Sara Bareilles On Taking Medicine for Depression and Anxiety
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles is speaking out about her mental health challenges, displaying the courage she sings of so powerfully in songs like “Brave.”
She shared that after resisting the idea of medication for years, fearing it would leave her unable to recognize herself anymore, it has had the opposite effect: “For the first time in months I can feel myself again – my joy, my optimism and my laughter are among some of the precious parts of myself I have rediscovered.” She went on, “They sit at my soul’s table, along with my sweet sadness and my tender anxiety…who, by the way, aren’t the only ones talking anymore. It is a profound, holy relief.”
In addition to the little white pill, she credits “friends/family, therapy, exercise, sleep, and meditation” as her other “medicines.” She especially called out her partner and “angelic” friends for encouraging her “to do what needs to be done to feel better.”
Hear Sara’s beautifully vulnerable story in her own words:
Sara Bareilles Opens Up About Taking Medicine for the First Time to Tackle Depression and Anxiety
You can hear her hit single Brave here:
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
When they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave…
Patterson, Charmaine. “’Sara Bareilles Opens Up About Taking Medicine for the First Time to Tackle Depression and Anxiety.” People.com, 18 Jan 2022, people.com/music/sara-bareilles-opens-up-about-taking-medicine-to-tackle-depression-and-anxiety.
CREDIT: PETER KRAMER/NBC/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY