Celebrities often use their fame and social status to raise awareness for certain causes whether that is Comic Relief, Children in Need, Cancer Research or Mental Health. These are topics that the public can relate to and deal with everyday however, personal mental health stories is something that many celebrities have openly and bravely discussed with the public to raise awareness.
They have used their large social media followings to publicise charity events raising awareness and funds for mental health. Demi Lovato, pop singer, has vocalised her journey and battle with eating disorders and depression. During the National Alliance on Mental Illness Annual National Convention, Demi spoke powerfully about her experience, “It’s my mission to share this with the world and to let them know that there is life on the other side of those dark times that seem so hopeless and helpless. I want to show the world that there is life - surprising, wonderful and unexpected life after diagnosis.”
Oliver Sykes, lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon, also used the bands latest album, That's The Spirit, to express his battle with ADHD. In the deluxe album he provides a commentary to each song and the meaning behind the lyrics, quite openly discussing his battle with mental health within the commentary as well as creatively expressing himself within the songs. He also opens up greatly in interviews, you can see one here.
Stephen Fry, English comedian, writer, actor and all round legend has had a deep and dark battle with depression and has bravely opened up about his experience to benefit others. He also uses his large twitter following of 11.9 million to spread awareness of mental health.
Social media reaches out to audiences that might not be as involved in the news but still enables the subject to be spread and spoken about especially with celebrities sharing their personal experiences. It changes the conversation from numbers of unknown people in formal news reporting and gives mental health a voice, it is what makes a key difference and sparks conversation amongst people. Professor Green's recent documentary, - you can read more here - Suicide and Me, saw a powerful reaction from his fans and following on Twitter.
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They have used their large social media followings to publicise charity events raising awareness and funds for mental health. Demi Lovato, pop singer, has vocalised her journey and battle with eating disorders and depression. During the National Alliance on Mental Illness Annual National Convention, Demi spoke powerfully about her experience, “It’s my mission to share this with the world and to let them know that there is life on the other side of those dark times that seem so hopeless and helpless. I want to show the world that there is life - surprising, wonderful and unexpected life after diagnosis.”
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| A Screen shot: Demi Lovato advocates mental health changes via her Instagram account. This particular post received 347.3 thousand likes, its impression to her worldwide followers was particularly powerful. |
Oliver Sykes, lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon, also used the bands latest album, That's The Spirit, to express his battle with ADHD. In the deluxe album he provides a commentary to each song and the meaning behind the lyrics, quite openly discussing his battle with mental health within the commentary as well as creatively expressing himself within the songs. He also opens up greatly in interviews, you can see one here.
Stephen Fry, English comedian, writer, actor and all round legend has had a deep and dark battle with depression and has bravely opened up about his experience to benefit others. He also uses his large twitter following of 11.9 million to spread awareness of mental health.
It's pronounced 'men-tl il-niss' not 'kray-zee'. #SwitchOnTheLight to #mentalhealth with @_SelfEsteemTeam http://t.co/FmdCZdl4fz
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) May 14, 2015
Mental health and creativity - brilliant article here from @JRhodesPianist http://t.co/a0TnTH0O9O
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) September 19, 2015
All of these celebrities have discussed their most difficult times with the world and have used social media as a platform to do so, as well as speaking with journalists. It seems, in my opinion, that news by itself is not enough to raise sufficient awareness and create change about mental health. By using social media platforms to spread awareness to their followings on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram the news stories about the large numbers of people suffering from mental health are reinforced by celebrity involvement. A celebrities social media, used as their voice, reaches an extremely large portion of the public.Social media reaches out to audiences that might not be as involved in the news but still enables the subject to be spread and spoken about especially with celebrities sharing their personal experiences. It changes the conversation from numbers of unknown people in formal news reporting and gives mental health a voice, it is what makes a key difference and sparks conversation amongst people. Professor Green's recent documentary, - you can read more here - Suicide and Me, saw a powerful reaction from his fans and following on Twitter.
