Rachel Riley now reported to have got PTSD from Strictly too

[chachacharcoal]

Both the Daily Mail and the Mirror are now reporting that Rachel Riley also claims to have developed PTSD after doing Strictly. She went on to marry her partner though so he doesn't seem to have been the problem. One of the articles is also claiming she says that many of the other former contestants she's spoken to since doing the show have shared similar experiences. I was surprised by some of the vitriol Amanda Abington got for saying similar but I do realise most people have a fairly basic understanding of trauma. Anyone else very interested in this story?

Faye Tozer is also being reported to have had a negative experience with Giovanni. But the word trauma hasn't been used in that story as far as I'm aware.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13262881/Rachel-riley-strictly-come-dancing-ptsd-amanda-abbington-exit.html

https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/rachel-riley-reveals-bbc-strictly-32493863

@godmum56 yes, I think the contestant you are thinking of is Sophie Ellis-Bextor (partnered with Brendan Cole). She commented on the show that she wanted to dance a rumba that she felt comfortable with, and that her husband and kids would be comfortable watching (I paraphrase).

Trouble is many of theses celebrities will have been told how wonderful they are most of their careers, and for first time are being told no, that wasn’t a good dance move or that needs practised again and again by a professional dancer .
They probably can’t cope with the criticism but it’s hardly PTSD
These dancers have lived and grown up in a competitive dance environment and want the best possible version of their dance to be shown. Unless your Anton and given duffers then he he cleverly turned it to his comedic advantage.
I can imagine Drs or Nurses during Covid where they were losing patients lives in huge numbers must be horrendous I’m sure many had PTSD , miners going back after the roof collapsed etc but these celebs claiming it because someone said their foxtrot footwork wasn’t great is just nonsense.

I agree that dismissing RRs experience is awful. I certainly didn't mean to do that. But I do think that discussion around all these diagnoses is important.

Desperate, fame-obsessed, narcissistic minor celebrities in attention seeking shocker… 🙄

David Beckham has been diagnosed with OCD though?

I am not dismissing that strictly is stressful and hard work and probably takes its toll, but again PTSD is a stretch

I hate to be brutal, but aren't a lot of these upsetting experiences that do damage simply normal life, rightly or wrongly?

None of us come away from life unscathed, without pain, without suffering, without memories we wish we didn't have, that might keep us awake at night.

@Treeper22 Understanding that trauma is actually quite widespread is a helpful step forwards, as it will enable people to take better care of themselves and therefore minimise the impact of negative experiences in life going forwards.

The fact something is common doesn't mean we should just dismiss it. We can prepare better for things that might be difficult, behave more healthily during it, and respond in a healthier way afterwards.

Stiff upper lip belongs in the past, it really doesn't work - it just results in deeper damage that lasts longer.

I would be interested to know if she has been diagnosed with PTSD or it’s a self diagnosis. Given it was something she chose to do and could have walked away from at any time I do struggle to sympathise too much although I am glad she has had help.

PTSD is horrible but it does seem to be a label that is bandied around easily at the moment.

They take it far too seriously, l have never watched this show, but like many similar, it's the same old trollope spoon fed to the blind. Who the hell cares who wins, it's all fixed anyhow.
The contestants are not forced to take part, they are idiots for doing so. This programme is just fake, shallow watered down horse shit like majority of rubbish on tv, l stopped watching tv years ago and don't miss it one bit.
Just one look at the cheesy, self, important, pompous dancers should be enough to turn anyone off.

Good post.

Debbie McGee also danced with Pernice.
She had a fabulous time. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/giovanni-pernice-amanda-abbington-strictly-debbie-mcgee-b2476263.html

tbh because it's her I'm tempted to shrug. But. Since she's not the only one that has talked about the treatment some people give/get on the show, it's about time it was looked into.

But RR is a nasty piece of work. So. Meh. But also sympathy because PTSD is complicated and awful.

PTSD is thrown around a lot. I’ve known of someone to be told by their therapist that they have PTSD. For them it didn’t sound right and they later stopped seeing the therapist but if that had happened to someone else they would be telling others they have PTSD and thinking of themselves that way.

Do they think they turn up, put a sparkly frock on and that's it?

Jerry Hall did, bless her
Allegedly, she'd say to Tony Beak it was time for at the Ritz or Claridge's or what have you, and was a relaxed learner. Legend.

As someone who was told by the NHS that I didn't experience a severe enough form of child abuse(!) to be considered eligible for a diagnosis of CPTSD, I find it utterly baffling that celebrities seem to be able to get it for all sorts of things.

Yep. Leading to Brendan's "We don't want to do a dirty, filthy rumba!"
As someone said at the time on Digital Spy, you did Brenda but she wouldn't let you!

Dancing at a professional level is always taxing .Debbie McGee said she enjoyed working with Giovanni ,however she is a professional Dancer and knew what to expect .Maybe the show isnt for everyone

CPTSD and PTSD are different https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/cptsd-vs-ptsd-whats-the-difference

Sorry about your childhood, whatever the diagnosis or not, you know what it was like

PTSD has become the new depression. People used to say they felt ‘depressed’ over lighthearted shit but now they get PTSD instead. You can’t get PTSD from a celebrity dance show, unless you were viciously assaulted or raped whilst on the show. Strictly in itself isn’t a trauma, however boring it may be.

As a nurse, but not Mental Health trained, I was taught and understood that PTSD involved an incident where you thought you were about to die, or come to some great harm, e.g. the battle field, extreme violence, terrible injury, etc.

Now it seems to mean going through a bad time, a period of mistreatment - things that take time to develop.

Maybe some MH colleagues here could put me straight?

Her experience of what- cheating on her husband during a voluntary work project?

Not sure about PTSD, maybe an STD!

Celebrities and people on Instagram moaning about their PTSD/ADHD whatever hugely use up resources meant for people who actually have these disorders and need treatment. They need to learn to be more resilient if going on a dance competition that has been around for 20 years and getting upwards of £200k for 12 weeks work is causing them 'trauma'.

Thank you. I know I shouldn't react emotionally to it but it's hard not to feel invalidated. Not trusting your own memory is a consequence of being abused, so it does feel like it sets something off in my head.

These 'celebrities' should know by now that the programme involves daily long hours of intensive training.

It is not an easy show where all the need to do is dress-up, smile for the camera and collect a fat pay check...

Some of the dancers are probably stricter than others and don't allow special treatment for their celeb partners. Probably rubs a few whinging divas the wrong way.

Dancing training, especially ballet, is usually tough on the body and the mind and the pro dancers will have been used to being very disciplined and resilient and want the best from their partner.

Frankly some of the claims made are an insult to people who have PTSD because of assault/rape/accidents and so on.

If these celebs struggle with pressure and hard work and already have mental health issues they should not put themselves up for this type of shows to start with.