Lana Del Ray Depression ( A complete guide)
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OptimistMinds
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Author bio
The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
This blog initiates a discussion on Lana Del Ray’s depression and highlights certain key words she spoke about in interviews and the deeper implications behind them.
Is lana del ray really disturbed and depressed?
Lana del ray has canceled tours due to ‘medical reasons’ to which very little details is available to the public. However, lana-del-ray’s statements do hint at how disturbed she really may be and might require the help of a mental health professional.
Lana del ray has mentioned some very critical statements in her interviews that definitely hints towards depression. Some of her statements can are quoted below:
“It’s hard for me sometimes to think about going on when I know we’re going to die. Something happened in the last three years, with my panic [attacks]…It got worse. I’ve always been prone to it.”
“I saw a therapist – three times. But I’m really most comfortable sitting in that chair in the studio, writing or singing.”
“It was just heavy. It’s just heavy performing for people who really care about you, and you don’t really care that much about yourself sometimes. I thought it was sad. I thought my position was sad. I thought it was sad to be in Ireland singing for people who really cared when I wasn’t sure if I did.”
“I wish i was dead already.”
“Sometimes i wish it could all be over”
When she was asked to clarify on the above statement whether she meant in terms of her music, she clarified by saying “everything”
Lana’s statements not only depict that she is disturbed but also depressed. To have better clarification on what depression looks like from a clinical perspective,the DSM-5(Diagnostic Statistical Manual) outlines the following criteria to make the diagnosis of disorder to be categorised as depression. The individual must be experiencing five or more the following symptoms for a period of two weeks or more with a sense of either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure.
- · A sense of persistent depressed mood throughout the day, almost every day.
- · Drastic decline in pleasure in every or almost every activity most of the day, nearly every day.
- · Loss of appetite and Significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.
- · A sense of lathery or lack in energy marked by decline in physical movement (which may or may not necessarily be observable by others,).
- · Recurring Feelings or thoughts of worthlessness or uselessness
- · A sense of excessive guilt nearly every day for no particular reason.
- · Lack of focus and decline in ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, almost every day.
- · Suicidal thoughts or recurring feelings of ‘It won’t matter’ or ‘everyone is better off without me’ even marked by failed attempts.
Although it may be difficult to know how prolonged her guilt may be or what her overall mood may be everyday, if she is experiencing suicidal thoughts which she probably is as hinted by the statements that were direct quotes from lana’s interviews, she is showing clear symptoms of depression.
While it may be difficult to know for sure the number of symptoms she may be experiencing, it can depict the possibility that she has experienced the first two symptoms persistently if she is experiencing suicidal thoughts.
Her statements also hint that she may also have an overwhelming feeling of guilt.
But in order to have a better understanding of what makes her so depressed and what else she may be dealing with, it is better to have a look at the situations around her and her work.
Lana’s Music – What does it Portray?
Lana del ray is known for music which has a melancholic feel to it. If one were to pay close attention, apart from the melancholic tone, there is always some mention of sadness in almost every one of her songs.
For instance, her song young and beautiful mentions “will you still love me when i have nothing but my aching soul” or the “summertime sadness.” in her songs ‘young and beautiful’ and ‘summertime sadness.’ portrays the image of an individual who is deeply disturbed deep down and expresses that through music.
Her album, UltraViolence, and some of the titles of the songs does highlight the sadness that she feels. Songs like Sad Girl and Cruel World indicate the mental health of lana and darkness that she may be experiencing.
Additionally among two of her music videos “Born to die” and “summertime sadness”, scenes of death were depicted in a very romanticized way.
In the video of Born to die, the music starts to fade and the attentioned is depicted to Del Rey’s bloody corpse in the arms of her boyfriend, her head hanging upside down facing the camera.
While in“Summertime Sadness”, the video pays attention to flashes between two slow motion scenes of Del Rey throughout the song. One in which she falls off a bridge, while the fabric of her dress flows gracefully around her and the other where she spreads her arms out, as if potarying that she is welcoming death, as she falls off a cliff to a tragic death. She sings that she would “die happy tonight.” indicating that she would be happy to die.
Taking an instance of the one song that not just hinsts but very colourfully highlights lana’s state of mind -’sad girl’ the lyrics is mentioned below:
[Verse 1]
Being a mistress on the side (Ah, yeah-ah)
It might not appeal to fools like you (Ah)
Creeping around on the side
Might not be something you would do
(Ah, ah)
[Pre-Chorus]
But you haven’t seen my man (Man)
You haven’t seen my man (Man, man)
You haven’t seen my man (Man)
You haven’t seen him (Whoa-ah)
[Chorus]
He’s got the fire and he walks with it
He’s got the fire and he talks with it
His Bonnie on the side, Bonnie on the side
His money on the side, money on the side
[Post-Chorus]
I’m a sad girl
I’m a sad girl
I’m a sad girl
I’m a bad girl
I’m a bad girl
I’m a bad girl
Lana’s music videos definitely hints at a common pattern which looks at death not only as something inevitable but as something romantic.
Emily dickenson once described ‘death’ as a ‘gentleman’ in one of her poems. Her lines ‘because i could not stop for death, he stopped for me’, hints at someone who was not afraid to die but saw death in a kind manner.
The contrast between these two artists is that although both have romanticised death to some extent, the intensity varies and while Emily Dickenson’s work did not show fear of death, it doesn’t show that she was looking forward to it either which cannot be said for lana del ray.
