"I talk to someone. I have a therapist that I speak to. That’s the only way I can get through it. You can talk to your friends, but you need a professional who can give you exercises. So that when you’re on the ledge, you have things to say to yourself that will get you off that ledge and past your weakest moments. It’s a professional — someone who studies the human mind, and someone who has no stakes involved. Their job is to make sure you’re mentally sound, whatever that is and telling you the truth, which might hurt. Sometimes your friends don’t want to hurt your feelings. If I’m going to change for the better, I need honesty, and sometimes your friends and family don’t have it in them to be brutally honest.”
"I used to think that mental health meant mental toughness and masking pain. I was raised in a community where you didn’t admit to any weakness. As a football player, you never show weakness to your opponent. But when you think about it, connecting with those emotions is the real strength."
"I've done therapy on an as-needed basis since I was probably 10 years old. My father was an alcoholic and a very abusive one, and my mother knew the value of providing me with the outlet of an unbiased person to talk to, so I've done that all my life when times get stressful. It really helps me deal with stuff."
"I finally realized that owning up to your vulnerabilities is a form of strength, and making the choice to go to therapy is a form of strength. I didn't really do it for myself at first, but because I realized what my emotional condition was doing to my relationships. And I wanted to be a better sister and a better daughter, a better boss and a better friend. In therapy, I had to learn how to communicate because communicating my personal emotions to the people around me was so hard."
"We think there’s something wrong with therapy which is so weird because…you don’t have no problem if you’re out of shape, going to the gym.”
"I’m in one of the top-selling female groups of all time, suffering with depression. When I disclosed it to our manager, he was like, ‘You all just signed a multi-million dollar deal. You’re about to go on tour. What do you have to be depressed about?’ He wanted me to be grateful, which I was, but I was still sad. I think at the age of 25, had I had a name to what I was feeling at the time, I would have disclosed that ‘I’ve been suffering from depression. I didn’t know until I was in my 30s what was going on; I thought it was growing pains. I just thought, ‘I’m just turning into a woman,’ so I’ve been suffering since between the age of 13 to 15."
"It's really important to take the stigma away from mental health.... My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don't know why I wouldn't seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn't I go to a shrink?"
"The most important thing I got [from therapy] is that everything is connected. Every emotion is connected and it comes from somewhere. And just being aware of it. Being aware of it in everyday life puts you at such an advantage."
"I’ve found my voice just from hanging out with my good girlfriends, and therapy has really helped me. It allows me to process and regulate what is coming in because I can easily get overwhelmed by all the different elements coming at me."
