One day after making headlines for revealing that she suffers from PTSD, Lady Gaga wrote an open letter to her fans about her diagnosis and how it affects her everyday life.
The Grammy-winning singer, 30, posted the personal note on her Born This Way Foundation website on Tuesday, December 6. She wrote that she's "wrestled" with how to discuss her experiences after searching for answers to her chronic pain over the past five years.
"It is a daily effort for me, even during this album cycle, to regulate my nervous system so that I don’t panic over circumstances that to many would seem like normal life situations. Examples are leaving the house or being touched by strangers who simply want to share their enthusiasm for my music," she wrote.
"I also experience something called dissociation, which means that my mind doesn’t want to relive the pain, so I look off and I stare in a glazed-over state," she continued. "My body is in one place and my mind in another. It’s like the panic accelerator in my mind gets stuck, and I am paralyzed with fear."
When this occurs, Gaga sometimes can't talk, which leads to her feeling depressed and unable to function normally. "It’s harder to do my job," she explained. "It’s harder to do simple things like take a shower."
To help with the symptoms, Gaga does psychotherapy and takes medication prescribed by a psychiatrist. She hopes that telling her story will help others who are struggling themselves.
"I am a strong and powerful woman who is aware of the love I have around me from my team, my family and friends, my doctors and from my incredible fans who I know will never give up on me. I will never give up on my dreams of art and music. I am continuing to learn how to transcend this because I know I can. If you relate to what I am sharing, please know that you can too," she wrote. "I believe that the most inexpensive and perhaps the best medicine in the world is words. Kind words … positive words … words that help people who feel ashamed of an invisible illness to overcome their shame and feel free."
