If you haven’t heard of Chappell Roan, or if you haven’t at least heard one of her songs over the past year, you might be living under a rock. The pop singer has had a meteoric rise to fame over the past year, and the viral success she has found on TikTok is partially to thank.
Songs like “Pink Pony Club,” “Casual,” “HOT TO GO!,” and recent single “Good Luck, Babe!” all found success on the short-form video platform, launching Chappell to a new level of stardom. From the outside, it’s easy to think that becoming world-famous overnight would be a dream come true, but Chappell has recently revealed that her success has been hard for her emotionally.
This emotional impact of her rise to fame has even impacted her sleep. Chappell has Bipolar II disorder, and this diagnosis means that sometimes she experiences periods of hypomania and periods of depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), periods of hypomania are considered less severe than the manic episodes that people experience with Bipolar I disorder. (1)
How Has Chappell Roan’s Recent Surge In Popularity Affected Her Sleep and Mental Health?
People Magazine reported that Chappell told Rolling Stone Magazine that her initial surge of followers after the song Pink Pony Club triggered what Chappell would later identify as hypomania.
According to People, Chappell told Rolling Stone about her rise to fame, her surge of popularity over the past year, and how it’s affected her mental health. People reported that Chappell told the Rolling Stones about “how she struggled with her success, sharing that in 2022, she sought treatment after sharing she’d been thinking about suicide.”
After Chappell’s viral performance at the Governor’s Ball in New York this summer, where she performed dressed as the Statue of Liberty, she experienced a surge of hundreds of thousands of followers to her social media. According to People’s reporting Chappell remarked to Rolling Stones that this impacted her mental health, saying “I wasn’t sleeping,” and that “I was on the incorrect meds. I had the energy and the delusion and realized that this app [TikTok] is fueled off of mental illness. Straight up.”
Chappell went on to say that “I was getting almost a hundred thousand followers a day. At first, I was in severe denial,” and that “They would literally show me some stats and the only thing I could do is say, ‘No, no, no. It’s not like that.’ I couldn’t say, ‘I am gaining success.’” (2)
What is Bipolar II Disorder?
According to the Cleveland Clinic, Bipolar disorder is “a lifelong mood disorder and mental health condition that causes intense shifts in mood, energy levels, thinking patterns and behavior. These shifts can last for hours, days, weeks or months and interrupt your ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” Bipolar II is a subtype of Bipolar disorder, which is characterized by periods of hypomania and periods of depression. While the hypomania that someone with Bipolar II might experience isn’t as severe as the manic episodes that someone with Bipolar I might experience, people with Bipolar II commonly experience chronic depression. (3)
If you believe that you are experiencing symptoms of Bipolar disorder, you should consult your doctor or mental health professional.
How Can Bipolar II Disorder Impact Sleep?
According to the NIMH, Bipolar II disorder can impact sleep during periods of hypomania and periods of depression. If someone is experiencing hypomania, they will feel a decreased need for sleep, meaning that they will stay up much later than they might usually want to. If someone is experiencing depression, then they might experience several sleep-related symptoms such as, sleeping too much, having trouble falling asleep, and waking up too early. (1)
If you have Bipolar disorder and you are having difficulty sleeping, you should talk to your doctor or mental health provider to discuss next steps.
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Sources
- Bipolar Disorder. National Institute of Mental Health. Updated 2022. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder
- Shultz, Cara Lynn. Chappell Roan, who has Bipolar II, says TikTok follower surge triggered hypomania: ‘I wasn’t sleeping’. People Magazine. September 10, 2024. https://people.com/chappell-roan-bipolar-hypomania-tiktok-surge-rolling-stone-8709678
- Bipolar Disorder. Cleveland Clinic. April 12, 2022. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9294-bipolar-disorder
