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Rosie and Other Celebs Put Face on Mental Illness

Aug. 17, 2001 -- In this month's issue of her magazine "Rosie," talk show queen Rosie O'Donnell says she is one of the "haunted," referring to her lengthy battle with depression.

Rosie's candid declaration comes on the coattails of reports of singer Mariah Carey's "emotional and physical breakdown" and Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean entering treatment for alcoholism and depression.

About 5% of the population will have a mental illness including depression, manic depression, and/or anxiety disorders at some point in their lives, and half of these people will also have a substance abuse problem, according to statistics from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, or NAMI.

Often, as is reportedly the case with McLean, people with mental illness will self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol.

Recent data, however, show that increasing numbers of people are seeking treatment for mental illnesses.

"Celebrities coming out are both a barometer and a contributor" of the destigmatization of mental illness, says Frederick Goodwin, MD, director of the Psychopharmacology Research Center at George Washington University in Washington, and former director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md. Goodwin -- widely known as the host of radio's "The Infinite Mind -- is also a medical adviser to WebMD.

The celebrity trend "is associating ... the coexistence of a serious illness with other evidences of success," Goodwin says. "[However,] some people may resent the fact that celebrities make it seem too easy or cause people to romanticize the illness."

But the importance of role models should not be underrated, says Los Angeles-based Stella March, coordinator of the NAMI's Stigmabusters program.

"There's a high wall of stigma about mental illness and that's what we are trying to break down," she says. "And when celebrities come out and disclose personally and emotionally, it's very helpful and supportive of our movement."

"This gives [mental health consumers] good support because they say 'I am not the only one, this celebrity also has depression, manic depression, or whatever it is they disclose,' " March says.

Years ago, she points out, cancer was mentioned in whispers and now it's openly discussed. Hopefully, the same will one day be true for mental illness, she says.

"It used to be hard to get a celebrity to come forward and do a public service announcement for mental illness," March says. Now, many are coming forward and that's progress, she says.

"When the public hears about it being OK for someone successful in work to get help, it can really facilitate getting other people to do the same," says Chicago psychoanalyst Mark Smaller, PhD, chairman of social issues for American Psychoanalytic Association in Chicago.

"The downside," he says, "is that many people imagine that only rich, successful, well-known people can afford to get help," he says.