"I Didn't Know What Was Happening To Me": Hollywood Pros Share Stories Of Overcoming Depression And Anxiety
Alex J. Berliner/ABImages
In 2002, after seven years of working at a leading management/production company, I was let go. My boss' smugness and lack of support destroyed my self-confidence. I had stuffed away the mental pain.
While starting to accept that trauma, something always felt wrong physically. I read the well-regarded book, The Mind-Gut Connection, to seek help with stomach issues; visited an acupuncturist and chiropractor for my back pain; appointments with my internist occurred so frequently I said there should be a mint on the exam table pillow, as if it was my hotel room. Normal medical problems turned into "overwhelming health anxiety."
Having writer meetings bestowed some pleasure. Yet no matter how hard I tried to focus, my mind roamed like a panicked child lost at a theme park.
The psychologist I saw for anxiety felt that depression was mixed in, resulting in a prescription for a mild antidepressant that provided modest improvement.
My father died suddenly … followed by a brutal injury to my neck. A full-throttle depression ignited. While family and close friends knew what was happening, I was aware the topic wasn't high on the industry-approved list of lunch or screening conversations.
In show business, masking feelings is a daily occurrence. Agents and managers fear that telling their client the candid truth might result in the client firing them. People who don't like each other mask that fact upon seeing each other in social circumstances. When someone is depressed, it takes every ounce of energy to mask how you are truly feeling, in hopes of not being perceived as a downer.
I saw a cognitive behavioral therapist who believed medication was not necessary. The reality that brain chemistry actually can change during depression wasn't championed in his course of treatment.
Major depression takes an enormous toll. Leading the charge for me was lethargy similar to the flu, inability to see joy in anything, instantaneous irritability, headaches and difficulty making decisions.
Mornings were the worst. It was difficult to get out of bed and looking forward to the day ahead was impossible. The therapist recommended I get out on the weekends, go to the beach, take my mind out of the crippling space it resided in. The beauty of the outside held no interest. Exercise is recognized as a relief for depression. I found that true. However, 45 minutes at the gym didn't change the rest of the day.
I finally met a psychiatrist, Dr. Todd Sadow, who specialized in antidepressants. He saw the depths of my despair and diagnosed the right amount of medication along with proper talk therapy. The dreary brain fog that devoured my life cleared.
Thankfully, around the same time, the project I'd been working on for 14 years, Unbroken, finally got made. My career came back, along with my being fully present for my wife and sons.
Depression is often perceived as something one should be able to "get over" without understanding that weakened brain chemistry needs correction. I live with the reality of five years taken away by anxiety and depression and cherish finally escaping their grasp.
Now, at age 55, when talking with friends or making new ones, I have a sixth sense if they are suffering … in the way they talk or in the sad, glossy look in their eyes. I'm able to guide them via my own experience and say they have nothing to hide. As a community, Hollywood often leads the way in changing perception, and we are making strides in educating people that depression hits a wide swath of personalities and it can be lifted with proper treatment.
Opinion: Yes, Public Education Is Hard. Stop Trying To Dismantle JCPS And Work With Us
James Craig, Opinion contributor Published 11:18 a.M. ET Jan. 28, 2020 | Updated 12:10 p.M. ET Jan. 28, 2020
If you come from a white, middle-class, well-fed home, you have a high chance of succeeding in Jefferson County Public Schools, no matter which school you attend. If you are black, brown, poor, hungry or dealing with the countless types of trauma society inflicts on our youth, you will struggle.
That is the reality of American public education in 2020. Though I speak only for myself, I can assure you that all seven members of the Jefferson County Board of Education are dedicated to changing these facts. And we have the right superintendent to do it.
I have only been on the board for a year, so I cannot speak to past board decisions. But I can verify that, today, we are moving quickly and aggressively. As to the black achievement gap, we are implementing a new racial equity policy and setting high expectations for implementing it with fidelity. We are watching our new academy for boys of color, the DuBois Academy, thrive. We are opening its sister school for girls of color in the fall. We are working to make our student assignment plan more equitable and to overcome decisions by former board members to place the burden of student integration solely on the shoulders of the black community. Within the next year, it will be easier for black and brown students to enter magnet and traditional schools, and we will remove barriers to their achievement there.
GE Appliances Chief Operations Officer Melanie Cook speaks about the new product manufacturing assembly demonstration line at Doss High School. (Photo: provided)
Perhaps more important than all of this, we are looking for new sources of revenue. We need money to hire more teachers and professionals in our struggling schools. And we need that revenue to build new schools and replace crumbling buildings throughout the county, including in black neighborhoods overlooked by past boards.
We are moving in the right direction, thanks in no small part to strong support we are receiving from the entire city, including support from our business community with the Academies of Louisville program.
