Celebrities And Mental Health: Private Matters Or Public Domain?

Depending on how well you keep up with sports news, you may or may not have heard about former England football legend Paul Gascoigne checking himself into a Roehampton rehabilitation clinic after a series of suicide threats and attempts. According to the UK’s Telegraph, Gascoigne “has struggled for years with alcoholism and depression and was detained under the Mental Health Act in February.”

I’m always just a tad bit hesitant to discuss celebrities’ mental health news in the media. On one hand, I feel these public announcements (the news stories that are just that – news stories, and not actual accounts from the celebrities themselves) are utterly disrespectful of the celebrities’ privacy. To broadcast someone else’s struggles for ratings or page views is tacky and shows serious lack of regard for your fellow human beings.

On the other hand, I realize that some news stories can actually help boost mental health advocacy and bust stigma. Many people may see their favorite singers, actors, or sports heroes going through the same things they’re going through, and feel less alone. Sometimes such stories also spark other helpful mental health tools, such as the suicide warning signs I offered after Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s suicide. (However, at the same time, there are media sources like TMZ that accomplish nothing other than promoting stigma with their ignorant stories about troubled celebrities such as Britney Spears.)

When the media first made Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt public, my heart went out to him. And when Grey’s Anatomy star Justin Chambers finally explained why he’d been in a psychiatric ward for a serious sleep disorder, I wondered how frustrated he might have been to feel he should come forward and clear up rumors.

It’s difficult enough to deal with any kind of mental health situation without having to deal with the public’s opinions, too. I expect this turns out to be even more difficult for celebrities, because unlike the regular folk who make the news simply because of their mental health issues, celebrities have to continue being in the public eye long after the news of their problems hits the press.

I know the media will probably never stop reporting this kind of “news,” and, like I said above, sometimes it could actually be helpful (especially when the celebrities themselves publicly address the issue). However, before we start sensationalizing and sending the rumors flying, we should pause, realize that these people are fellow human beings who are going through the same things many of us go through, and take note of how we’d want to be treated.

Image: Newscom

Chato B. Stewart is currently rockin’ out in the This Is Why I ROCK! series here at Mental Health Notes. If you have a mental illness and are still living the life you love, head on over the the official announcement post and enter!