Katy Perry has always been fairly open about her mental health, having once live-streamed her therapy session for all the world to see. However, one of her recent comments about mental health has people furrowing their brows a bit.
On Tuesday, Perry doled out a piece of wisdom to her Twitter followers, telling them that whenever she feels “any anxiety,” she just breathes in through her nose and out through her mouth.
Whenever I feel any anxiety, I just breathe through my nose and out through my mouth ??♀?
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) April 3, 2018
The comment was made with purest of intentions, but it managed to rub some people the wrong way — specifically, people with actual anxiety.
Twitter users started making sardonic responses to Perry’s “insightful” advice (which isn’t terribly helpful to people who are dealing with actual mental illness).
thankyou to katy perry for curing my mental ilness https://t.co/zJpHlqr0Zw
— Emily Reynolds (@rey_z) April 4, 2018
2018. The year Katy Perry cured anxiety. https://t.co/DBEHXHX2Hd
— Joshua Zitser (@mrjoshz) April 4, 2018
i would’ve never thought of this thank you katy perry you just cured my anxiety https://t.co/DNuY7NZilI
— daniella (@lovelyackles) April 3, 2018
As one person astutely pointed out, anxiety and nervousness are not the same things at all.
Cured. Thanks ? Btw anxiety and nerves are not the same.
— Gee ?✨ (@GeorgiaRMK) April 3, 2018
In all likelihood, Perry’s heart was in the right place when she made the remark, so everyone should probably just cut her some slack. After all, taking deep breaths when you’re panicky or nervous is bound to help a little bit, regardless of your mental health diagnosis.
That said, actual anxiety is certainly not something that just goes away with enough meditation, and it’s important that society views anxiety as more than a simple, temporary emotion — for many people, it’s their constant reality, and it takes more than a few deep breaths to keep them on track.