"Acting has always helped me understand that"- When David Harbour revealed his bold method of dealing with mental health struggles

David Harbour has been a phenomenal actor in almost all his past works over the last decade. He has also taken up some famous characters like Jim Hopper in the Netflix science fiction series Stranger Things and the Red Guardian in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He is soon set to reprise the latter in Thunderbolts.

To reach where he is now, David Harbour had to take a long and winding road after he struggled with suicidal thoughts and alcoholism at a young age. Acting was one of the things that helped him find his footing, and with it, he managed to craft several ways of managing his mental health struggles.

The veteran actor spoke about this in an interview with A Book Of Magazine, where he dissected how he managed his mental health struggles by putting himself in narratives and finding meaning, where there initially seemed to be none. He said:

"Yeah, I think there's such focus nowadays, in terms of mental health, on the medical model, which has occupied different places and civilizations throughout history and certainly ours... I've always been a fan of psychotherapy; I think it's solved a lot more of my problems than medications."

He added:

"Aside from the medical model, there are other things that have worked for people throughout history that I really like. One of them is the idea of crafting a narrative for yourself and living through different narratives, and thereby understanding that your life is a story. And acting has always helped me understand that."

He generously elaborated on this in the same interview.

---

"The narratives themselves allow us to have meaning through them"- David Harbour on how acting helps him navigate mental health struggles

Mental health struggles are an extremely personal zone where different things work for different people, with no proven formula or direction. For David Harbour, crafting a narrative and using his acting as an outlet for his emotions has been a method of healing.

Previously, before he broke out in the acting scene, David Harbour struggled significantly with alcoholism and was even left homeless during a period. After hitting rock bottom, he decided to redirect his life, and he eventually became a big part of the industry.

Speaking about using acting to navigate his problems, Harbour further told The Book Of Magazine:

"As actors, we're able to craft these narratives for ourselves, and the narratives themselves allow us to have meaning through them. A lot of my mental health problems stem from the fact that the issue I run up against is that life has no meaning; I have no meaning....So, having a narrative allows us to poetically shape our lives, meaning through narrative itself, and the expression of that, as an artist, has always been very healing for me."

David Harbour further added that being able to use his emotions in the craft has also acted as an outlet for him. He concluded:

"I need to scream and yell to a certain degree; even when I'm whispering, I just need to be heard. Acting allows me that voice. So that in and of itself is very therapeutic....When I'm not acting is usually when I have the most problems. When I am working, I generally have no problem."

Seeing David Harbour's acting, it is evident that he is both very invested and very skillful at it. Perhaps as the craft gives him back a major chunk, Harbour also tries to do his best in every performance.

Apart from Thunderbolts, the actor will also reprise his role in the upcoming season of Stranger Things. He is also set to return for Avengers: Doomsday.