Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer-songwriter, is safe following a video she posted to her Facebook on August 3 where she admitted she has wanted to kill herself for the past two years.
In the 12-minute video, O’Connor sat in a motel room in New Jersey in tears as she spoke about her struggle with three mental illnesses.
“Mental illness is a bit like drugs. It doesn’t give a s— who you are,” she said. “And equally, you know what’s worse? The stigma doesn’t give a s— who you are. And suddenly all the people who are supposed to be loving you and taking care of you are treating you like s—.”
O’Connor said she made the video so that people could see what it’s really like to have mental illness.
“I hope that this video is somehow helpful. Not to me, but the fact I know that I am only one of millions and millions and millions of people who are just like me, actually, that don’t necessarily have the resources I have in my heart and my purse,” she said.
The “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer spoke about how alone she felt since losing custody of her 13-year-old son recently.
“I’m all by myself, and there’s absolutely nobody in my life except my doctor, my psychiatrist, the sweetest man on Earth, who says I’m his hero, and that’s about the f—king only thing keeping me alive at the moment, that I’m his bloody hero,” O’Connor said.
She said she’s fighting to stay alive every day, and urged anyone caring for someone with mental illness to take care of them.
“If you have a family member that suffers from mental illness, care for them, tenderness, love, care for them. Visit them in the hospital, don’t dump them in the hospital and bugger off.”
If you struggle with mental illness, you are not alone. According to the National Alliance of Mental Illness, approximately 1 in 5—or 43.8 million—adults experience it in any given year. And although mental illnesses, such as depression, are very common in men, few are willing to admit they are dealing with it.
(Hear Ultimate Men's Health Guy Noah Galloway recount a horrific injury he suffered in the Iraq War and how he overcame the resulting depression.)
“Male depression sometimes manifests through the ‘male code’ that says you cannot show weakness, sadness, or vulnerability,” Fred Rabinowitz, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at California’s University of Redlands, .
But if you are experiencing any signs of depression such as anger that comes out of nowhere or dependence on alcohol or other substances, we urge you to seek help immediately by talking to a doctor or therapist, finding a support group, or using a crisis hotline.
