Selena Gomez Talks About Her Mental Health And How Therapy Changed Her Life

Selena Gomez has been through a lot in her young life, and a lot of it took place in the public eye. She had to learn coping skills and is not ashamed about the process.

The Wizards of Waverly Place star recently revealed her struggles with her mental health over the years to the Hollywood Reporter. She first underwent treatment in 2014 after she was diagnosed with lupus. To cope with her anxiety and panic attacks she also attended various voluntary programs.

“I don’t even know what they really believed I was doing — drugs, alcohol, running around, partying. The narrative was so nasty,” said Gomez after she was seeking an “opened-ended” mental health treatment.

The Getaway star revealed in April 2020 that she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She told Miley Cyrus in an episode of Miley’s “Bright Minded” Instagram series, “It doesn’t scare me once I know it, I think people get scared of that, right?”

The “Lose You to Love Me” songstress also used her social media platform in order to raise awareness about her mental health by having conversations with experts. She was a part of the 2017’s Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, where she was an executive producer of the show. It sparked many discussions about the struggles nowadays teens and young adults have to face.

“This is happening every day,” Gomez shared in an Elvis Duran and the Morning Show interview in 2017. “Whether or not you wanted to see it, that’s what’s happening. The content is complicated. It’s dark and it has moments that are honestly very hard to swallow, and I understood that we were doing something that is difficult.”

During the Covid pandemic which made people realize the importance of good mental health, the “Bad Liar” songstress discussed the importance of checking in with your emotions. She also spoke with Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Joe Biden’s surgeon general, live on Instagram to share her feelings of loneliness that she experienced during the lockdown.

“In the beginning I couldn’t deal with it that well,” said Selena. “But then I started going into a place where I as writing and being active; it forced me to have that time. I’ve been able to spend time with those quality people a lot more than I ever have, and I’m spending a lot more time with my family.”

Dr. Murthy portrayed Gomez’s story as a great example of why it is very important to share your feelings sometimes. He said, “If you recognize that [almost everyone is struggling in some way], you’ll recognize that there’s many ways to reach out,” he said. “When we serve other people, we shift the focus from ourselves to them in the context of a positive interaction … and we reaffirm to ourselves that we have value to bring to the world.”