John Green is dropping some real talk about what it’s like to live in the spotlight with a mental illness.
The author of The Fault in Our Stars hosted a Reddit Ask Me Anything session earlier this week,where he opened up about his experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety.One of his users asked while appearing at press events for the screen adaptation of his novel Paper Towns,he deals with his anxiety.
“In a word: Poorly,” Green wrote. “I’ve known that I have this mental illness for a long time, and I’ve had a lot of therapy and learned a lot of strategies for dealing with my illness.I know the benefits of exercise and meditation and medication and CBT strategies and etc.”
Moreover,Green try his best to get through panic attacks and anxiety to “Paper Towns” star Nat Wolff.When Green would feel overwhelmed,Wolff, who Green considers a good friend, would often step in to answer questions from reporters.
he continued,“I try to treat my mental illness the way you would any chronic illness, and I’m very lucky that in general it’s very manageable.”Fans praised Green for his candid honesty about the real challenges of anxiety, a condition that affects 40 million American adults.Mental illness has been spoken out in the past by author.Earlier this year, he addressed the stigma associated with treating disorders through medication on his Twitter account:
Like millions of others, I take medication to help treat my mental illness. Treating chronic medical conditions must not be stigmatized.
— John Green (@johngreen)
March 29, 2015
“There is hope. There is treatment,” he wrote. “You are not alone, and while I know the struggle feels at times completely hopeless and futile, there is a far shore for the vast majority of people, and I wish you the best.”Frankly speaking,I trust him.
