Selena Gomez: Depression and anxiety are 'not something I feel I'll ever overcome’

The actress-singer opened up about her battles with depression and anxiety in a new interview with Harper's Bazaar magazine. 

By Shane Lou / Feb.07.2018 / 10:45 AM ET / Source: TODAY 

Though Selena Gomez usually doesn’t set goals for herself, she is making sure her top priority this year is to focus on her well-being. “I’ve had a lot of issues with depression and anxiety, and I’ve been very vocal about it, but it’s not something I feel I’ll ever overcome,” Gomez, 25, explained to “13 Reasons Why” star Katherine Langford in the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar. 

In 2015, the actress-singer revealed she had been diagnosed with and underwent treatment for lupus. Since then, she’s taken time off to deal with anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Last September, she shared in an emotional Instagram post that she underwent a kidney transplant. After several challenging years, Gomez is taking the long view when it comes to her health. 

“There won’t be a day when I’m like, ‘Here I am in a pretty dress — I won!’” she said. “I think it’s a battle I’m gonna have to face for the rest of my life, and I’m okay with that because I know that I’m choosing myself over anything else. 

“I’m starting my year off with that thought. I want to make sure I’m healthy. If that’s good, everything else will fall into place.” 

“Everything else” may include new music from the talented entertainer, who last released an album in 2015. “I don’t really set goals’’ cause I don’t want to be disappointed if I don’t reach them, but I do want to work on my music too,” said Gomez. “My next album has been forever in the making. When people ask me why, I’m honest about it: It’s because I haven’t been ready. I mean, point-blank, I don’t feel confident enough in where my music is yet. If that takes 10 years, then it takes 10 years. I don’t care. Right now I just want to be super intentional with all of the things I’m doing.” 

When you’re the most-followed celebrity on Instagram, as Gomez is, it’s hard to fly under the radar. She loves that she can keep her 133 million followers up to date on her life through Instagram, but she admits she has a “complex relationship” with the photo-sharing service. 

“It has given me a voice amid all the noise of people trying to narrate my life for me and allows me to say, ‘Hey, I’m gonna post this, and this is gonna take care of the 1,200 stories that people think are interesting but actually aren’t, and aren’t even true,’” she said. “So it empowers me in that way because it’s my words and my voice and my truth. The only thing that worries me is how much value people our age place on social media. It’s an incredible platform, but in a lot of ways it’s given young people, myself included, a false representation of what’s important.” 

Understanding Anxiety Disorders (When Panic, Fear, and Worries Overwhelm), by the National Institutes of Health

      

          In the article Understanding Anxiety Disorders (When Panic, Fear, and Worries Overwhelm), by the National Institutes of Health, the author explains the difference between being worried about a certain situation and having an anxiety disorder. Stress is generally a temporary experience, while anxiety disorder is a sustained mental health issue. There is not only a type of anxiety, but the most common are Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Social anxiety, Specific Phobias, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Most of these disorders get better with medications, psychotherapy (“talk therapy”), or a combination of both. The article also explains that most disorders are detected at the age of 14 years “Many kids with anxiety disorders will outgrow their conditions. But most anxiety problems we see in adults started during their childhood,” Pine adds. This means that most disorders are developed at an early age and if they do not receive treatment they continue until adulthood, but no matter what stage you are in, the best thing is to take the first step that is to go with your physician or your child’s pediatrician to get the best treatment. 

Book Out of my Past

         

          Reading is calming for me. It’s a way to experience other worlds, other lives that I normally wouldn't be able to experience, to lose myself in them and, at the same time, to learn from them. I feel like books have so much to teach me about life's experiences. My book from my past is “La Edad Prohibida” (Prohibited Age) by Torcuato Luca de Tena. This book has many editions but I read the one printed in 1982. I remember reading the book every night until I finished it. At the beginning, the book cover did not get my attention at all, but I started reading it because it was given to me in a gift exchange and I could not get away from the story until I finished it. The book begins when Anastasio arrives as director to a prison where it turns out that Enrique, a friend of his adolescence, is one of the prisoners. Through flashbacks he tells us his story, which begins when his family takes him out of Madrid, where they were resisting the last moments of the Civil War, and they send him to San Sebastian, home of some uncles. Anastasio is a nerdy and very shy boy, who does not know anyone in the city until one day he meets Enrique's gang and thanks to the fact that he gets them out of a good mess, he becomes one more: We know Leopoldo, a guy quite out, Adolfo, a sentimental poet, Andrés, Maribel, Celia, who becomes the best friend and platonic love of Anastasio and finally, Enrique, the leader of the group, with an exceptional charisma. Anastasio remembers his adventures with the gang, his day by day in school and we also witness his first disappointments. The years go by and each of the members of the gang are making their lives but still in contact. The story goes on until we discover why Enrique ends up in jail and why Anastasio ends up directing her as well as why one day he lost the love of his life. I would recommend this book because Torcuato Luca de Tena is an excellent writer. My favorite part of the book is that Anastasio and Enrique are like the Sun and the Moon; completely different in character, since Anastasio is timid, introverted and intact while Enrique is active, adventurous and reckless. These differences, however, do not stop them from sharing a deep friendship.

