Osher Gunsberg Has Penned An Emotional Essay About Living With Mental Illness
"This is the brain that I was born with."
Bachelor host Osher Gunsberg has spoken about what it’s like to live with an anxiety disorder, in a candid essay for HuffPost Australia.
Gunsberg, who recently became a director on the board at SANE Australia, begins the piece by talking about the moment he “lost his mind”. It happened while he was living in Venice Beach, California and was waiting to find out whether The Bachelor would be renewed for a second season.
“Here I was, living in a foreign country and paying rent out of my savings while I tried to figure out what I was going to do with my life,” Gunsberg writes. He was also feeling “extra edgy” after making the decision to stop taking anti-depressants.
“Life on the meds was good, but I’d been doing pretty well recently and was a bit fed up with the weight gain and zero sex drive — so my doctor and I decided to try life without them,” he says.
But after nine months without the drugs, Gunsberg found he couldn’t cope.
“I couldn’t sleep, and I couldn’t stop the ruminating negative thinking no matter how hard I tried,” he writes. “Stress about lack of work, a recent breakup with someone I was really into, and news of my Dad back in Australia ending up in ICU all culminated in one horrible moment.”
“It was as if the final Jenga block that was holding my teetering sanity was knocked out of place, and my brain burst open into white-hot, unstoppable, irrational fear.”
Fortunately Gunsberg realised he needed help, and after visiting his doctor “started the long road back to sanity.”
“I still live with an anxiety disorder that is exacerbated by a new OCD diagnosis, and I have to take medication every day to keep healthy,” he writes. “It’s still a balance of benefits and side effects, but this is the brain that I was born with.
“I’m telling you all of this because often when people think of mental illness they picture that homeless man on the beach. They don’t think of me in a nice tailored suit counting roses and playing cupid on television.”
Gunsberg concludes the essay by calling for “understanding and compassion” for the more than four million Australians who live with some form of complex mental illness. “You never know, you could be the person that helps someone seek the right treatment that in turn helps them live a rich and fulfilling life – just like yours.”
You can read the complete essay at HuffPost Australia.
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If you’d like to talk about any issues with your mental health and options getting long-term help, you can reach Lifeline on 13 11 14, or beyondblue on 1300 22 4636.