Negative Psychological Effects of Stardom in the Entertainment Industry
Jonah Hartman
Vishal Pandey
Mark Blatz
Alaina Jenkins
03-16-20
How Stardom Progressively Effects Mental Health
History
Stages of Life
History Through Maturity
Justin Bieber
Recognizable Stars
Christina Aguilera
Amanda Bynes
Being In The Spotlight
-Drugs, Addiction, Money, and Sex
Spotlight
-Abnormal Maturity
Negative Psychological Effects of Fame
The
Effects
Imagine...
Performance > Mental Health
National Insitute of Mental Health says...
Understand.
Problems such as...
Celebrities who have dealt with Anxiety
No matter the area of expertise, anxiety has affected these individuals.
Why?
“Many professional actors find themselves out of work..."
Many actors suffer from performance anxiety and report high levels of stress
Actors are more likely to experience symptoms due to the emotions they express (Out).
Some stars struggle to return to work after traumatic life events, leading to PTSD (Hasan).
Entertainers who have experienced Depression
Each of these individuals has experienced depression at some point in their career.
Depression: The Explanation
Depression brings more unwanted attention to famous people
Unable to recapture ones “glory years” = cause of star centered depression, drug/alcohol use
Research says that those in performance arts tend to be highly vulnerable to depression (Horell).
Stars compare themselves to other stars, lack self-confidence and self esteem
Alison Robb PhD Psychology: "We found that actors are highly vulnerable to depression”.
Specific Examples
Physical evidence from interviews: Demi Lovato speaks on how she had to deal with addiction and depression to show that there is a problem
Angelina Jolie suffered from depression, attributes to her “unhealthy” hometown due to living in LA, accompanied by guilt
Brad Pitt has said that some actors equate depression with a part of growing up in the industry and simply just figuring themselves out
Statistics
Those between the ages of 2 and 8 might exhibit the following signs of stress: regression (displaying infantile behaviors, thumb-sucking, bed-wetting), depression, crying, anxiety, clinging, and temper tantrums (Horell).
Indications that teens are troubled include poor grades, change of friends, isolation, distancing from family, oversleeping, drug or alcohol abuse, eating disorders, cutting, lying, and keeping secrets (Horell).
Isolation: Explained
Isolation from the rest of the stars is also evident in some celebrities that have the natural attitude of being shy and reserved (Celebrities).
Zayn Malik, stated that he has always been quiet and reserved in an interview, fame from the band put him in isolation because he wasn’t open (Celebrities).
Performing Arts Scholar, Mark Seton, argues that playing a character is a complex process, can't be separated from the life of the actor (Demands).
The Insider states that “...harmful stereotypes about mental illness often prevent people from seeking treatment or speaking out at all" (Love).
Failed and Potential Solutions
Solutions
https://www.amazon.com/Amscan-193008-Mossy-Bat-Tombstone/dp/B001B6IO64
How have we failed?
- Hard to exactly measure
- Consistently failed to make services known and cost effective
- Treat physical health and mental health equally
- Social stigma
- Shelter young talent from the dangers
Failures to the problem
Criteria
- Evaluated on 5 factors- Cost efficiency, Ease of implementing, Social acceptability, Speed of implementing, Minimum government involvement
- + or -
- Report confirms insurers are not adhering to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (Kennedy).
- Reimbursement rates for mental health providers through private insurance plans were far lower (Kennedy).
Increasing the mental health budget while making it cost effective
The facts
- “So, when someone makes a decision to seek help — yet they are unable to find a provider in network who does not have a six-month wait or require a two-hour drive each way — they often have to go out-of-network, resulting in higher costs. Many people give up because they can’t afford treatment or find providers” (Kennedy)
- More than half (56%) of 5,024 Americans surveyed want mental health services either for themselves or for a loved one, but about three-quarters said there are access issues, with 34% pointing to cost or poor insurance coverage. This is proof that there is a real cost issue in this problem (Kacik)
- Funding in 2017 was $375.3 million, but the President's budget proposed a cut of $42.8 million towards mental health services (Sperling)
- The President's budget calls for $723 million (a $13 million increase) for the Community Mental Health Services Block Grant and $150 million for Children’s Mental Health Services, all level funding from FY 2019 (National)
The budget
The criteria
So although this would be a good solution, the reality of it happening isnt the most likely because of multiple factors holding it back
Lowering the Social Stigma
- So the stigma is being lowered but we can still continue to lower it
- We interviewed Dr. Chunko who is the Psychology teacher at our school and she said “We are Doing better to reduce the social stigma of mental health issues” and also talked about how it has gotten better from the time our grandparents were alive to now
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Destiny+Hope+Cyrus
- By spreading awareness more attention is brought to the issue
Spread awareness
- By speaking about the issue it brings new attention to the issue
- At events like the oscars, golden globes etc many use their acceptance speak to talk about personal psychological struggles
- The more respected individuals that come out with their story, the more people may be encouraged to listen
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Ryan+Reynolds
https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=Joaquin+Phoenix
The Criteria
- So with this solution it is cost efficient because these actors should hopefully be motivated to talk about these issues without being paid
- Also no government would be involved
