Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro is holding an ‘Above Ground’ concert to raise awareness for mental health issues with MusiCares in Los Angeles on April 16th. Navarro discussed how his mother being murdered when he was 15 led to suicidal thoughts and drug addictions that he suffered from for many years in a new Yahoo interview. He also discussed how late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland connected him to his current therapist.
“I felt isolated and alone, and the drugs made me feel included, and made me feel OK,” he recalls. “I can tell you that when my mom died, I didn’t have a support system. I didn’t have a therapist. I didn’t have a psychiatrist. I didn’t have friends who could understand. And I always felt kind of like the odd man out, because I had this horrific trauma, this bag of bricks that I was carrying around with me, that my friends didn’t.
“In 1983, those types of things weren’t talked about as often, freely. And so, for whatever reason, I never did talk about it. And I wish I had,” Navarro continues. “And I guess the message we’re saying here is, it’s not too late to get in and see someone. Sometimes, when it comes to trauma, telling your story in a linear fashion really helps alleviate some of the suffering.”
For years, Navarro has been into meditation and yoga, and he regularly visits a therapist whom he met through his friend Scott Weiland. “I go to therapy whether I’m feeling good, or whether I’m feeling bad. That keeps me on an even keel,” Navarro asserts. “I don’t feel any shame in saying that. I feel that it’s an incredible strength to be able to ask for help. Had it not been for the support team I had around me, I very well may have been one of the statistics.”
That is why Navarro and Morrison feel it’s so important to give back, whether it’s with events like Above Ground or just openly discussing mental health in their interviews. “I can’t tell you how many people have reached out to me, telling me that they felt the same way, and they felt not alone, and they were really moved, and inspired to get help on their own, because of the stories that are shared. And so, for me, that’s the reward,” says Navarro.
