Elon Musk tweeted late Wednesday night that he has never been to therapy and wants to be immortalized with that fact etched on his tombstone. And no matter what you think about the billionaire's attitude toward mental health treatment, Musk's tweet would seem pretty unremarkable on its own. But for some reason, Musk keeps tweeting about it, three times in the past two months alone.
- „I will engrave on my tombstone, 'I never went to therapy,'“ Musk tweeted. February 28th.
- „He's dead now. Write on my gravestone 'I never went to therapy,'“ Musk tweeted. January 29th In response to a video by film director Werner Herzog.
- „Please engrave 'I never went to therapy' and 'I invented the car fart' on my tombstone. Those are my only requests,“ Musk tweeted. January 8thadd additional elements to his virtual tombstone.
But these are just the most recent times Musk has tweeted about therapy.Another example of Mr. Musk using the same language occurred. July 2023when the Tesla CEO was responding to a far-right influencer at X who suggested that white liberals have more mental illness than the general population.
„Why is mental illness so prominent among liberal white people?“ An account called The Rabbit Hole, tweeted.
„'I never went to therapy,' please put that on my tombstone,“ Musk responded.
Obviously, the choice to undergo therapy is a personal one, and it is up to Mr. Musk to decide whether such things are helpful. But if he's truly „never“ been to therapy, it seems a little strange that he thinks he can effectively judge whether it's working for him or not. As it turns out, one billionaire is microdosing ketamine for depression. wall street journal Last year's report. Drug interventions for mental health problems usually require professional treatment.
Musk has repeatedly suggested that he often suffers from mental health issues, including when he called his mind a „storm“ on Lex Fridman's podcast last year.
„My heart is a storm. I don't think most people want to be me. They may want to be me, but they don't know, they don't understand,“ Musk said. told Fridman.
Musk was asked about that comment (that his mind was in a storm) in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times. November 30, 2023 At the DealBook Summit in New York. Mr. Sorkin tried to dig deeper into the issues that may be plaguing Mr. Musk, and after an agonizingly long 12-second silence in front of a live audience, Mr. Musk quite spontaneously „went into a therapist's office. I felt like I was there,“ he said.
„I wish we were sitting on a psychiatrist's couch or something. You know, I think I was born that way to some extent, but frankly, by a difficult childhood, It became even more amplified. But I remember that even in happy moments when I was a child, I felt like there was a constant presence of a force inside me that was just…just…raging. ,” Musk explained.
Musk said that sometimes this mental clutter can be productive. But after listing his successes, Musk appeared troubled and introspective again.
„So most of the time these inner demons are harnessed to productive ends. But that doesn't mean they don't sometimes, you know, go the wrong way.“ Mr. Musk said.
Musk also discussed his suicidal thoughts as a child.
„So, when I was about 12 years old, I had an existential crisis: What is the meaning of life? Isn't it all meaningless? Why not commit suicide? Why exist?“ Musk recalled.
The interview is perhaps best remembered as Musk's defiant stand in the face of advertiser backlash over his widely criticized comments. considered anti-Semitic. However, these comments are worth revisiting, as the billionaire has reiterated that no treatment is necessary.
Once again, Mr. Musk can have any opinion he wants about mental health professionals and is free to choose what path he wants to take in life. After all, he is the richest man in the world and is doing well in a material sense. But given how often Musk tweets about never going to therapy, it's clear it's a topic on his mind, and that he just benefits from having someone to talk to. Some people think.
More than 50,000 Americans will die by suicide in 2023, slightly more than the 49,449 suicide deaths in 2022 and 48,183 suicide deaths in 2021. According to the CDC. Therapy is not magic, but it can help people in desperate situations.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or considering suicide, please call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. 988. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741.