Comic Strip Coherence - Peanuts

      

          The atmosphere was serene, with a mild breeze blowing gently to soothe the heat of the sunny afternoon. Lucy and Charlie Brown were calmly contemplating the people walking through the park. Suddenly, Lucy asks her friend a question, “Charlie Brown, have you imagined we could marry and to live a happy life? She said. Lucy often was mocking and intimidating others, especially Charlie Brown. No, I have never imagined something like that, said Charlie. He seemed always to be distracted and a little uneasy. He was like the typical "lovable loser." It’s never too late, Charlie Brown, right? She exclaimed. Even though Lucy was always trying to hide her feelings for Charlie Brown she did not always manage to do it. For a moment the eyes of both crossed and the seconds seemed hours. The breeze was blowing even stronger, while their eyes were still connected. Then, Charlie and Lucy shared a tender kiss.Charlie always hated how she always calls him names, such as "blockhead", "wishy-washy" and other things like that, but at that moment, none of that mattered. There are things that shouldn’t be imagined… I hope they don’t forget to feed the dog, said Snoopy the pet beagle of Charlie Brown, who had been witnessing everything from the roof of his small dog-house where he always used to take his naps.

Detailed Description of Tattoo- Cat Head Silhouette.

         

         I have a small black and white cat head silhouette located in my left leg, to be precise at the top almost reaching the bone of my hip. I think it is very important to carefully select the area where we want to capture our idea. I had the intention that my tattoo was not easily visible when I decided to get it. For that reason, I designed it as simple as I could. I think the first thing that people notice in my tattoo is that I really like this animal. As an ancient symbolic Celtic animal, the cat represents the guardian of the Other world. In Muslim lore; the cat is honored for saving Mohammad from an attack by a fierce snake. I have always been a cat lover, but my tattoo is much more than just the image of a cat. When I see the ink reflected on my body, it reminds me of the sacrificeyou make for a loved one. It reminds me of true love and protection, but mostly that I had the best brother that someone could have. In my opinion, the loss of a loved one should not be remembered with sadness but rather remember the good times we spend at their side. Although one of the two is no longer present in the other's life, a brother is a friend that you get to keep forever.

Twilight Zone - Eye of the Beholder

            

          That night, Janet Tyler was recovering from her eleventh face surgery in the hospital room 307. She was desperate to know if she would finally look “normal” like everyone else. The problem is not that she was ugly, but too much pretty for the society in which she lived. The people of that place lived in a "State" governed by a leader; they also lived with a malformation on the face which was quite normal for everybody. They had certain rules stipulated by the leader, for example, if someone looked different compared to them, this person was banished to another place with people of their same condition. At the end of the show, the doctor removes the bandages and sees that the procedure has failed. Unfortunately, Janet has reached the maximum number of surgeries legally allowed. Eventually, a man named Walter Smith who has the same appearance as her, arrives to take the crying, trying to convince her to leave to the village of her "own kind", where her "ugliness" will not trouble the State. Before the two leave, Smith comforts Tyler, saying that she will find love and belonging in this place, and that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". The scene that caught my attention is when the Doctor is telling the nurse that despite the appearance of Ms. Tyler, he knows that she is a good person and that maybe they are being unfair by trying to send her to another place away from all. Then, the nurse tells him that that it would be against his values ​​and most important to the “State”. Also, in this scene you can clearly see on the screens of the computers the phrase “obedience leads to harmony. My conclusion is that nobody should try to be or look like someone else to fit within a group. The analogy goes as far as you want to take it. For me is a statement against fearing and hating those who do not or can’t conform.

Girl, Interrupted – Most Valuable Part. Girl, Interrupted, Chapter 34.

          My Most Valuable Part from Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen is the last chapter when we finally discover the reason behind the name of the book. The story begins in the year of 1967, Susanna, the author and narrator with only eighteen years old is diagnosed by her psychiatrist with borderline personality disorder after attempting suicide by overdosing on pills. Immediately after, she voluntarily commits herself to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Belmont, Massachusetts. Over the next two years, Kaysen confronts her illness, through her thoughts; line by line.

          During her stay in McLean, Susanna speaks about her relationship with her high school English teacher. He takes her to New York to visit the Frick Museum, where she expects that he will try to kiss her. Suddenly, Susanna found herself contemplating a painting about a girl ignoring apparently her music teacher.  She felt that this girl of the painting was looking at her trying to warning her about something. Then, Kaysen imagines that the girl warns her not to pursue the relationship with her teacher “Wait,” “wait! Don’t go!” were the words that Susanna thought she heard coming out of the girl's mouth, but she didn’t listen to her.

          Sixteen years later, Susanna visits the museum again with a new boyfriend. She returns to the painting but interprets it quite differently. The painting is titled Girl, Interrupted at Her Music. When I read this part, I never imagined that I would feel so identified with the author. In my opinion, people see a certain situation depending on the stage of life they are living. Time and experiences make you see life with another perspective; that’s why Susanna interprets the same painting in two different ways. I think she learned that most of the time when we are young, we don’t have enough maturity to face the problems, and that may lead us to make mistakes.

          Another thing that caught my attention was that the name of the painting described her feelings about her experience at McLean Hospital. "Girl, Interrupted at Her Music" “Just as my life has been,” says Susanna. Kaysen tears up as she recalls how her own life was interrupted by illness and hospitalization. Although Susanna was very young and had a whole life ahead of her, nothing prevented her life from being interrupted by a mental illness.

          Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it very addictive. I think the most important lesson I learned from Girl, Interrupted was that crazy people is not different from normal people and that we all deserve second chances. Anyone who has ever had an obsession, felt impulses to be drastic over something, felt a bit out of place, or ever had in the back of their mind the suspicion that they might be just a little bit crazy, should read the book. Mental illness is a very real thing, and the course of treatment is crucial to a person's development I have always considered great that people write about their experiences, whether good or bad.