Carrie Fisher has written a memoir about mental health. Katherine Heigl plays a character struggling with brain problems. Britney Spears fell victim to hospital workers’ snooping about her mental health. (Axel Koester, J. Emilio Flores and Christopher Smith for The New York Times)Celebrity shenanigans make headlines. But do we need a blog devoted to their mental health issues?
One of my favorite mental health Web sites, PsychCentral, thinks we do. The site has launched a new blog devoted to mental health issues surrounding celebrities called Celebrity Psychings. Writes PsychCentral founder John M. Grohol:
Celebrities have the ability to reach an audience who ordinarily might not even think about (or recognize the legitimacy of) mental health concerns. While we’re not into celebrity worship here, we believe that people can use their popularity for good when they talk about mental health issues out loud and in public. The more people get talking about mental health, the more it reduces the stigmatization and misinformation about these issues.
One of the latest posts focuses on the actress Carrie Fisher, who has bipolar disorder and is promoting a new memoir, “Wishful Drinking” (Simon & Schuster). Other items look at how mental health issues are being portrayed in the media, including shows like “Boston Legal,” where William Shatner’s character, Denny Crane, has been coping with the onset of Alzheimer’s.
The blog is written by Alicia Sparks, formerly of the Mental Health Notes blog. While the posts often contain more chatter than I would like, I agree with Dr. Grohol that celebrities have the power to bring needed attention to important issues.
I looked for examples of celebrity news on the Well blog. Stories have included:
- Do the Rules Apply to Dr. Phil? Patient privacy and Britney Spears.
- An Actor’s Diagnosis Brings Attention to Pancreatic Cancer: Actor Patrick Swayze’s cancer diagnosis.
- Parents’ New Miley Problem: Celebrity misdeeds and how they affect our kids.
- Food Allergies Hit the Music Charts: Singer Trace Adkins brings attention to food allergy.
- Michael Phelps and the Potential of A.D.H.D.: The Olympic swimmer’s childhood diagnosis of attention deficit problems.
- A Hollywood Family Takes on Medical Mistakes: The story of a medical error that almost killed the twin babies of actor Dennis Quaid.
- More Celebrity Snooping by Hospital Workers: Privacy violations affecting actress Farah Fawcett.
- Hot Maybe, But Not Smoking: Model Tyra Banks bans smoking on a reality show.
- Reality Dance Show Puts Rett Syndrome in the Spotlight: A celebrity choreographer raises awareness about a little-known illness.
What do you think? Should the media pay attention to celebrity health issues?
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24 Comments
I wish the media would focus less on celebrities in general. It’s the chicken-or-the-egg problem, though: Does the media focus on celebrities because that’s what the public wants, or is the public’s appetite for celebrity news generated by the media?
I think you’ve handled it well when discussing health issues related to celebrities here, TPP, but I would not visit a blog dedicated to that subject.
— HeronThe only good thing that comes out of celebrity health isssues and coverage thereof is that the personally afflicted wealthy celebrities then take an interest in these health issues, promote awareness of them and donate funds to research in the respective fields. That’s about it.
Of course, it’s possible to become passionately involved in, say, finding a cure for Crohn’s disease just through learning that such a thing exists, but that’s rare.
— SusannaI don’t have a problem with most of the types of stories you highlighted. Celebrities are useful because they provide a single point of reference that everyone can read about. The problem is with stories like the one about Miley Cyrus. None of the stories should target people (particularly minors) who have not themselves promoted use of their story to help the general public, otherwise the blog falls into the trap of becoming yet another website using celebrities to attract readership- a huge loss in credibility.
FROM TPP — Unfortunately for Miley Cyrus, she is a major public figure and the fact that she is young doesn’t change the fact that her actions influence her young fans. I actually wrote that post because this issue of teen celebrity is becoming a real issue for parents (myself included.) My 4th grader is still trying to make sense of Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy, and she and many of her friends have lost interest in Miley and her new “older” image.
— AllisonWhether anyone believes the media SHOULD cover celebrity health issues, the media WILL.
I’m sure that celebrities bringing personal problems out into the light has helped a lot of fans recognize and deal with their problems.
