Learn about Syleena Johnson’s candid interview with Essence on her struggles with mental health, loss, and finding courage during tough times.
Syleena Johnson, the decorated and soulful R&B singer, has been singing what’s been on the minds of women for decades now. With her trutful, tell-it-like-it-is lyrics and rich melodius tunes, he songs always feel heartfelt. Now, she’s sharing more of what’s been on her heart, mind, and mental state in a recent Essence.com interview.
As detailed in the interview, a few years ago–like many of us–Johnson was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She lost her work on the TV One talk show Sister Circle, her ability to live shows, and her confidence that things would be okay. The anxiety she was used to feeling reached an all-time high, so much so that it felt overwhelming. And when she finally got to get things off of her chest with a professional, they told her that her level of stress and fear was more serious than she realized.
“Not having a means to survive, so to speak, was extremely traumatic,” she tells ESSENCE. “I would be in therapy sessions, and I’d talk a lot about some of the things that I was feeling and going through, and we wouldn’t just be speaking about it stemming from the pandemic itself. We would speak about it from the origin, which was some of the traumas that I experienced as a child in regards to bullying and not just being bullied by kids at school, but also being bullied by men, being bullied by family members. Because mental abuse is a form of bullying. Losing money and being in the music business, as well as the way you’re treated in the music business, is nuts. It’s a lot of rejection. So always thinking that you’re not going to get something is a constant. It all adds to the idea of not being certain about your life.”
As a result of this whirlwind of emotions, she was given a diagnosis: Intolerable uncertainty disorder. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) has been defined as “a dispositional characteristic that results from a set of negative beliefs about uncertainty and its implications and involves the tendency to react negatively on an emotional, cognitive, and behavioral level to uncertain situations and events”
How Does This Disorder Affect Everyday People?
Uncertainty is a normal part of life – we can never be 100% sure about what will happen next. Many people feel good about uncertainty and live lives where they seek excitement. Other people find uncertainty aversive, stressful, or distressing, and don’t function as well in uncertain situations. They might hold negative beliefs about uncertainty and may try to avoid it, or use strategies to try to control or eliminate it. Psychologists label these reactions as ‘intolerance of uncertainty’ (IU).
New evidence suggests that IU may be involved in evoking and modulating other negative and positive emotional states as well. For instance, higher levels of IU are associated with greater expression of negative emotions such as anger in individuals reporting more generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, as well as those with obsessive compulsive checking. Furthermore, higher levels of IU are associated with dampening of positive emotions in individuals reporting more generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, reduced reward anticipation in individuals with depression, and greater appraisals of threat for uncertain situations with a potential positive outcome.
These findings suggest that even when faced with uncertainty in positive contexts, individuals with high IU may actively dampen positive emotional experiences or have difficulty maintaining positive emotional experiences (e.g., blunted feelings of excitement and joy). Interestingly, populations with generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder have also reported difficulties in experiencing positive affect or savoring positive affect, thus it is possible that high IU may be a pathway to dampened positive emotions in these populations.
After She Was Diagnosed, How Did She Change Her Life?
Once Johnson received a name for her behavior, though, she was able to begin working to counter those negative, debilitating thoughts.
It allows me to catch myself,” she says. “It requires positive affirmations and redirecting my way of thinking. You have to constantly affirm yourself and make it a habit. And you have to do a lot of positive self-talk. You have to surround yourself with people who understand your diagnosis, take it seriously, and can kind of communicate and behave around you in such a way.”
These practices have made a great difference in bringing peace to Johnson. She’s focused not only on positive thinking but on realistic thinking. She has learned, in the midst of uncertainty, to handle things as they come, one at a time. She calls it doing things with “meticulous precision,” and that includes parenting.
Now that I’ve been in therapy, it’s all about meticulous precision, meaning narrow that sh-t down the way that it comes. Don’t take it as this immense amount of pressure at once. You can’t take on the entire thing. It’s not possible,” she says. “So with meticulous precision: step by step by step.It’s day by day, situation by situation, step by step. There is no blueprint. You just have to slow everything down. When everything is coming fast, you have to slow down and then deal with it as it comes. The truth of the matter is that we cannot control everything in the world. You just can’t. And you can’t get to everything when everybody else wants you to get to it. It’s just that simple.”
Johnson is now back doing what she loves, singing, with a new banger, “Different Strokes,” from her upcoming album, Legacy.
On the hip-hop soul track, produced by Dar’rell Banks and Frederick “Toxic” Taylor, Johnson tells a disheartening story of unrequited love.
“I have not accepted who you really are / The truth is I have been subjected to playing a part / It’s got me going in circles / Pushing on the start / And you been lying from the start / You mishandled my heart,” she sings.
“Different Strokes” samples Johnson’s late father Syl Johnson‘s 1967 single of the same name. It is the third single, following “Black Balloon” and “Monsters in the Closet,” from Legacy, which releases Aug. 30 via SJ Entertainment.
“Recording ‘Different Strokes’ was intentionally done to honor the legacy of my father, Syl Johnson,” Syleena Johnson tells Rated R&B.
“This track is a classic and staple in music, one of hip-hop’s most sampled tracks today, so if I’m dedicating this album as an ode to my dad’s impact to music, it was a no-brainer to cover and recreate an iconic track that has been an influential to hip-hop culture and covered by today’s rap pioneers. My fans and even listeners of rap music will be excited to hear a new spin to such a classic track with my signature sound.”
The original version of “Different Strokes” appeared on Syl Johnson’s 1968 album, Dresses Too Short. The song peaked at No. 17 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart (now Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) and reached No. 95 on the Hot 100.
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