Senior government and politics and information systems major

I was never really a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey’s self-titled talk show. The only time I remember seeing any of her shows was as a little girl, sitting on the living room floor watching whatever TV programs my babysitter had on. But recently, an episode of her talk show Super Soul Sunday caught my attention.

The featured guest was singer Alanis Morissette, who discussed her supposedly traumatic experience with becoming famous. Prior to the 1995 release of her album Jagged Little Pill, she said she was “playing 100-seater clubs and then [she was] playing stadiums.” And how did she describe this sudden change? Well, akin to suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

When the renowned TV host asked Morissette why she compared her experience to PTSD, she claimed she was “traumatized. … On some level, I think becoming famous and wanting fame, there’s some trauma.”

At that point, a sudden anger boiled inside of me. I wasn’t entirely sure how to react. I came to the realization that instances like this may undermine serious attitudes toward mental health disorders.

According to the Mayo Clinic, post-traumatic stress disorder is defined as “a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it.”

I’m no psychiatrist, but I’m pretty sure Morissette could not have been suffering from this disorder because of her fame. PTSD suggests that something traumatic happens to the individual suffering from it — something that surpasses the sufferer’s control.

Witnessing a fellow soldier get shot or bombed into pieces, experiencing a rape or being the passenger in a fatal car crash are examples of events that could trigger PTSD.

I’m not saying Morissette couldn’t have suffered from some sort of emotional issue. Depression or anxiety, for instance, could have gotten the best of her. But PTSD? That’s a harder argument to get behind.

Last April, I wrote a column in The Diamondback called “‘Suck it up’ culture,” in which I addressed how people sometimes discount the severity of mental health disorders and are quick to tell others to “suck it up” when they don’t really understand what might be emotionally harming a person.

However, this doesn’t mean I suggest the other extreme: being premature in supporting someone who allegedly is suffering from trauma (which, in Morissette’s terms, is synonymous with becoming famous).

Saying that you believed fame was supposed to “heal” you but instead finding that it gave you PTSD completely disrespects those who have actually experienced raw trauma.

Maybe the singer actually did suffer from something serious but doesn’t want to disclose it. In that case, I would urge her to release what that experience was. Even if this traumatic experience was personal, she is going on a daytime series with Oprah Winfrey (a show that thousands of individuals could be watching) and saying she’s suffering from PTSD because of her fame.

This disgusts me. I fear this will cause a domino effect: “I messed up on a public performance — this is so traumatic,” or “I think I might have PTSD because of how badly I performed on this exam.”

After blunders like these, I’d only imagine society taking a step backward from really understanding mental health. They won’t treat cases of actual PTSD seriously because words like “OCD” and “PTSD” will be used interchangeably with “pissed off,” “emotionally changed” or “upset.”

The key takeaway from all of this is that celebrities — and even people around the campus — have a larger social footprint than they think. Continuing to use terms for mental health disorders too liberally will only perpetuate society’s lack of knowledge about these disorders. At a time when psychological disorders are becoming better-diagnosed, we deserve more.

Caroline Carlson is a senior government and politics and information systems major. She can be reached at ccarlsondbk@gmail.com.