But the real objective of print, electronic, and broadcast media is to make bucks and manipulate celebrity images, via sensational publicity. It also seems very likely that some fans rationalize or justify a problem because a favorite celebrity has a similar one.
Our celebrity and our media culture is a train already a long way out of the station. There WILL be news about every detail celebrities allow to be known. Guess we might as well make the most of it.
— WesleyMental health on the red carpet has both pros and cons. It seems that for every Michael Phelps story that gives hope to a child with ADHD there’s another starlet being criticized for a mental breakdown, pushing real sufferers to hide in silence for fear of ridicule. Though I applaud celebrities who are candid about their own mental illnesses and who offer themselves up as a positive role model for others to face their problems and get help, such as Carrie Fisher, I abhor the cult of celebrity that drives reporters and health care workers to spy for the latest gossip.
— BelleTwo issues here: the burden of being a celebrity and the benefit. Other than sports celebrities whose physical issues impact their performance, a celebrities health issues are their own - especially mental health. It must be difficult to have cancer and be a celebrity but to have mental health problems (like depression), it must be a nightmare.
As to the benefit, look at celebrities that have used their star power for good (and not ego stroking). Off the top of my head I can think of Elizabeth Taylor (who has had tremendous health problems) and the work she has done regarding AIDS and Michael J. Fox, whose has worked advancing stem cell research.
The public and the media should let these folks decide where they want the line to be drawn.
— Adam HerbstFair or not, someone who is famous can raise the national consciousness and generate fund-raising at levels unreachable by the average person. And this is not a bad thing. Most people have heard of Christopher Reeve and Michael J. Fox. but (for example) I learned about Rett Syndrome only when Julia Roberts testified on Capital Hill to ask for research funding.
I also believe that the media produces products that sell. Consumers determine the content, not the other way around. Maybe the average NYT reader isn’t interested, but the majority of Americans obviously are. If consumers really have no curiosity about celebrities, all they have to do is stop. Stop buying People and Us Weekly, stop watching Entertainment Tonight and Extra, stop visiting TMZ.com and PerezHilton.com. If all of the people who claim to hate celebrity news actually voted with their pocketbooks and their Web hits, the genre would shrink very quickly.
Finally, while I don’t have any interest in the minutiae of their lives, I’m not one of those who believe that all famous people are morons for whom the right of free speech should not apply.
— perraI have a problem with the lessons drawn from celebrity issues.
For example, when Heath Ledger and David Foster Wallace killed themselves after withdrawing from antidepressants, the lesson was “isn’t depression or drug addiction terrible,” rather than horror at death-by-psychiatry.
Both people had withdrawn from antidepressants in the last year, in Heath Ledger’s case it was Zoloft. Ledger suffered from withdrawal insomnia and then became addicted to benzos prescribed by his doctor. (Doctors overprescribe these undeniably addictive drugs; benzo addiction is epidemic.) He died from accidental overdose, combining the wrong drugs to get relief from horrible withdrawal insomnia, a very common antidepressant withdrawal symptom.
David Foster Wallace had gotten off antidepressants a year before he killed himself and told his friends over that year that he didn’t feel like himself. Depersonalization and emotional blunting, as well as elimination of artistic impulse, are common in antidepressant withdrawal syndrome. This probably wasn’t recognized by his doctor and he thought he had permanent brain damage.
One also wonders how many of Britney’s problems might be due to adverse effects of psychiatric drugs or withdrawal syndrome.
Psychiatry is doing as much damage as it does good and I wish these celebrity stories shed some light on this rather than the unrelenting cheerleading for pharmaceuticals and clueless doctoring.
— AltostrataIt must be difficult to have cancer and be a celebrity but to have mental health problems (like depression), it must be a nightmare.
- Adam Herbst
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Which is the worse nightmare–those living in poverty with mental health problems or celebrites enduring mental health problems?
At least celebrities have the resources for the best care, and many have enough money to live on for the rest of their lives if their career was ruined due to mental illness. Many with chronic mental illness–and I know some personally–have lost their jobs due to it or have been on the verge of losing their jobs. That and no health insurance or care is devastating.
Mental health and poverty go hand in hand, and it is also a precurser to homelessness.
