Selena Gomez revealed that she has bipolar disorder in a recent discussion with Miley Cyrus about mental health.
Gomez spoke about her diagnosis during a 20-minute conversation Friday on Cyrus’ Bright Minded series on Instagram.
The Lose You to Love Me singer said that she recently visited Massachusetts’s McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital.
“Recently, I went to one of the best mental hospitals in America, McLean Hospital. I discussed that after years of going through a lot of different things, I realized that I was bipolar,” Gomez told Cyrus. “And so, when I got to know more information, it actually helps me. It doesn’t scare me once I know it. And I think people get scared of that, right?”
“When I was younger, I was scared of thunderstorms, and my mom bought me all these different books on thunderstorms,” Gomez said. “She said, ‘the more that you educate yourself on this, the more that you’re not going to be afraid.’ And it completely worked.”
The 27-year-old singer said understanding her disorder “took the fear away.”
Gomez and Cyrus discussed the emotional toll of life in quarantine due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
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Gomez shared that she’s donating a portion of her merchandise sales to causes like hospitals.
She went on to talk about the importance of communication during these times.
“Being there for other people actually helps me, too,” Gomez said. “But sometimes I have to feel it, Miley. Sometimes I’ve got to cry it out and I’ve got to release it and just take a deep breath and then remind myself, go back to my tools, which is, OK, where is this coming from? I feel so much of what the world is feeling, so maybe I need to take a step back from that, or whatever it is.”
“I’m so happy to have you on the show and we got to reconnect,” Cyrus told Gomez. “Send me butterflies any time. When all this has moved on and we can connect, we’ll just hug.”
The Mayo Clinic defines bipolar disorder as “a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).”
Both bipolar II disorder and bipolar I disorder are characterized by intermittent periods of depression and mania, but bipolar II disorder has less severe manic episodes.
Although bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, you can manage mood swings and other symptoms by following a treatment plan which involves medication and psychological counselling, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Bipolar disorder can occur at any age, but it’s typically diagnosed in the teenage years or early 20s. Symptoms may vary from person to person and over time, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Mania and hypomania are two types of episodes that occur when diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but they have the same symptoms.
Mania is more severe than hypomania and may also trigger a break from reality (psychosis) and may require hospitalization.
Symptoms of both manic and hypomanic episodes include: abnormally upbeat, increased activity, energy or agitation, an exaggerated sense of well-being and self-confidence, decreased need for sleep, unusual talkativeness, racing thoughts, distractibility and poor decision-making.
Other signs of bipolar disorder include major depressive episodes that are severe enough to cause noticeable difficulty in day-to-day activities, anxious distress, melancholy or psychosis.
— With files from The Associated Press
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