Osher Günsberg: 'There are no secrets about my mental illness.'

There was no big, scary revelation here, writes Osher.

Earlier this week, there was an article posted online saying that I’ve “opened up about my mental illness”.

The article was rather kind and very supportive, yet was mostly a direct transcript of the introduction to my podcast last week , where I talked (as I do every week) about what’s been going on in my head.

I understand that journalists have a job to do and have to sensationalise a headline to get you to click on it (“You won’t believe their one simple trick!”, so they lead with “Osher opens up”.

Read more: Mamamia interviews Osher (and asks about his hair).

The reality is that I opened up about my health a long time ago.

Since I started my podcast in September of 2013, I’ve been sharing with my listeners how I’ve been going that week. One day I was feeling down, and instead of concealing it – I decided to share why I sounded flat, and it went from there. I’ve talked about going off meds with Meshel Laurie, and going back on meds with Darren Hayes – in fact I’ve talked about many aspects of my life with anxiety and depression (and a few other things), plus the treatment and management of what goes on in my head for quite a while now – so yes, I’ve “opened up” about it, but I’ve “opened up” about it every week for nearly two years. .

Earlier this week: Dave Hughes has bravely spoken about his mental health battle.

Each week on my show I’ve been talking about my journey with Mental Illness (I’ve since been downgraded to a “condition” which is nice) and each week people write to me to say that since listening to my show – they’re taking action, getting tools that will help them deal with things in their thinking that are preventing them from living the best life they can. They’ve found solace and solidarity in the discussion that I have with my audience and my guests about what life is like with a brain that’s a little different.

Because that’s exactly how I believe mental illness should be treated – that it can be talked about like any other illness. I feel it’s not something to be sensationalised, feared, or mocked.

While I appreciate the kind attention that the press can bring to an issue like this, I feel that it’s actually something we should be talking about all the time – not just when it makes a clickable headline (not that I’d ever really consider myself clickable).

Because it’s talking about it that makes it better for me. Talking about it with my doctors, my friends, my family, my partner – and hopefully if you’ve read this and it inspires you to talk about it, I hope that it makes it better for you too.

Do you wish there was more open discussion about mental health? 

You can listen to latest episode of The Osher Günsberg Podcast here or have scroll though some of our favourite Osher moments below.