be more “realistically optimistic.”
Related: Responding to Stress: How to Cope With Complex & Changing Emotions
In order to keep your mental health in check, it’s important to be aware of signs, which can be subtle, that there is something affecting your mind. These signs include:
- A change in eating or sleeping habits
- Losing interest in people or usual activities
- Experiencing little or no energy
- Numb and/or hopeless feelings
- Turning to drinking or drugs more than usual
- Non-typical angry, upset, or on-edge feelings
- Yelling/fighting with loved ones
- Experiencing mood swings
- Intrusive thoughts
- Trouble getting through daily tasks
These symptoms can be wide-ranging and vary a great deal from person to person. Everyone experiences grief differently, for example. However, if you are feeling unusually sad, on-edge, or like you’re no longer interested in activities you used to love, know that there are many treatment options available and many different healthy ways to help you cope.
Finding the Right Option for Mental Health Needs
Whether it is life-balance, a loss of a loved one, or a change in life brought on by a cancer diagnosis, “grief comes in waves,” says Dr. Scott Irwin, a psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
“They’re grieving the change in their life, the future they had imagined is now different,” he told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. Some days can be tougher than others, but Dr. Irwin says talk therapy can be really helpful, so it’s important to reach out to your doctor, to a therapist, or to support groups in your community if you are struggling.
Dealing With Grief Related to Health Problems
Treatment options for people struggling with mental health really run the gamut. While some people may benefit from seeking the help of a psychologist and getting on medication, others see great improvement by simply implementing some lifestyle changes, such as prioritizing exercise and cutting back on alcohol.
Those struggling should know that they are not alone, about one in five American adults has experienced some sort of mental health issue, according to mentalhealth.gov. However, what worked to help someone else cope may not necessarily help you, as treatment must be individualized.
To maintain a positive mindset and address mental health struggles you may be having, treatment may include:
- Seeking professional help from a psychiatrist or therapist
- Learning healthy coping skills
- Medication such as antidepressants
- Adding more physical activity to your routine
- Adjusting your sleep schedule
- Connecting with others via support groups
- Mindfulness and meditation
No Reason to Feel Shame
Lady Gaga’s openess will hopefully help people realize there is no reason to be embarrassed about seeking out mental health tools and taking time to focus on mental health.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of and it is important to realize you are not alone. The CDC reports that more than 20% of American adults said they sought out mental health treatment over the past year, according to a 2020 survey. Among those people, 16.5% said they had taken some sort of medication for their mental health and 10.1% said they had received counseling or therapy.
The term mental health refers to both our emotional and psychological well-being. Our mental health can affect how we think, feel, and behave. There are also certain triggers, as stress, traumatic events, or a change in your physical health can all affect mental health.
It’s really important to keep tabs on your mental health and, if necessary, seek treatment. This doesn’t necessarily mean traditional therapy because while it may be really helpful (even life-changing) for some, that doesn’t mean it’s for everyone.
Dr. Samantha Boardman, a New York-based psychologist, told SurvivorNet it’s important to be “realistically optimistic” when learning to cope with mental health struggles.
How to Be Realistically Optimistic: Coping With Mental Health Long-Term
Problems with mood and overall mental well-being can be attributed to several factors. For some people it’s genetic, while others may be experiencing a response to some sort of stressor or past trauma.
“I think flexibility is really a core of how to manage it, Dr. Boardman. “Are your coping strategies that you’re using now, are they helpful in the way that they were in the past?”
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you’re facing challenges with a diagnosis or supporting a loved one through their emotions, you might find it helpful to ask your doctor these questions:
- How can I go about improving my outlook/mental health?
- What treatment options are available, and what are their benefits and risks?
- Are there lifestyle changes or therapies that could help alongside medical treatment?
- When should I seek other interventions if I’m still struggling?
- Are there strategies for managing day-to-day challenges related to this condition?
- How can I help my loved one cope with the emotional impact of this diagnosis?
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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