Selena Gomez Says Mental Health Medication Changed Her Life
As she ramps up in preparation for her new album, Selena Gomez took some time to step away from the business of promotion and get real with her fans, telling WSJ Magazine that after years of intensive therapy and self-reflection, she's found mental health medication to be helpful and notes that taking has "completely changed" her life.
Gomez has always been open about her struggles with mental health, going as far as taking a year off of social media to focus on herself. She's spoken about therapy and even became involved in mental health charities and even received an award from McLean Hospital for bringing the subject out of the shadows and into the public discourse. In her latest interview, she explained that working on herself made her feel even more powerful because she had a firmer grasp on what was happening in her own mind and body.
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"I had low self-esteem, and that's something I work on continuously. But I feel so empowered because I've gained so much knowledge about what was going on mentally," Gomez said. "My highs were really high, and my lows would take me out for weeks at a time."
She added that with professional help, she felt relief and that medication has helped a great deal, as well.
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"I found out I do suffer from mental health issues. And, honestly, that was such a relief," she continued. "I realized that there was a way to get help and to find people that you trust. I got on the right medication, and my life has been completely changed."
Gomez is just the latest celebrity hoping to change the conversation around mental health and medication. In a recent conversation with Oprah, Lady Gaga also explained that medication also helped her.
"I know this is controversial in a lot of ways, but medicine really helped me," she said.
Gomez's ex, Justin Bieber, has also spoken about it, telling his Instagram followers, "Been struggling a lot. Just feeling super disconnected and weird. I always bounce back so I'm not worried just wanted to reach out and ask for your [sic] guys to pray for me."
