Imagine the feeling of a panic attack. Now imagine having to pull yourself together and go onstage in front of thousands of people.
For some professional musicians and performers this is an every day occurrence. For Mental Health Awareness month we are shining the spotlight on some of rock/metal’s biggest artists, and the mental struggles they go through. This week we spoke to Mike Hranica of The Devil Wears Prada.
Mike was very open in sharing some of his struggles and how he has dealt with them. He talked about being on medication during his teenage years and how he felt school was a main cause for his mental struggles.
“I didn’t really have any social skills or social life. I did okay in high school, but I was just so terrified of everyone and everything that I was on medication as a kid. And then when I started touring straight out of high school I hopped off of it and I was doing great. I felt like it was a pretty easy diagnosis, that school was what was had me feel down all the time.”
Mike went on to talk about how his mental health started to take a hit a few years into being a touring musician.
“I started experiencing panic attacks, I started experiencing anxiety. You know you hear it all the time people are like ‘oh that makes me anxious’ or ‘I have anxiety.’ It’s not to downplay other people’s experiences, but when some of those first episodes kick in it’s a complete lack of control. It’s ‘what’s happening? What’s wrong with me?'”
Mike goes on to talk about therapy, and other ways he copes with mental illness as well as looking within himself to reveal what causes some of these struggles. Check out the full conversation below!
