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Lady Gaga Plays Doctor, Offers Fans Free Counselling

By Jo Fuertes-Knight

So, Lady Gaga has announced that fans will be able to receive free counseling at her forthcoming Born This Way tour stops... Yeah, get all those "WELP, YOU'RE GONNA NEED THERAPY AFTER A NIGHT OF HER MUSIC" jokes out of your system now.

Gaga took to Twitter to elaborate that fans going to the shows would be able to attend the BornBrave bus ahead of the gig to discuss mental health with qualified professionals and "break the stigmas around 'help.'"

For those wondering about the "counseling" at the BTWBall BornBrave pre-show, it will be a fun tailgating experience for monsters to unite
— Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) December 28, 201 2

She went on to say:

"At the BornBrave bus you have have access to professional private or group chats about mental health, depression, bullying, school and friends."

Okay, cool, cool, good idea. She continued...

"I feel like most kids don't look for help because they feel embarrassed so mom and I wanted to break the stigmas around 'help' and make it fun."

Ummm, the "make it fun" comment leaves a bad taste in my mouth, 'cause let me tell you, "counseling" is not really fun unless you like doing stuff like staring at yourself nude in a full-length mirror acknowledging everything that's wrong with you. But, like the anti-bullying campaigns Gaga's been so heavily involved in before, I think she should be praised for aiming to eradicate shame and secrecy around mental health problems. And secondly, shout outs for actually enlisting the help of professionals and what sounds like some kind of structure, rather than just getting some tour employees to make fans do trust falls and talk about their feelings.

On the flip side of this, there's a horribly cynical side of me that is just thinking shit like this does not appeal or reach out to the right people. Rather, it feeds into this very web 2.0 culture of fetishising mental illness. I just imagine it'll be the kids that know the WebMD synopsis of bi-polar disorder by heart and self-diagnose via Wikipedia articles in an attempt to be like the damaged pop princesses they idolize that'll actually buy into this kind of stunt.

Or maybe I'm completely wrong. So, what do you think? Is Gaga onto a good idea, or is this just another gimmick?

By Jo Fuertes-Knight 4 months ago Like · Comment · Share