Lady Gaga revealed Monday that she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder caused by a sexual assault that occurred when she was 19-years-old and "prolonged repetitive traumas" over the course of her career. The next day, she wrote an open letter on her foundation's website, describing her experience with the mental illness:

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. Examples are leaving the house or being touched by strangers who simply want to share their enthusiasm for my music.

Her letter is also fact-based, touching on the clinical side of PTSD that prevented her from doing her job, expressing her pain, and sometimes, showering.

As my doctors have taught me, I cannot express my feelings because my pre-frontal cortex (the part of the brain that controls logical, orderly thought) is overridden by the amygdala (which stores emotional memory) and sends me into a fight or flight response. My body is in one place and my mind in another. It's like the panic accelerator in my mind gets stuck and I am paralysed with fear.

Lady Gaga has one of the most loyal fanbases in pop music, and she is attending therapy and taking medication. But as a pop star—and forever the woman who wore the meat dress—Lady Gaga is targeted by skepticism, criticism, and even hatred on a regular basis. Pair that with a culture that ignores or delegitimises mental illness (as well as sexual assault), and it's no wonder she kept her diagnosis secret for five years.

"Kind words…positive words…words that help people who feel ashamed of an invisible illness to overcome their shame and feel free," she concluded. "This is how I and we can begin to heal."

From: Esquire US