Lady Gaga's Open Letter About PTSD Is Beautiful and Heartbreaking

Is it just us, or is there something about 2016 that feels like the Year of Gaga?

From magazine covers to her new album Joanne, to awards and performances galore, Lady Gaga is everywhere this year.

Now she is using her star power and influence to talk candidly about the touchy subject of mental illness.

During a recent visit with LGBTQ homeless youth at the Ali Forney Center, Gaga opened up about being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, usually referred to as PTSD.

"My own trauma in my life has helped me understand the trauma of others. I told the kids today I suffer from a mental illness. I suffer from PTSD. I have never told anyone that before but here we are," Gaga said.

Well, she is keeping the conversation going even after that video made waves, writing an open letter for theBorn This Way Foundation's blog.

"It is a daily effort for me, even during this album cycle, to regulate my nervous system so that I don’t panic over circumstances that to many would seem like normal life situations," Gaga writes in the heartbreaking essay. "Examples are leaving the house or being touched by strangers who simply want to share their enthusiasm for my music."

Many assumed the PTSD she suffers from was related to a rape she experienced at age 19, but the letter she writes cites another event in her life as the main impetus.

"I also struggle with triggers from the memories I carry from my feelings of past years on tour when my needs and requests for balance were being ignored," she shares in the letter. "I was overworked and not taken seriously when I shared my pain and concern that something was wrong. I ultimately ended up injured on the Born This Way Ball. That moment and the memory of it has changed my life forever. The experience of performing night after night in mental and physical pain ingrained in me a trauma that I relive when I see or hear things that remind me of those days."

Gaga even discusses the symptoms she suffers from. "When this happens I can’t talk," she writes. "When this happens repeatedly, it makes me have a common PTSD reaction which is that I feel depressed and unable to function like I used to. It’s harder to do my job. It’s harder to do simple things like take a shower. Everything has become harder. Additionally, when I am unable to regulate my anxiety, it can result in somatization, which is pain in the body caused by an inability to express my emotional pain in words."

The National Institute of Mental Health defines PTSD as "a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event."

We're really proud Mother Monster is using her platform to speak openly and honestly about this illness. Let's hope she helps others get the help they need if they see themselves in the words of her essay.

To read Lady Gaga's entire personal letter, visit here.

Visit the National Institute for Mental Health for more information on PTSD in all its forms and where to find help.