Tinseltown is home to the world’s most iconic entertainers, including A-list action stars, laugh-out-loud comedians, and TV superstars. In an industry driven by box office profits, the Hollywood pressure cooker can be relentless. Actors are continually jockeying for positions, hoping to cement their place on the Walk of Fame. In such a competitive setting, it’s no wonder that so many actors struggle with a sense of self. It’s easy to lose your essence when you are pretending to be somebody else just to fit in with everyone.
Many actors openly discuss their battles with depression. These include starlet Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jim Carrey, Tyson Fury, and the legendary JK Rowling. OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder) is another serious mental health condition characterized by obsessive thoughts and compulsive actions. Notable OCD sufferers include Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, and Katy Perry. A growing list of celebrities has opted out of the social media scene, eschewing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok.
Many mental health conditions are manifestations of anxiety disorders. In this vein, a growing list of Hollywood A-listers struggles with anxiety, including Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, and Whoopi Goldberg. Panic attacks can be equally debilitating. Emma Stone, Kendall Jenner, Selena Gomez, and Lewis Capaldi all suffer from panic attacks. People, in general, may be susceptible to mental health conditions as a consequence of 3 factors. These include traumatic experiences, environmental elements, or a genetic predisposition to mental illness.
Are celebrities more susceptible to mental health problems than the rest of us?
Mental health and wellness are sacrosanct, regardless of who we are, where we live, or what we do. While stats vary, anxiety disorders, OCD, and depression can make anyone’s life a misery. Celebrity mental health attracts attention because these individuals are often social influencers on a variety of topics including politics, conservation initiatives, healthy living, and topical interest issues. The fact that celebrities are always under the spotlight may exacerbate their mental health and wellness more than the rest of us. Celebrities can’t seem to escape the clutches of their fans and critics and the omnipresent media.
It’s not just celebrities who are more susceptible to depression, it’s successful people in general. Superstars like Olympic athlete Michael Phelps, Anthony Bourdain, and Kate Spade are/were cases in point. The latter two committed suicide. When the pressure becomes too much to bear, the mind can crack. According to Harvard Medical School, a ‘chemical imbalance’ is regarded as the explanation for what causes depression. High-profile depression routinely gets top billing in the media. The University of California Berkeley conducted a research paper in 2015, reporting that 72% of business owners suffered from mental health issues. Non-entrepreneurs in a different study had much lower rates of mental health issues.
When failure is not an option and individuals feel that success must come at any cost, depression often results. Symptoms of depression include fatigue, apathy, irritability, restlessness, guilt, emptiness, and helplessness. All of this is incredibly destructive and warrants immediate care and attention. There are multiple different treatment options available to combat these depressive symptoms, notably therapy, medication (SSRIs and SNRIs), surgical procedures, non-surgical procedures, and combination treatments. One of the hottest new treatment regimens in Tinseltown, Beverly Hills, and elsewhere in the acting community is TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation).
What is TMS and how does it work?
Transcranial magnetic stimulation utilizes specialized equipment for treating mental health conditions. These usually include OCD and depression. Only the BrainsWay Deep TMS treatment uses a specialized helmet that conducts an electromagnetic field that reaches problem areas of the brain, to ‘rewire’ brain chemistry. It does this by safely regulating neural activity in the brain, allowing a stable cadence to develop. The treatment itself is non-invasive, with limited side effects restricted to therapy sessions only. These may include headaches, tingling, or dizziness, but these are transient. No surgery, no anesthesia, and no sedation are required.
TMS is conducted on an outpatient basis, with sessions lasting from 10 minutes – 20 minutes at a time, 5 days a week, for several weeks. This FDA-approved treatment regimen is now readily available around the world at leading mental health facilities. In Los Angeles, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills, California, many TMS treatment centers have opened up. As a non-drug treatment for depression, TMS can help patients turn back the ills of depression and lead a normal, happy, functional life. TMS treatment sessions may last for 3 weeks, or up to 9 weeks, depending on the specific needs of the patient, in consultation with the medical professional.
Behind the Scenes – TMS is working
Owing to privacy concerns, details of who receives TMS are not publicly available. However, those celebrities who have come out in favor of TMS are well known. Consider Brent O’Brien, a producer of the Matt and Ramona show who publicly admitted that he has been battling depression for two decades. So, O’Brien started a treatment plan involving 37 minutes TMS treatments for 5 days per week, for 6 weeks. During the treatment cycles, no sedatives, painkillers, or numbing agents are administered. Generally, TMS is administered to patients when they don’t respond well to traditional depression treatments. These include medication and therapy.
Jenny Lawson, an acclaimed Texas writer, a.k.a. the Bloggess used TMS in 2018, admitted that it changed her life. She described her ‘really, really deep depression’ and was told by a psychiatrist that she had treatment-resistant depression. Medication wasn’t helping, so she was recommended for TMS for 40-minute sessions, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. This #1 New York Times bestselling author who wrote Broken truly enjoyed success with TMS treatments.
Neal Brennan is another top celebrity who needs no introduction to the who’s who of Hollywood’s A-list. As the producer and writer of the Chappel Show, Neal Brennan was also struggling with depression. This behind-the-scenes talent spoke of various depression treatments including ketamine, and TMS. He admits that TMS was the most effective depression treatment that he had tried. These are but a small sampling of the dozens of Hollywood superstars who are currently battling depression with one or other treatment options.
In the US, TMS is now widely accepted by the majority of insurance companies, although only a number of treatment facilities are currently available.