A clinical psychologist, Dr Isaac Newman Arthur, is encouraging actress Yvonne Nelson to seek professional and medical attention following the release of her memoir ‘I am Not Yvonne Nelson’.
According to Dr Arthur, who is the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Ghana Psychological Association, individuals undermine the relevance of seeking professional help for their mental well-being due to the negative stereotype that it is for the emotionally weak.
In a conversation with Graphic Showbiz, on Wednesday, the clinical psychologist said Yvonne Nelson should not hesitate to take the decision if she hasn’t done that yet.
“From what I have read so far, particularly her relationship with her mother, Yvonne needs to heal more. I am not saying that she has any problem but from the book, if she hasn’t been able to heal properly, she needs to heal well otherwise she will pass on the pain to her kids.”
“Besides, now that everything is out there, the bashing can worsen her own state so I’m sure probably, she has someone she talks to but whatever it is, she needs some kind of support from professionals she can trust to overcome the trauma to heal properly from whatever she is going through.”
“Celebrities are also humans so anytime they find themselves in mental challenges, they should seek help. The fact that you are seeking help doesn’t mean you are weak, it only means that you are human,” he said.
On Monday, June 19, Yvonne Nelson caused a huge uproar and made headlines with her book, I Am Not Yvonne Nelson which was launched at Peduase Lodge in the Eastern on Sunday, June 18.
The 24-chapter book which talked about many aspects of her life including the search for the real identity of her father and her now sour relationship with her mother has generated intense conversations about parenting.
In the book, the Princess Tyra actress narrated how her mother referred to her as a “mistake child” following the circumstances surrounding her birth.
Dr Aruthur noted that celebrities are humans and there are mental health risks among people like that adding events that happened before and after fame can contribute to making it worse.
“Physically, they grow and mentally, they grow. Unfortunately, there are lots of parents who know how to make their children grow physically but they don’t know how to let them grow mentally because they don’t understand it.”
“A lot of parents fail because they didn’t get the training from their own parents. For instance, if parents insult them or say all kinds of derogatory things about them, it affects their mental growth and causes emotional pain and self-identity.”
“In our African environment, we do all these things or say all sort of things under the guise of discipline but end up damaging the mental well-being of children while growing up,” Dr Arthur said.
Single parenting
According to Dr Arthur who is also the Acting Director of University of Professional Studies, Medical Directorate, research has shown that single parenting has its own problems.
In Yvonne Nelson’s case, however, she did not have a father to complement her mother’s presence in her life and he said it was unfortunate people have failed to understand that side of her struggles.
“Celebrities only exhibit talent. It has nothing to do with who they are so what we see is the talent but what we don’t see are childhood struggles. We always love the talent but we don’t love the person.”
“And that is why when something comes up, the same fans who hail them are the same ones who will insult them. So now, we are praising Yvonne Nelson because she seems like the victim and vilifying Sarkodie as the predator.
“But if we should go into Sarkodie’s life too, we will also understand why he did that. Perhaps, his upbringing affected him and has mental health problems, before he became a star,” he noted.