To ask whether celebrities talking about mental health actually helps?

[Forthepurposesofthetape]

It seems as though lots of celebrities are talking about mental health struggles at the moment - sometimes it's hard to tell who is genuine and who is jumping on the bad wagon. I just wondered if people feel it is helpful to hear famous people talking about this or whether it makes you feel annoyed?

I think it's great that more people are talking about it but I'm not sure it makes me feel more comfortable talking about my own struggles. nor am I convinced that mental health services are going to be improved as a result. I guess the more high profile people talking about it the better.

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For me it's yes and no.

Yes it's nice to see celebrities raising awareness of mental health problems and that they have experiences themselves. However, chances are they can afford to get the help they need privately rather than waiting on the NHS for support.

For me it's a yes. Bryony Gordon's books have helped me through some awful times.

I think it can only be good - comments by celebs can be an excellent way to gently start a conversation, or provide reassurance that things can get better or simply just help someone feel that they are not alone in how they are feeling.

I’m not always so sure it’s not another bandwagon for some to jump on

Then many will make money from talking about their experiences

It doesn't help me, no.

It helps me in the way that it can sometimes help increase awareness a bit, generally.

Am (hopefully)) coming through the end of a breakdown and the understanding from my family, friends & colleagues has been so important.

Anything that makes it more relatable and helps people to feel less alone s a good thing. They have a public profile, so why not use it to help?

There's a 12+ month waiting list for NHS talking therapy in my area, so I would prefer if William et al would discuss the lack of funding for mental health services. That would be more helpful IMVHO.

Depends on who is doing it and how.

Some are clearly genuine and are very clear about the stigma and lack of support services.

Others I don't buy they've genuinely had a problem and are just virtue signalling.

Some actively campaign and lobby for better services, others - again just virtue signalling.

No I don't think it does. Obviously it's good to raise awareness but I think it's mostly a case of jump on the band wagon, just like everyone has a drink problem, everyone is now tee total etc.

I would say so, yes.

For me personally it hasn’t made much difference, but I do think speaking openly about it more can be a good thing in normalising it. I must admit when I hear quite big celebrities speaking openly about their anxiety, or Demi lovato with her addiction issues, I do think more of them for it.

Also if a particularly big fan of that person is struggling with their MH, and that person publicly comes out in support of MH issues and perhaps shares some of their own experience, I can see how that might be a comfort to the fan.

I guess it's always nice to identify a fellow traveller but everyone's experience is so different. What I find annoying is when they go down the route of identifying mental distress as an illness and making glib comments like "if you had a broken leg you'd go to a doctor". Well, yeah, because there's something physically wrong with me that can be fixed. For many people, distress doesn't feel like a medical problem and medical approaches are either useless or harmful.

I saw Victoria pendleton on tv a while ago talking on mh issues. She had apparently been very low/suicidal but then she called someone (who happened to be the psychiatrist from gb olympic cycling, or something similar) and then she went surfing in costa rica. I felt like as joe bloggs who would you call? Theres probably an 18 month waiting list for an nhs psychiatrist, and also she had access to one she already knew and trusted, which is quite different from being allocated a psychiatrist and spending the first 2 sessions going through history/background. I think its good if MH isn't so taboo but i feel a lot of celebs dont appreciate the priveledge money brings in that they would be able to access private doctors and therapy.
I had MH issues as a teenager and i was exceptionally lucky that eventually (over a year after my mum had taken me to the dr) i was referred to a private hospital. The psychatrist i saw was rumoured to be £140/session (and that was over 20 years ago) which would have been completely beyond my parents budget.

It needs awareness as there is still stigma attached to it as people do not how to deal with it as an outsider.

I want to see more men talking about getting help & highlighting how to get help. NHS referrals waits are too long & there needs to be more exposure about this. There has been a few celeb suicides recently so not all of them get the help they need. I think being in the spotlight can lead to more depression as you are exposed to huge amount of negativity at quite a personal level.

Personally I have no use for celebrities and what they say/think/feel with the possible exceptions of Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and the original cast of “CSI” so no, for the most part, their comments don’t have an effect on me whatsoever.

Oh come on Tom Hanks is a wanker. Sorry but he is.

If it helps even one person, then it's a good thing. I know a few young people who have found it helpful that someone they are a fan of has talked about their own struggles with mental health. I think many young people compare their own lives with celebs that have seemingly perfect lives. If they get to see that their their favourite celebs sometimes struggle too, it becomes 'okay' for them to talk about it which is the first step to feeling better.

Tom Hanks js fabulous!

I think it’s great. I agree that their personal experiences of mental health and how they got treatment is vastly different to 99% of the population. But on the other hand, my parents reading about a celebrity they respect and admire talking about it in the daily fail makes them more understanding to my brothers mental health.

Even if people aren’t necessarily suffering themselves it brings awareness.

Not annoyed. I think it's good they share struggles as well as successes in their lives (like everyone else has). They aren't so different.

I guess it used to considered a career killer to reveal, and that's terrible, to put pressure on to keep it secret or seem shameful. I found interviews Stephen Frye did with Robbie Williams & Carrie Fisher quite moving. He was pretty much crowbarring the info out of them at the time.

I manage to understand that when Slebs say they found help, can cause others to believe help is easy to get & cures are simple. Obviously this is rarely true with MH problems. I don't know what can be done about that kind or projected assumption, though, happens rampantly anyway.

ps: am also curious why PP thinks Tom Hanks is a wanker. I'm not a fan, but doesn't seem offensive, either.

It seems everyone now has mental health issues. I describe my depressions as feeling sad for reasons I can’t work out, but I do the best I can to get through them, sometimes with professional help sometime just wit friends and family. We have all had issues/problems in the past but they are not necessarily the cause of feeling low/anxious. I just tell people the wiring in my brain is a bit skewed at times.