Amanda Seyfried Is Confused By The Stigma Around Mental Health Meds

You wouldn’t judge someone for taking medication for a heart condition. So why, asks Amanda Seyfried, would you shame someone with a mental health condition for doing the same thing?

The “Ted 2” actress recently opened up to Allure magazine, where she slammed the negative perceptions surrounding psychiatric medication.

“What are you fighting against? Just the stigma of using a tool?” she said. “A mental illness is a thing that people cast in a different category [from other illnesses], but I don’t think it is. It should be taken as seriously as anything else.”

Seyfried, who has obsessive compulsive disorder and has taken medication for over a decade, said she’s firmly committed to staying on her treatment plan in order to maintain her well-being. And she’s absolutely smart to do so: Experts agree medical support is the best way to manage and recover from a mental health issue.

Despite this, many people still see mental health disorders as something that a person can just “get over” on their own or not even a real issue in the first place.

Comments like Seyfried’s help to dispel this notion. And, perhaps most importantly, they may encourage those who are experiencing a psychological condition to seek help.

Ultimately, Seyfried wants people to understand that mental health disorders are invisible ― but they deserve the same medical attention.

“You don’t see the mental illness: It’s not a mass; it’s not a cyst,” she told Allure. “But it’s there. Why do you need to prove it? If you can treat it, you treat it.”

Mic drop.