10 celebrities who live with a bipolar diagnosis, from Selena Gomez to Catherine Zeta-Jones

Bipolar disorder – characterised by episodes of depression, in which you might feel extremely low and lethargic, and mania, in which you may feel high and overactive – can be triggered my myriad factors. According to the NHS, these can include extreme stress, overwhelming problems, life-changing events and genetic and chemical factors.

These can be painful and destabilising. With the right help, however, any impacts on your everyday life can be soothed and mitigated.

The condition has been in the news lately thanks to Selena Gomez, who has been talking about her bipolar diagnosis and treatment experience. Other stars, like Mariah Carey, Demi Lovato, and Halsey, have also been raising awareness about the disorder and its unique challenges. Read on for the stories of celebs, including Selena, who have spoken out about their experiences and how they've managed it over the years.

If you're concerned about your mental health, arrange to speak with your GP and explain your symptoms

In her new documentary Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me, Selena reveals that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after she went through a period of psychosis in 2018.

She also shared that she struggles with finding the right medication, but eventually, Selena found a psychiatrist who helped her get back to herself.

'I had to detox, essentially, from the medications I was on. I had to learn how to remember certain words. I would forget where I was when we were talking. It took a lot of hard work for me to (a) accept that I was bipolar, but (b) learn how to deal with it because it wasn’t going to go away,' she says in the film.

The superstar singer spoke out about receiving her bipolar diagnosis in 2001 to People. 'Until recently I lived in denial and isolation and in constant fear someone would expose me,' she said in the cover story. 'It was too heavy a burden to carry and I simply couldn’t do that anymore. I sought and received treatment, I put positive people around me and I got back to doing what I love — writing songs and making music.'

The singer and former Disney Channel star, who also struggled with bulimia and addiction, became a spokeswoman for the mental health awareness campaign Be Vocal in 2015. 'I could either not talk about my stint in rehab and hope that it went away, or I could talk about it and inspire people to get help for their issues, as well, so that’s exactly what I did,' she told Woman's Health US.

Before she became a singer, Halsey had a breakdown at age 17 and made an attempt on her own life. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder shortly after that time. 'It was a lot of things happening at once, with a complete lack of direction,' she told Glamour, per Page Six.

The Chicago and Intolerable Cruelty actress has spoken about her life with bipolar disorder for years, especially during her split and subsequent reconciliation with husband Michael Douglas.

Back when few people knew about bipolar disorder or even acknowledged it publicly, the late actress tackled the stigmatisation head-on. She published a New York Times best-selling autobiography, A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness, and lobbied for public awareness for decades.

'One of the things that baffles me (and there are quite a few) is how there can be so much lingering stigma with regards to mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder,' the Star Wars actress wrote in her memoir Wishful Drinking. 'In my opinion, living with manic depression takes a tremendous amount of balls.'

As the former wife of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and mom of current PM Justin Trudeau, the mental health advocate has spent years in the spotlight. 'You can't fix yourself out of a mental health issue,' she told GoodHousekeeping.com in 2017. 'You can't wake up and say, Today I'm not being depressed! It's a process to get well, but there is recovery.'

Sinead O'Connor has spoken out about her bipolar diagnosis in a 2007 interview with Oprah. But she struggled even more in 2015 after she underwent a hysterectomy to treat endometriosis, per Entertainment Weekly. 'When I had the surgery, I was terribly triggered,' she told People.

Terminator star Linda Hamilton experienced 20 years of symptoms before being officially diagnosed. She described her mood swings as severe, adding that her highs were 'an amazingly brilliant time,' but her lows felt like 'falling into a manhole and not being able to climb out no matter what,' she told AP Radio, per TODAY.