- However It isn't the most socially acceptable thing to do, would be hard to get people to talk, and would also take awhile to become the new normal
Not exactly the best solution
Medication
- Medicine may be the way to go for some people but there is to much of a risk factor involved
- If someone becomes reliant on their medicine they become addicted which is a far worse problem
- It also isn't cost efficient or socially acceptable unfortunately
https://www.parentmap.com/article/pain-pills-safety-drug-addiction
- Macaulay told Maron he felt his father was "jealous" of him, because "everything he tried to do in his life, I excelled at before I was 10 years old". Whenever he and his father left to make a movie, Macaulay found himself "locked in a hotel room with a man who didn't like me", but at least it spared the rest of his family months of their father's cruelty (Why)
- He told his parents: "I'm done, guys - hope you all made your money, because there is no more coming from me" (Why)
Education and therapy
https://static1.babygagaimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/culkin1.jpg
- In our interview with Dr Chunko She highlighted the importance of “Unconditional Love” which is known as affection without any limitations, or love without conditions
- She also had a Strong emphasis on educating the parents and those close with them
Continued
Therapy
- Having good role models in your life is a very positive thing because the loved ones of the actor can push to get them help
- Some sets have specialists on site to help the young actors out and make sure they are mentally well
- Many types of therapies exist for children facing these issues
- For plays or movies that involve scenes of violence or sexual abuse directors must be careful because some of these actors have lived through these experiences and revisiting these memories could be quite harmful to them (Horell)
Criteria
The good news about this solution is the only downside being the cost because it would cost a lot to implement due to advertising and the cost of treatment
The End
- Hopefully now that the failures in the past are over with we can learn from them and create new solutions
- These solutions include Increasing the budget, lowering the stigma, medication only if necessary, and Educating others to get help
Ellis, D. (2016, July 19). Actors highly vulnerable to mental health problems. Retrieved from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-07-actors-highly-vulnerable-mental-health.html
Horrell, W. B. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-the-trenches/201106/the-child-performer
Out of character: how acting puts a mental strain on performers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/out-of-character-how-acting-puts-a-mental-strain-on-performers-86212
Staff, N. P. R. (2013, June 10). 'Matilda' Star Mara Wilson On Why Some Child Actors Lose It. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2013/06/10/190372191/matilda-star-mara-wilson-on-why-child-stars-go-crazy
TodayShow. (2013, May 29). Former child star explains why young actors 'go crazy'. Retrieved from https://www.today.com/popculture/former-child-star-explains-why-young-actors-go-crazy-1C10120962
Why it was not a wonderful life for Macaulay Culkin after he found fame in the hit Christmas film Home Alone. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/weekend/why-it-was-not-a-wonderful-life-for-macaulay-culkin-after-he-found-fame-in-the-hit-christmas-film-home-alone-37620091.html
Kennedy, P. (2017, December 13). Mental health and addiction stigmas are holding us back from helping people. Retrieved from https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/364763-mental-health-and-addiction-stigmas-are-holding-us-back-from-helping
Kacik, A. (2018, October 12). Mental health stigma dissipates, but cost and coverage barriers remain. Retrieved from https://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20181012/TRANSFORMATION01/181019950/mental-health-stigma-dissipates-but-cost-and-coverage-barriers-remain
Sperling, A. (2018). FY 2018 Funding for Mental Health. Retrieved March 2, 2020, from https://www.nami.org/getattachment/Get-Involved/NAMI-National-Convention/Convention-Program-Schedule/Hill-Day-2017/FINAL-Hill-Day-17-Leave-Behind-Appropriations.pdf
National Council for Behavioral Health. (2019, March 15). Retrieved March 2, 2020, from https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/capitol-connector/2019/03/president-trump-releases-fy-2020-budget-proposal/
References
Star Specialized therapy
Private, specially designed therapy for people in the entertainment industry. Carried out by trained professionals
Ultimate
Solution
Promised
confidentiality
What needs to happen?
-Stars are afraid to go to therapy due to fear of public opinion
- Eliminates fear of the "Stigma"
- Secure, private locations need to be created for these facilities
-"Ultimately, if this isn't created we will continue to lose stars" (Love)
Trained Professionals
- Programs need to be created to properly help stars
- Therapist selection process needs to be strict, people need to be there for the right reasons
- Therapists are specially trained to help people in the entertainment industry, proper ways to cope, deal with fame etc
- Stars can be refereed by agents, family members, or maybe even themselves
- Mandatory check ins every 6 months, stars often hide mental health struggles
- Therapists and the star will create a plan in order to recover and heal while also having a successful career
- Stars will begin to not only bring light to the "stigma" if they desire, but also will be on the road to improved mental health
How?
-Mental health services are in the budget of US spending.
- Money needs to be delegated to this branch of therapy
- Call local senators and make your opinion heard
Can it be done?
What will this do?
- Encourage people to speak out
-Improve the overall health of those in the entertainment industry
-Lengthen the careers of stars
Mental Health Awareness Hotline
Conclusion
Change the way we talk to each other about mental health.