— Just SayingI have a problem with the way many members of the media cover celebrities who have mental health issues. Often, they show so little empathy. Instead, the focus is on the inappropriate behaviours that result from a mental or emotional problem.
Mental and emotional problems do not play favourites, yet the media often goes for the sensational more than the sensitive in its coverage. I don’t think this is fair. To anyone, famous or not. We’ve all done things we regret. It must be doubly difficult — humiliating — to recover when the whole world has had a birds-eye view.
Patty Duke has done enormous good in educating the public about bipolar disorders. She’s actively chosen to be a mental health advocate and used her celebrity to help spread the word. We need more like her.
The coverage of Britney Spears and her problems was like a feeding frenzy, a circus. No one deserves to be treated that way, especially when they’re down.
Sometimes, I think it’s better to give people, famous or not, some space to recover before shining the spotlight on them, unless that coverage is thoughtful and appropriate.
Then give them the chance to initiate a dialogue and get people talking.
Until fear and ignorance, prejudice and discrimination against people with mental and emotional issues disappears from our society — only education can accomplish that — I think the media should try to exercise some humanity in its coverage. People who are acting out are vulnerable. Obviously not well.
No one is immune.
— Sandy NaimanAs someone who has suffered from depression since adolescence ( I am now 53), I can’t imagine having my illness and treatment splashed all over the front page of every website in the world. While I recognize that celebrities seek out the media to promote their latest project, movie, album, book, line of clotes, etc, I can’t see how anyone benefits from knowing the lurid details of a star’s mental health problems. Some things should remain private, thereby allowing the person the best opportunity to overcome the illness through medication and/or therapy.
— NonCelebrityto me, anyone who is (or wants to become) a celebrity must have a mental health condition, and i write this in the most humane and compassionate way. celebrities are driven but ego, or on the flip side seeking acceptance (to bolster a low self esteem). to me these are signs of an underlying mental condition.
— robno matter who you are mental health issues are agonizing problems that effect everyone in your life. anything that brings attention to the fact that we do not have sufficient understanding of how to treat brain chemistry, it is all trial and error, rife with side effects and withdrawal symptoms administered by people with no idea what any of the drugs feel like themselves. and yes, it is hopelessly, devastatingly, complicated by poverty and lack of health insurance. there’s a lot we could do better.
— kendrarobut if celebrities are comfortable talking about their own experiences, it can help educate and destroy the stigma that lingers and that, along with better research and access, will eventually make a difference.
i saw carrie fisher today and she was great!
What worries me the most about the cult of the celebrity in the illness arena is their stellar access to health care that puts their plight out of reach for most Americans facing illness. Easy for stars to dispense coping advice when, for the most part, they have the luxury of dealing with the physical and emotional challenges of a disease, and don’t have to climb a mountain of red tape (or can hire someone to do it for them, or call someone to pull some strings.) I don’t hate them for it; I just envy them.
For my book about young adult cancer, I interviewed lots of patients who felt daunted by Lance and his ability to get back on the proverbial bike. When these patients didn’t have the energy, finances, support, will, desire, or physical ability to get back on their proverbial bike, they didn’t want Lance making them feel like a losers because they couldn’t be like him and just LiveStrong.
(P.S. Talk about celebrity influence, my spell check just changed livestrong to LiveStrong.)
http://everythingchangesbook.blogspot.com/
— Kairol RosenthalI don’t believe I could care less about the mental health issues of celebrities. There exists a large disconnect because celebrities have money and therefore have more resources than the “average” mentally ill individual.
— RunningI have come to dislike our celebrity culture, generally speaking, but I give so much credit to those celebrities who talk about their experience with mental illness-depression, etc. It must take a lot of courage to do so, and I believe it is usually done out of benevolence (ex., interviews).
At the same time, it reveals the staying power of the stigma against those with mental problems. I heard radio DJs making fun of Brittney Spears for her illness, on numerous occassions and it was sickening. What’s worse is that people tolerate this as if nothing is wrong.
Then again, it seems the pigs of society are revealed via morning radio shows!
— Just SayingThe blogs you list go beyond mental illness, the headline, so I’ll mention some other cases.
