Demi Lovato Opens Up About Feeling "Defeated" Every Time They Went Back Into Inpatient Mental Health Treatment

Demi Lovato has opened up about seeking out inpatient mental health treatment several times throughout her journey to recovery.

"I have been to inpatient treatment five times, and it has [been] something that every single time I walked back into a treatment center, I felt defeated," Lovato—who uses they/them and she/her pronouns—explained during a charity benefit for New York-Presbyterian's Center for Youth Mental Health on Monday (via People).

"And I know that experience firsthand, but I think the glimmer of hope was when I started putting in the work and I started to—whether it was work, a program, or talk to my treatment team and build relationships there."

They continued, "I think the glimmer of hope started to change when I started to find joy [in] the little things in life. And that was something that was so foreign to me before because I was so used to, so used to not seeing hope."

For Lovato, their fifth stay in a mental health facility marked a changing point in their mindset.

"It felt like I had hit rock bottom and I just knew what I needed to do, which was to live a life in recovery," they said. "And that was something that I pushed off for so long."

These days, the "Confident" singer says she's "grateful for the things that I've been through and what I've overcome."

Lovato has been incredibly open about her struggles with mental health and addiction in the past. In 2021, she even released a documentary titled Dancing with the Devil, which told the story of a near-fatal overdose she experienced in 2018.

"A lot of stories were going around at that time that didn’t really know exactly what had happened," Lovato explained to Ellen DeGeneres about her desire to set the record straight. "I just wanted to tell the world, 'Hey, this is what happened, this is how I got through it, and hopefully this can help you too,' because this journey has been such a wild ride, but I’ve learned so much, and I can’t wait to share it with the world."

Demi Lovato on Revealing Her Darkest Struggles in Hopes of Helping Others - YouTube

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Lovato first revealed they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2011, and opened up in 2023 about how "relieved" they felt after receiving the diagnosis.

"I had spent so many years struggling, and I didn't know why I was a certain way in dealing with depression at such extreme lows, when I seemingly had the world in front of me just ripe with opportunities," they told People.

The diagnosis helped the Camp Rock star understand herself better, and start on her path towards healing.