When the Veteran-Musician Said, “I Need Help.”

Singer-songwriter Zach Bryan recently shared that he has been sober for almost two months. He talked about therapy, anxiety, panic attacks and the way alcohol became something he used to fill a hole he could never describe.

In his own words:
“I was sitting in a parking lot in Seattle, Washington thinking, ‘I really need some f$!%# help.”

He continued, "Being in the military for a decade and then thrown into a spotlight that I hadn't fully comprehended the scope of, had some subconscious effects on me as a person. I was not content, but I also feared showing weakness because that's not who I am or how I was raised."

Bryan says that he used alcohol to cope with his "perpetual discontent," and that he was "always reaching for alcohol, not for the taste, but because there was a consistent black hole in me that always needed its void filled."

That moment matters.
Not because he is famous.
But because he spent a decade in the military learning how to push through everything.

Panic. Fear. Pressure. Silence. He tried to tough it out the way so many veterans do, and he used alcohol to quiet what he called “a consistent black hole” inside him.

When someone who has lived that life says, “I need help,” it disrupts the story we tell about strength. It breaks the idea that strong people don’t struggle. It breaks the idea that success replaces pain. It breaks the idea that needing help means something is wrong with you.

For many people, his story shines a light on the veteran-to-civilian transition that many people never see. Identity shifts. Loss of structure. A constant pull to pretend everything is fine. Bryan naming his pain gives others permission to name theirs. It shows what visibility can do. It shows why public honesty can open doors that stigma keeps closed.

Stigma often hides behind one sentence: “I should be able to handle this.”

He challenged that belief head-on.

And when public figures say therapy helped, stigma loses power.

Just like Dr. Bhushan did here. Miley Cyrus and Simone Biles…read about their stories here and here.

All of them are masterclass stigma-crushers. 💪

You can be, too. ✅

It becomes harder for people to argue that asking for help is weakness. Bryan’s story normalizes what so many feel but never say out loud.

For those of us doing this work, his words offer an invitation to do something today.

Seize this day, do something right now to be a stigma crusher.

What You Can Do Today

• Ask friends or family how they are doing and really mean it.

• Use his reminder that it is okay to be “weak” at times and need help, because asking for help can be the greatest strength towards growth.

• Share his story in groups, workshops or classrooms.

• Offer resources tailored to veterans, those who are addicted, and people navigating identity shifts.

• Create space for people to tell their own stories when they are ready.

• Stories like this remind us that silence is heavy, but honesty is freeing.

This is edition #38 over the past 6 months of writing weekly. I’m honored you’re here and you keep reading. 🤝📝

Some of you are new here, so you may be asking,

What is MindWatch? MindWatch is a weekly newsletter where I teach people how to crush the stigma of mental health by sharing personal stories and reacting to culture, politics, sports, and news events.

Until next time, come back…be here.

Keith

P.S. - I’m off next week due to Thanksgiving & The Big Game - Go Buckeyes!🏈