Shortlink to this content: http://bit.ly/2h8Qr2o

Thursday, December 8, 2016 5:01am ET by  
Comments (0)

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lady Gaga opens up about PTSD battle: "It is a daily effort for me"

'Million Reasons' singer Lady Gaga has opened up about her battle with post-traumatic stress disorder and revealed that every day is a challenge because certain things trigger memories that catch her off guard and she has to work harder than most to keep herself in a positive headspace. 

She shared an open letter via the Born This Way Foundation's website and explained that the shame associated with mental illness prevented her from talking about her struggle with PTSD for a long time:

“It is a daily effort for me, even during this album cycle, to regulate my nervous system so that I don’t panic over circumstances that to many would seem like normal life situations. Examples are leaving the house or being touched by strangers who simply want to share their enthusiasm for my music.”

“I also struggle with triggers from the memories I carry from my feelings of past years on tour when my needs and requests for balance were being ignored. I was overworked and not taken seriously when I shared my pain and concern that something was wrong. I ultimately ended up injured on the Born This Way Ball. That moment and the memory of it has changed my life forever. The experience of performing night after night in mental and physical pain ingrained in me a trauma that I relive when I see or hear things that remind me of those days.”

Gaga continued: “I also experience something called dissociation which means that my mind doesn’t want to relive the pain so “I look off and I stare” in a glazed over state… My body is in one place and my mind in another. It’s like the panic accelerator in my mind gets stuck and I am paralyzed with fear.”

“When this happens I can’t talk. When this happens repeatedly, it makes me have a common PTSD reaction which is that I feel depressed and unable to function like I used to. It’s harder to do my job. It’s harder to do simple things like take a shower. Everything has become harder. Additionally, when I am unable to regulate my anxiety, it can result in somatization, which is pain in the body caused by an inability to express my emotional pain in words.”

Follow us: @Pressparty on Twitter Pressparty on Facebook.

Watch Gaga talking about PTSD below:

  Shortlink to this content: http://bit.ly/2h8Qr2o