Celebrity illness is a double-edge sword. A great case that did tremendous good was that of Katie Couric and her husband. She brought a great deal of awareness to the need for screening colonoscopies to prevent colon cancer, and thus saved many lives.
The dark side is when a celebrity such as Playboy model Jenny McCarthy spouts off about how vaccines cause autism. The result is disastrous. Unvaccinated children worldwide suffer measles and its complications, including death. Her words essentially serve to increase suffering and death.
Bottom line is that every person needs to develop the capacity to look at the scientific evidence in order to do the right thing. Forget about celebrities, and even experts, to a certain extent.
One does not have to be a doctor to learn how to look objectively at human outcome clinical studies. Do this, and you’ll make the right choices.
— jackI think, as long as the issues being covered have already been publicly addressed by the celebrity, then blogging about it (”it” being the mental health issue the celebrity is dealing with) is in no way disrespectful. As long as the celebrity has already told the public about it him or herself, then blogging about it - in a respectful, sympathetic, and educational way - can only help to get rid of the ignorant stigma that surrounds mental illness. Kudos to this new blog!
— DonitaReporting about celebrities and mental health is not useful, helpful or instructive for most normal folks because we have nowhere near the wealth and resulting healthcare resources these privileged people enjoy. If we allow ourselves to be drawn into comparisons between our progress and coping with theirs, we will likely feel defeated and relatively more hopeless.
The same is true, of course, of well-compensated and benefits-rich journalists who explore these issues and pronounce about them without actually having had the same experiences that less-celebrated people endure.
William McCloskey
— William McCloskeyPittsburgh
Some of the most profound discussion of mental health issues by a celebrity can be found on Dick Cavett’s NYT blog. I encourage anyone who has faced depression to read his two “Smiling Through” entries: http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/smiling-through/ and http://cavett.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/smiling-through-part-2/ .
— SchizohedronSure, why not? Dr. Drew Pinsky makes a career out of celebrity mental issues, more specifically alcohol and drug addiction, which are mental health issues. His show ‘Celebrity Rehab’ is on one of the cable networks (I’ve never seen it).
Our interest in these matters is mostly voyeuristic, but some good can come out of it if the information is factual. I agree with Susanna in #3 that it is when a celebrity gets behind an issue and talks it up in a positive manner that the most good can happen. And if they contribute money to research about the problem, this is also helpful.
— Rob L, N Myrtle Beach SCI don’t know how many of you are familiar with Ms. Sparks previous blog, Mental Health Notes. I was a regular subscriber and can tell you that Ms. Sparks never posts anything that’s not thoughtful, well-researched, and relevant. She’s the last person to write about mental health issues in any kind of exploitative or voyeuristic way. On the contrary, she has always shown a huge level of respect and compassion for anyone who struggles with mental health issues, and especially for those who put themselves on the line to make life better for others. Many celebrities fall into this latter category, using their fame to increase awareness, decrease stigma, and even secure research funding. They should be commended, and Ms. Sparks does so, and I truly believe that that allows their work to continue effectively.
But, Ms. Sparks is a very smart person, and she has never hesitated to call someone out who needs it. If an ill-informed celebrity (say, Tom Cruise or Jenny McCarthy) says hurtful things, someone has to nail them on it. Being famous doesn’t make anyone either expert or even intelligent. People who say helpful things for the good of others should be supported, and people who say stupid things that make life worse for others should be held accountable. If you knew Ms. Sparks or her writing, you would know that is what she has ALWAYS done. I don’t expect this new blog to be any different from her usual balanced, insightful, and compassionate approach.
— PhillipsBrooksI am someone who not only works in the behavioral health field, but I also suffer from Bipolar disorder. My thought on this is that if we can get the word out that having a mental illness isn’t the end of the world, then let the celebs go for it. Suicide is horrible but there had to be signs and if someone had seen them then maybe things could have been stopped. And as far as Heath, the doctor should have known better and he should be accountable. When we see folks whose symptoms are bad (like Brittney) and then they seem to turn around that gives HOPE. Please lets erase the stigma. And lets let the celebs help.
— E. Pollardwell suicide is such an horrible thing.
Acai
— Acai