In a recent Instagram post, Ruby Rose revealed that she had been a victim of mental health issues and explained to fans that everyone faces such issues, even celebrities.
On World Mental Health Day, she shared a selfie in the hospital, captioning her mental health struggles. She wrote, “I’ve struggled with mental health my entire life.”
In that post, the Batwoman star explained that she was diagnosed with depression at 13 and major depressive disorder at 16. And later she was diagnosed with “dissociative amnesia” at 18.
According to WebMD, dissociative amnesia involves “disruptions or breakdowns of memory, consciousness, awareness, identity, and/or perception,” which can interfere with your general functioning, such as work, social activities, and even relationships.
It occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually associated with a stressful or traumatic event, leaving him or her unable to remember important personal information,” according to WebMD.
“I had a few years entirely erased from my memory and a chance run in with my best friend from primary school was the first I learned about it,” added Rose. “She remembered me but I didn’t recognize her at all.”
Later, she went home and asked her mom about the incident. Rose recalled, “I found out I went from a smiling laughing child to a quiet mute who sat alone and stared off to the distance during recess after one of many traumatic events that I didn’t remember.”
Rose’s mom did not tell her anything about the trauma at that time because her doctors thought Rose was too young to process it and not knowing is the best for her.
Rose wrote, “Cut to many dark times. On medication, off medication, on and off and on and off. There were hospitalizations, suicide attempts as young as 12.”
The 33-year-old explained that it took a long time for her doctors to figure out how they can help her. After undergoing a brain scan, she was finally diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), which is characterized by the symptoms of flashbacks, uncontrollable thoughts, and nightmares about the trauma, anxiety, or depression. Although Rose did not mention when she was diagnosed with C-PTSD, she wrote, “What I have learned from the struggles of mental health is just how strong I am…It’s that you cannot judge people at all because you can never know what they have been through. It’s that self love and self care is more important than anything else.”
