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Iwa Moto’s advice to those battling mental health issues? ‘Fight like a warrior’
ABS-CBN News
Published Feb 09, 2020 02:39 AM PHT
Iwa Moto uploaded a video where she described what it's like to battle her mental health problems. Iwa Moto's YouTube channel
MANILA—Iwa Moto shared on Friday a powerful video about her day-to-day battle with her bipolar disorder and severe panic attacks, comparing her struggles to having a wild, burning flame consuming her body from the inside.
In the clip, uploaded on her vlog on YouTube, the former actress explained that she wanted to tell the "truth" because she grew tired of having to pretend she was fine whenever she would go out and online, a day after revealing her mental health problems.
"It's a rollercoaster ride every day," she described, close to tears. "Today I'm OK but the next thing I know I want to die, or I want to kill myself, or I want to kill someone — I don't know."
Moto said she has been battling mental health problems, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for most of her life, even before she met her partner, Pampi Lacson, but she was only clinically diagnosed a few years ago.
She attributed her PTSD to being abused in the past — although she refrained from naming people, saying that she had "slowly" forgiven them — her miscarriage, and her first failed marriage.
She detailed that there were some days when she would not be able to walk or simply get out of bed, but she fights through them for Mimi, her only daughter with Lacson.
"I try my best to take my meds just to be a functional mother to my child because I don't want her to see how broken her mother is. I am fighting with everything I have just for her," she said.
According to Moto, her video is not a cry for sympathy but rather a call to those who have similar mental health problems to "fight like a warrior," and that "life is still worth living."
"I'm not telling you this because I want sympathy, no. I'm opening up myself to everyone for you to understand that people do have these [mental health] problems," she said. "We may look strong, we may look okay, and we may not look sick at all."
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"But deep inside, there's a fire na parang kinakain ka."
Her best advice is to not be afraid to seek help, accept within oneself their problems, and to pay little attention to what other people might think of their struggles.
"Hindi man tayo parehong-pareho [ng situation], I hope this video would encourage you to fight and be a warrior like me. Kasi life is worth living . . . We just have to seek help."
Editor's note: A group in the Philippines is dedicated to addressing those who have suicidal tendencies.
The crisis hotlines of the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation aim to make these individuals feel that someone is ready to listen to them.
These are their hotline numbers:
Information and Crisis Intervention Center (02) 804-HOPE (4673) 0917-558-HOPE (4673) or (632) 211-4550 0917-852-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-6876 0917-842-HOPE (4673) or (632) 964-4084
In Touch Crisis Lines: 0917-572-HOPE or (632) 211-1305 (02) 893-7606 (24/7) (02) 893-7603 (Mon-Fri, 9 am-5 pm) Globe (63917) 800.1123 or (632) 506.7314 Sun (63922) 893.8944 or (632) 346.8776
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