Selena Gomez is opening up about her personal experience with mental health issues and using it to educate and help others who may be going through their own struggles. The 29-year-old singer and actress has launched, alongside co-founders Daniella Pierson and her mother Mandy Teefey, a mental health platform called Wondermind, which is “a space to work it all out every day with candid conversations, physical tools, daily content, and a supportive community,” according to the site’s homepage.
In addition, Gomez has been advocating for mental health awareness by talking candidly about her own challenges. See the details below.
Physical And Mental Health Issues
Over the years, the former child actress and Disney alum has battled health issues, both physical and mental. She was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease lupus in 2014 and went through chemotherapy for it in 2015. In 2017, she experienced kidney failure because of her lupus, which led to a transplant.
Gomez has also opened up about her struggles with depression, anxiety and panic attacks. She sought mental health treatment after her lupus diagnosis. And in 2020, she revealed she had bipolar disorder.
Call Someone
With all of her experiences, Gomez certainly knows what she’s talking about when it comes to mental health. In a Q&A with fans in late 2021, the Lose You to Love Me singer was asked how she takes care of herself amid her challenges and she shared three strategies.
“Sometimes I’m not good at it. Like, it just happens where I’ll wake up and I just, I struggle, you know, maybe sometimes it’s just getting out of bed,” she said. “What helps me first and foremost, just picking up the phone and calling someone.”
Knowledge
Next, Gomez stressed the importance of self-awareness and how being in touch with your actions and emotions can help you manage your response.
“I constantly try to fill myself with knowledge of what it is that I’m feeling and triggers that happen to me,” she said. “So I think what really helps me understand myself a bit more is that I can, you know, take a step back and think of all the tools I’ve learned and try to implement them in my everyday life. That’s usually what helps me.”
Workout
Finally, the Wizards of Waverly Place star recommends exercise. She continued the Q&A, “I suggest working out. I hate working out, it is not fun, but I’ve been doing like intense boxing classes recently, and it has really helped me get a lot of frustration but also just energy out, and it feels so good.”
This last recommendation is backed by science, too. According to Self, citing a 2018 study that was published in Lancet Psychiatry, “[P]eople who exercise regularly reported 43% fewer days per month with poor mental health—meaning issues with stress or depressed feelings—than those who don’t work out.”
]]>The Inquisitr