Controversies regarding Lana Del Ray’s depression
Lana del ray has always been honest and open about her thoughts, opinions, beliefs and feelings; some of which has gotten her into a lot of trouble and right in the midst of backlash and controversies . Some such topics include:
Lana’s inspiration
One of the factors that stirred the controversy when it comes to lana del ray’s depression are the artists and celebrities whom she looks up to and who inspire her.
Lana’s greatest inspirations as stated by her are ‘Amy winehouse’ and ‘kurt Cobain’ who were both talented and successful in their respective fields but tragically passed away young.
It is difficult to know for certain whether lana del ray glamorises dying young because the people she looked up to died young.
Although, there has been a lot of discussion and controversy about this topic and even if this factor can contribute a part, if lana del ray really wants to die young or wanted to, then there definitely would be other factors which highlight this factor.
Lana Del Ray and feminism
One of the most heated topics which was very controversial for lana del ray was her opinion on feminism.
Lana del Ray has been very vocal about where stands on the topic. She admits that the topic of feminism doesn’t interest her and she would rather talk about spacex, tesla or the possibility of aliens.
Kim Gordon, formerly of Sonic Youth and always of “being awesome.” In her new memoir titled “Girl in a Band” voiced her opinion on Lana in response to her romanticizing death and depression in her music of which she quoted -”Today we have someone like Lana Del Rey, who doesn’t even know what feminism is, who believes women can do whatever they want, which, in her world, tilts toward self-destruction, whether it’s sleeping with gross old men or getting gang raped by bikers. Equal pay and equal rights would be nice. Naturally, it’s just a persona. If she really truly believes it’s beautiful when young musicians go out on a hot flame of drugs and depression, why doesn’t she just off herself?”
No doubt that lana del ray’s comment on feminism has been one of the most controversial topics in her career. While some people share similar opinions to kim Gordon, some share Lana’s opinion and feel that feminism shows the toxic side of femininity.
Lana’s Romanticism of death and Frances Bean Cobain’s response
Frances Bean Cobain who is the daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain was not one to shy away from voicing her opinions and took Lana’s class on Twitter.
As difficult as it could have been to express her opinion on the topic, she made her perspective on romanticizing the death of musicians like her father known to the public. She quoted that“I’ll never know my father because he died young & it becomes a desirable feat because people like you think it’s ‘cool,’” she tweeted.
As Frances Bean Cobain has a large personal connection to the topic, it is understandable that she feels strongly about it and many have raised the question whether (or how exactly) the glamorization of her father’s death makes suicide a “desirable” choice for others.
What can be a factor that could possibly affect lana del ray’s mental health is that the spotlight makes her accountable to many who may look up to her. Lana idiolosing death will not make impressionable fans want to kill themselves.
They may or may not be in a position to understand the deeper psychological or emotional turbulences that she may be experiencing and may either follow in her footsteps and idolise death’ thus earning a lot of backlash towards Lana del ray.
A series of Misfortunes
Lana del ray has suffered various health issues so much so that she confessed that she spent a huge part of 2013 suffering. Apart from having to deal with feeling sick when she was recording Ultraviolence, Lana had to deal with the shocking death of another artist, one she was hoping to collaborate with i.eLou Reed.
He was scheduled to sing with Lana on the song Brooklyn Baby, but sadly he passed away just two minutes after Lana Del Rey landed in New York to record.
While this was largely overlooked, Lana may or may not have been traumatized by this event. While that’s a matter for her therapist to conclude, it is unknown exactly how affected she was by this incident and whether she got closure or not.
Furthermore, psychological health and physiological health are often interconnected. So if one had prolonged battles with one’s psychological health it definitely reflects on one’s physical health.
Deeply troubled and with no support?
Lana del ray is without a doubt, a troubled soul and she almost oftens gives a statement or two that can confirm that she is disturbed and quite possibly depressed. One such quote is mentioned below:
“It’s just heavy performing for people who really care about you, and you don’t really care that much about yourself sometimes. I thought it was sad. I thought my position was sad. I thought it was sad to be in Ireland singing for people who really cared when I wasn’t sure if I did.”
She had also mentioned that her family looks at her lifestyle and compares it to a movie and she agreed that it is a horrible movie that she would like to get away from.
What anyone facing depression needs more than anything is the love and support of loved ones. Lana del ray has mentioned that she had panic attacks and has experienced suicidal thoughts, while it is unknown on how much support she received from her family or friends in respect to her mental health condition, such support can be instrumental in recovery from such illnesses.
Conclusion
This blog initiated a discussion on Lana Del Ray’s depression and highlighted certain key words she spoke about in interviews and the deeper implications behind them.
From my perspective, lana del ray is depressed and this is not an attention seeking stunt which some believe. The symptoms largely point towards depression which may be severe or clinical.
FAQ: Lana del ray depression
Is lana del ray depressed?
Yes, it definitely seems like it. Lana del ray has displayed more than one symptom relating to depression.
While some may say that this is her way of trying to get attention, her music and statements does seem to prove that she is a troubled individual and she may be just trying to figure things out.
References
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a36795/lana-del-rey-insulted-by-kim-gordon/
Our mental health problems are bigger than Lana Del Rey
https://thefederalist.com/2014/07/02/lana-del-reys-deadly-religion-of-self/
https://genius.com/Lana-del-rey-sad-girl-lyrics