August 2018 – Newsletter – Radio Interview About Celebrity

“Vinyl Thought” Interview on Celebrity and Mental Illness, With Additional Thoughts

Here’s a link to the recording for a radio program I did with Vinyl Thought (the same good folks I talked about with depression, here). I was invited in to give a psychological perspective on the phenomenon of celebrity mental health issues, with a more hypnotherapy/NLP perspective offered by the other guest.  The show is about an hour, so if you’re not able to listen to it, the takeaways I’ll address in the article section below.

Summary thoughts about celebrity:

What is the wisdom to be garnered by thinking about the experience of celebrities. Most likely you are not one of them, but you may have a position of power or influence at some more relative scale than, say, George Clooney, that exposes you to some of the same phenomena. When we’re in the limelight, and have an audience of one kind or another, we are getting feedback about ourselves and our actions from those in the crowd. They are not going to be relating to us as an individual, but as a representative of something, or an archetype: the Boss, the Authority, the One I Envy, the Rockstar, the Man, the Woman, etc. But not as John or Susan.

The danger of that situation, that actual, big-time celebrities are prone to, is basically believing the hype. Or, believing the anti-hype, if people do not approve of us. When we do that, our sense of self becomes conflated with the view of the audience, and we can start losing a clear sense of who we actually are, rather than who we are reflected as.

Given that we are such deeply social creatures, who need to know ourselves in the matrix of relationships, and need to know where we fit in the social hierarchy, we are quite vulnerable to this feedback loop of celebrity. Michael Jackson seems to be an example of someone who fell into this trap. But at smaller scales, we all are liable to become confused when the feedback of opinion of and definition of our selves comes strongly from the crowd.

Also, because celebrity comes with power, we can confuse this power of the position with a power of our selves. Rather than, “This role gives me access to power,” it can become, “I am powerful.” That can work for a while, but when crisis comes around, or just normal attrition from celebrity (the job seeks younger applicants, the agents aren’t looking for actors our age), and normal decrease in power from aging, we can come up against the painful reality that we are vulnerable and subject to the same rules of the universe as those rabble in the crowd. Alcohol and drugs, and depression and despair, are well-worn answers to this problem.

Maybe the main antidote to the traps of celebrity–be you a rockstar, a corporate manager, or a parent–is to do the hard work of remaining honest. Know your time is limited on this planet, that reality is larger than you ever will be, that there are more where you came from, and that your core worth has nothing to do with how others see you, but with your willingness to be open and humble with the rules of this life that you and the audience member are equally governed by. Not a phony humbleness, but one borne from recognition and direct introspection.