Unfortunately, one former JCPS board member who is still aggrieved about past board decisions that did not go his way wrote a column here last week to rehash old complaints. His arguments have been rejected time and again by a broad cross section of the community, but he continues to push them, often repeating inaccurate personal beliefs as if they are facts. For example, in his most recent article, many of David Jones Jr.’s points were simply wrong:
•Jones first complained that the state conducts JCPS' most important HR function, principal evaluations. But the state only evaluates principals in our lowest-performing schools, and, importantly, these evaluations are only advisory. Our superintendent has the authority to reject the state’s recommendations on principal retention.
JCPS: At least 12 students taken to the hospital after bus crashes by Waggener High
•Jones then complained about the process we use to review contracts. Yes, the board must review and approve contracts over $20,000. But is public oversight bad? Would it be better to give control of such a large budget to a single person, with no community oversight? In fact, the board has rejected only three contracts for less than a million dollars (.0005% of our budget) in the time that I’ve been on the board.
•Jones next complained that JCPS’ senior executives are tenured and hard to replace. But he is wrong. Senior staff members are not tenured. Indeed, Pollio has hired a new chief academic officer, chief of schools, culture and climate chief and will soon name a new chief operations officer. Jones should know all of this. He was one of the strongest proponents of SB 250, a law passed in 2019 that removed tenure from Pollio’s top staff members. Notwithstanding the fact that he hasn’t been at Van Hoose in four years, I invite Jones to call any board member and let us know which of Pollio’s staff is standing in the way of our work.
•He finally complained about a May 2019 board vote where we debated changes to JCPS’ organizational chart. Both the superintendent and the board listened to feedback from the community (parents and experts, not just the affected employees) before agreeing to a different approach. But as he concedes, the board approved more than $800,000 of the superintendent’s cuts.
JCPS mom: Here's why magnet schools must stop kicking out struggling students
I have no doubt Jones had the best of intentions when he served on the board, and I know he wants the best for JCPS. But his solutions to JCPS’ problems were more harmful than helpful. He supported a teacher pay freeze that produced nothing positive. He defended a weak superintendent until the bitter end, someone with no vision, who lost the support of her entire workforce. When voters rejected his approach in his 2016 election, he turned to Frankfort and lobbied for a state takeover. When the takeover didn’t go his way, he tried to reelect Matt Bevin and contributed the maximum possible contribution to his reelection campaign. Voters again rejected his approach.
The strong-arm approach that Jones has pushed over the last eight years will not save us. He cannot point to a single example anywhere in the country where a strongman, a “Superman” Superintendent, has fixed the achievement gap alone.
Yes, public education is hard. But this board and this city are on a better path than we’ve ever been. We need support from civic leaders like Jones. We don’t need more fights about whether the board has too much authority or the teachers union too much influence. We need all hands on deck to fix this achievement gap.
Come work with us. Stop trying to dismantle us.
More: 'Trapped in failing school system': Families push for scholarship tax credits in Kentucky
James Craig is a member of the Jefferson County Board of Education, representing District 3.
Read or Share this story: https://www.Courier-journal.Com/story/opinion/2020/01/28/jcps-working-fix-failing-schools-david-jones-jr-should-help/4587810002/
Gen Zers Have A Spending Power Of Over $140 Billion, And It's Driving The Frenzy Of Retailers And Brands Trying To Win Their Dollars
It's no secret that the retail industry went through a shakeup in the last decade.
The 2010s alone saw the closure and bankruptcy of many iconic brick-and-mortar stores, including the once-beloved Henri Bendel, Payless Shoesource, Sports Authority, (briefly) Toys R Us,Victoria's Secret, and perhaps most notably, Blockbuster and Barneys New York.
Most of these stores suffered from stagnating sales, while others struggled against the rise and popularity of e-commerce and online retailers, in addition to the changing tastes of the millennial and Gen Z cohorts. A study conducted by Influential - an artificial intelligence and social data company that connects influencers with brands - found that consumer technology and fashion retail were the top two areas that had substantial year-over-year increase in social mentions, with an 89% and 128% increase respectively.
For stores looking to connect with Gen Zers - who have a spending power of $US143 billion and will account for about 40% of global consumers this year - it's clear that retailers and brands need to invest in researching how this new generation shops, even if it means disrupting traditional blueprints. One of the biggest issues for traditional retailers and brands to overcome will be the rise of more direct-to-consumer (DTC) and e-commerce brands, who are able to provide more of an intimate and personalised experience for shoppers.
The secret to Gen Z marketing success
According to Influential's study, the top three fashion brands mentioned among Gen Zers are Vans, Adidas, and Nike. This is in line with data from consulting agency Interbrand, which listed Nike and Adidas as two of the top global brands in 2019, with a $US32.3 billion and $US11.9 billion brand valuation respectively. But they aren't the only brands who have successfully courted the younger generation.
