For the past few days, Katy Perry has been live streaming her life ‘Big Brother’ style and it’s been pretty interesting, to say the least.
But what I enjoyed the most was the fact that she live streamed a therapy session to show her fans and the world of pop culture what it’s like to see a therapist, in hopes of combatting the stigma that is attached to mental health.
In the therapy session, we see a lot of intimacy from Katy and the therapist and she often breaks down into tears, which is actually true to life. In therapy, you do often cry and you feel vulnerable to the burdens that are messing with your life. More often than not, you end up digging up deep-rooted problems you didn’t even realise you had.
This is something so powerful for Katy to do as a big name. With the world and its wife watching every move she makes, for her to make a bold decision to show what happens in such a personal and private meeting to the world gives society to see the reality behind something that is so judged and stigmatised.
When I was 11, I first started therapy and for so many years, I was afraid to tell people. I was afraid because people often judged for taking therapy and get painted with a brush full of stereotypes. For someone such as Katy Perry to have done what she’s done today would have been such an amazing game changer. To have so many people talking about mental health is so important because ten years ago, that wasn’t a thing and I know that so many people will feel a huge relief and weight lifted from their shoulders.
The truth is, it’s okay to not be okay and we need to normalise that. We need to be more open and accepting of people having more than just ill physical health because with a statistic of 1 in 4 people suffering, that’s a lot of people and so many people keep it bottled up. Talking is okay and going to see a therapist is just like going to a doctor for any other problem.
I cannot commend Katy for doing such a brave and courageous things to benefit not only her fans but people in general who see her in the limelight and get a better understanding of something so important.
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