It’s almost like a mental health public service announcement that everyone should hear. Anxiety and panic attacks plagued Charlamagne for years before he sought help. “I started therapy in 2016 because I was losing it,” he says.
That’s for sure. A chef, Magic Johnson, Dionne Warwick, and others are interviewed in each episode.
“Renaissance Man” is a lifestyle and culture podcast, but its substantive contribution to a much larger, incredibly important, and often-neglected mental health conversation is vast.
Rose interviews Charlamagne Tha God, the hugely popular radio host, TV personality, and arbiter of cultural and political influence, on December 2.
Being a mental health advocate is a role Charlamagne says he initially resisted, but his reach will help break the stigma of mental illness, which has long transcended colour, gender, class, and generational barriers.
From Olympian Michael Phelps to former First Lady Michelle Obama, more public figures are opening up about their mental health. And in the last year, women of colour like SimonCOVIDes, Naomi Osaka, and Meghan Markle have helped shift our culture by sharing their personal struggles with the world.
The Covid-19 pandemic gave us isolation. The issue of burnout, social isolation, and increased anxiety and depression among frontline workers has been widely covered in the media. During this time of global upheaval, it became more acceptable to be not okay, and mental health became a hot topic among friends and colleagues. Colleges and employers scrambled to provide resources for therapists. But, especially in communities of colour, mental health stigmas persist and resources aren’t always affordable or accessible.
Men, especially older men, discussing mental health openly and without shame is still rare. Suicide is the leading cause of death for men in the United States, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Men are less likely than women to self-report depression, aggression, and elp for mental health. American Psychiatric Association says that while African Americans’ rates of mental illness are similar to the general population, they often receive inferior care and lack access to culturally competent care.
With Taraji P. Henson’s help, Charlracism realised that advocating for mental health was what he wanted to do with his life. Then he told Rose he wanted to help Black men heal. And in recent years, Charlamagne has addressed important issues such as his father’s harmful masculinity view, systemic racism, and the false belief that career success would alleviate his anxiety. Charlamagne’s conversation with Rose is a result of ourtexts,progress. ety’s
Having recently witnessed my colleagues’ health struggles, I know how vital these revelations are. When I admitted this summer that I was not okay and needed help, I received hundreds of emails, texts, and messages from friends, colleagues, and strangers who all said they had similar issues. We were all relieved to learn we weren’t alone.
Then a miracle happened. We started sharing our battles, victories, and tricks. The world that opened up changed my life. The thought that crippling anxiety was normal or that I had to do it all alone and silently amazes me now.