Gucci, for example, had great success in the last decade when it came to attracting Gen Z. As Interbrand reported, Gucci was 2019's fastest growing luxury brand, with a growth rate of 23% and brand valuation of $US15.949 billion - nearly double the valuation it had when Alessandro Michele first took over as creative director in 2015. In addition, in a 2017 interview with CNBC, Francois-Henri Pinault (the chairman and CEO of Kering, Gucci's parent company) said that nearly 50% of Gucci's sales were coming from millennials. Today, Interbrand reports that number has jumped to more than 60% with their fastest growing audience being Gen Z.
To court younger generations, Gucci employed a "Millennial Shadow Committee" to help make decisions about the best way to connect with shoppers. The luxury brand also partnered with modern day icons such as pop star Harry Styles and photographer Petra Collins, and launched inclusive advertisements and collaborations, in addition to taking steps towards becoming a more sustainable company - all moves which appeal directly to younger shoppers.
"This type of interactivity between a consumer and a brand that's more relational resonates as authentic rather than a brand that's presenting to you a product and selling it to you," Steve Mormoris, CEO and founder of Edge Beauty, told Business Insider. "Consumers have mobile phones in which they're able to interact with brands, but on a more frequent basis than 30 years ago where you would only interact with the brand when you saw [it on] television, and then the next day you walked into a store to buy it."
Nordstrom demonstrates a brick-and-mortar retailer's secret to success
On the retail front, Nordstrom has remained a popular destination for e-commerce brands looking to enter into the brick-and-mortar sphere. Brands like DTC beauty company Glossier, sustainable clothing company Reformation, and luggage company Away are popular with both millennials and Gen Z, and Nordstrom's partnerships with each allowed for the companies to be introduced to customers they otherwise might not have been exposed to.
"People are not finding a deep degree of gratification or satisfaction going into a luxury department store anymore. And why that exactly is, I don't know," Mormoris previously told Business Insider. "I think a lot of it has do with people looking for physical spaces that make them feel comfortable and [where] there's some degree of intimacy in the shopping process."
Glossier's pop-up store at Nordstrom's Flagship in New York City, New York.
Pop-up shops have become the new favourite for various e-commerce and direct-to-consumer brands looking to create curated experiences for shoppers, rather than commit to the longterm, often impersonal feel, of a traditional retail shopping experience.
Though, to court younger consumers, it might be best for brands to focus less on pop-up experiences, and more on establishing a long-term presence - at least according to one study conducted by communication management company Retail Zipline, which found that many Gen Zers prefer longstanding retailers over pop-up shops. 58% of Gen Z respondents saying they would rather shop in stores with an established presence, compared to the 11% who preferred pop-up shops.
"The prevailing cultural narrative often pegs Gen Z as a digital generation that gets caught up by trends they see on social media," Jeremy Baker, chief technology officer and cofounder of Retail Zipline, said in a press release sent to Business Insider. "The reality is they care about connections and community - we know this because they prefer to shop in situations where they can chat with their friends, engage with store associates, and feel confident that their purchase decisions are supporting businesses that treat employees well."
Nordstrom's traditional brick-and-mortar setting, combined with the intimate experiences of a pop-up, has allowed for the retailer to establish itself as good partner both for brands and for shoppers.
Glossier's pop-up store at Nordstrom's NYC Flagship only sells the beauty retailer's popular fragrance 'You.'
In 2013, the retailer launched its "Pop-In@Nordstrom" series, which showcases new pop-ups every four to six weeks. Oftentimes, the pop-ups sell exclusive-to-Nordstrom merchandise, Business of Fashion reported. In October 2019, CNBC reported that, in addition to working with Reformation and Glossier, Nordstrom has also worked with shoe retailers Allbirds and Birdies, jeweller Kendra Scott, and beverage company Dirty Lemon.
The industry's secret to longevity lies in appealing to both ends of the consumer spectrum
For traditional retailers and brands, their survival in this next decade will depend on their ability to engage young shoppers, according to Gensler, an architecture firm that designs retail stores. This means creating intimate experiences and personalised moments, in addition to establishing an authentic identity.
"On some level, all companies and all brands strive for this concept of authenticity," Mormoris told Business Insider. "The difference is today, people find authenticity in a messaging that tends to be relational rather than transactional. Very often, consumers like a brand that admits they make mistakes, that asks them to participate in the creation of the brand or is involved in charity giving or making the planet better."
But as the adaptation to appeal to the young goes into full effect, the industry must also not forget the still expansive spending power of Gen Xers and baby boomers. On January 5, The Guardian, citing research from the International Longevity Centre-UK, reported that ageism could cost the fashion industry over $US14 billion in the next 20 years.
"Fashion and beauty brands have been ignoring their older customers for ages. Rather than trying to reach this savvy demographic, they prey on their insecurities and use fear and ageist propaganda to sell beauty products that promise the ridiculous and harmful ideology of 'anti-ageing'," Ari Seth Cohen, creator of the blog Advanced Style, told The Guardian. "There have been numerous beauty and fashion campaigns featuring silver-haired models, but I don't think brands have quite figured out what their older customers want and how to reach them."
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