Mariah Carey is finally ready to talk about the mental health condition she was first diagnosed with in 2001: bipolar disorder.
Speaking to People, the iconic singer reveals she was diagnosed after being admitted to hospital following a nervous breakdown, but admits it took years for her to come to terms with her condition and accept treatment.
“I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,” she explains. “It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love—writing songs and making music.”
Now, after “the hardest couple of years I’ve been through”, Carey is receiving regular therapy and medication to successfully manage the condition.
According to People, Carey has bipolar II disorder, resulting in alternating bouts of depression and hypomania, which can cause insomnia.
“For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder,” Carey reflects. “But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down. It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall.”
“I’m hopeful we can get to a place where the stigma is lifted from people going through anything alone,” she says. “It can be incredibly isolating. It does not have to define you and I refuse to allow it to define me or control me.”
Carey is one of the most successful singers of her generation.
If you’d like to speak to someone about your mental health, you can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au; beyondblue: 1300 22 4636, beyondblue.org.au; or Head to Health, headtohealth.gov.au.
