Culture &Entertainment

Kanye West's mental health battle is a wake-up call for empathy

Upper- advanced
2020/08/04 14:32

Today's Vocabulary

1.provocateur (n)
a person who intentionally encourages people to do something illegal so that they can be caught

 

2. appealed (v)
to make a serious or formal request, especially  to the public, for money, information, or help 



3. plea (n) 
an urgent  and emotional request 

4. confronted (v) 
to face, meet, or deal with a difficult situation or person

5. bipolar disorder (n)
a mental illness causing someone to change often from being extremely excited to being very depressed

6.stigma (n)
a strong feeling of disapproval that most people in a society  have about something, especially when this is unfair

 

 

7.  empathy (n)
the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation

 

Kanye West's mental health battle is a wake-up call for empathy

(CNN)I’m not asking you to feel sorry for Kanye West.

The rapper/designer/provocateur may have earned as many critics over the course of his career as he has fans. But West’s mental health, which he has been open about, should be observed with sensitivity.

His recent interview with Forbes, concerning tweets and a press conference in which he made inaccurate statements about Harriet Tubman have raised alarms about his current well-being.

His wife, Kim Kardashian West, appealed to the better nature of the public last week with a plea for compassion for her husband, who she acknowledged has bipolar disorder.

“Anyone who has this or has a loved one in their life who does, knows how incredibly complicated and painful it is to understand,” she wrote in a note posted on her Instagram stories. “I’ve never spoken publicly about how this has affected us at home because I am very protective of our children and Kanye’s right to privacy when it comes to his health. But today, I feel like I should comment on it because of the stigma and misconceptions about mental health.”

In terms of the spectacle of it all, we have been here before with Ye. But he’s not the only celebrity who has confronted such challenges in the fishbowl that is the entertainment industry.

Resource: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/30/entertainment/entertainment-newsletter/index.html

Discussion
  1. Why do you think  bipolar disorder is difficult to diagnose?
  2. Did you learn anything about how to obtain help for someone who might have bipolar disorder?
  3. Why do you think some people with bipolar disorder don’t want to take their psychiatric medications?

"While under the strain of bipolar’s strongest symptoms, we certainly can make selfish decisions, but that doesn’t make us selfish people. In fact, because we have struggled and known such depths of darkness, our compassion runs deeper."

Lyss Trayers

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