Key points
- Interwoven in the public reaction to Kanye West's controversial actions are varying mentions of his bipolar disorder.
- But how do we, fairly, include his mental health struggles in the discussion?
This story mentions suicide.
Kanye West (who legally changed his name to Ye last year) is these days, more often than not, steeped in controversy.
Anti-Semitic tweets, 'White Lives Matter' shirts, and remarks on the death of George Floyd, saying the officer's knee "wasn't even on his neck like that," only scrape the surface of the commentary and actions that have recently landed him in hot water.
At every step, there's also been fallout. Aside from public condemnation, sportswear company Meta has locked him out of his Instagram account, and podcasts where he touted conspiracy theories have been taken down. On Thursday, he was escorted out of the office of footwear company Skechers after showing up unannounced.
Interwoven in the public reaction are varying mentions of his bipolar disorder.
'It's not an excuse, but ...'
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood episodes that range from emotional highs (known as mania or hypomania) and deep lows.
Ian Hickie, a professor of psychiatry and co-director at The University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, told The Feed the conversation needs to recognise that many people with bipolar disorder live productive lives without "great embarrassment, controversy or extreme anti-social behaviour."
West's illness is also never a justification for his hate speech, he said.
But watching West's behaviour, Professor Hickie believes it is consistent with someone who is not treating or poorly managing their bipolar disorder.
"Sometimes it provides - to some degree - an explanation. When it's untreated or poorly managed, people do have these emotional outbursts, people will do things in public - uninhibited things, grandiose things, reckless things and assume it's all okay," he said.
If that is the case, when treated, these individuals often become extremely distressed by what they've done and the hurt they've caused.
"They do things that bring great shame on themselves or others, which they believe are entirely reasonable and consistent with their own beliefs at the time."
Anita Link, who has lived with bipolar disorder for 16 years, said it's impossible to unscramble it from afar, but said looking on, West only appears to apologise for his behaviour sometimes.
"He apologises occasionally, but he doesn't ever really show any real remorse," Ms Link told The Feed.
"I would suspect personality is a lot at play with the most recent abhorrent behaviour."
Ms Link said that based on what she has seen and read about West since he publicly came out with his diagnosis in 2017, "he appears to lack insight into his bipolar disorder".
"If his behaviour is being amplified by a manic or psychotic episode at the moment, then that lack of insight to get the right help is causing a lot of collateral damage for him," Link added.
In an interview with David Letterman in 2019, West spoke openly about his diagnosis.
“I ramp up, and I go high,” West said. “If you don’t take medication every day to keep you at a certain state, you have the potential to ramp up, and it can even take you to a point where you can even end up in the hospital.
“And you start acting erratic, as TMZ would put it," he added, mentioning a viral moment in the newsroom of the tabloid website TMZ, where he told workers why he believes slavery was a "choice".
In the interview, he referenced periods of extreme paranoia, which included feelings that "everyone wants to kill you" and that he was being recorded.
Susana Bluwol, who lives with bipolar disorder and founded Bipolar Australia, an organisation that advocates in the space, fears that West's "fluctuating" public persona could misrepresent the illness.
"Usually, there's this idea that people with bipolar go from very high to very low - and that's not always the case," she told The Feed.
"If they continue treatment they stabilise - and treatment is not just a pill."
'Artists with bipolar don't need to die for their art'
Professor Hickie said men and celebrities are commonly more difficult to treat, with some artists self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, making the situation worse.
"Lots of artists, musicians, writers, and everything else, who have had bipolar disorder, will link it to their creativity. And what they fear is if they get their illness treated, they'll lose their creativity," he said.
Instagram and Twitter restricted Kanye West's Instagram account over antisemitic posts in October. Source: Getty
People who live with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk of suicide compared to the general population. A published in the National Library of Medicine suggests that up to 20 per cent of people with bipolar disorder, especially when untreated, die by suicide.
Around 20 to 60 per cent, attempt suicide at least once during their life.
Professor Hickie said at large, onlookers have a tendency to romanticise artists with mental health issues, rather than encourage appropriate treatment.
"We have a historic, social preference for the dead artist, the tragic life, there's a whole narrative, that those people kind of 'had to die for my art.'"
This is a sentiment talk show host Trevor Noah echoed on "The Daily Show", following questions on his "beef" - or problem - with Ye.
“If somebody says to me that they have a mental health issue, and they say to everyone that when they don’t take their medication they’re unable to control themselves, and then everyone ignores when that person is having an episode and…they platform the person…I sometimes think it’s a little shitty,” said Noah.
“But I’ve promised myself I’ll never be the person who just sits by and gleefully says things about people that I care about and then also joins the group of mourners afterwards and acts like I wasn’t part of it.
“Too many people like to mourn you when you’re dead, and they don’t say anything to you when you’re alive,” Noah added.
If this story brought up any issues for you, please refer to the following helplines:
- SANE: 1800 18 7263 saneforums.org
- Lifeline: 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au
- Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
- Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for young people aged up to 25)
- Beyond Blue: 1300 224 635 beyondblue.org.au/forums
- Headspace: 1800 650 890, headspace.org.au
- Black Dog Institute: blackdoginstitute.org.au
- supports people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
