Is stanning unhealthy?

[Missy 13]

I think it's okay and fun just dont do it too much

[Allison M 357]

Gaga is very important to me. She has helped me through a lot and GGD has too. I know I'm obsessive, but I don't think it's in an unhealthy way. I genuinely care about her on personal level and will always defend her talent. 

I go to work 40 hours a week, I go to the gym 4-5 days a week, I'm taking an online class and just got accepted into a Radiology program, etc. So to reward myself, I got 2 CTM tickets for the 2 Philly shows. I come on here often to see what's new and to talk to people with similar interests. Instead of playing video games or watching TV I'm come on GGD.

I think about what I'd say to her if I got the chance to meet her, what it'd be like to be part of her team, etc. But then I'll go out to dinner with my brother and talk about his job, my job, our schooling...

Overall: If you can balance "stanning" and living your own life for yourself, it's not unhealthy. 

So I'm a stan. I adore Gaga and think about her multiple times everyday. But I'm not unhealthy. I'm living my life too.

[Katie14 4,828]

Look up parasocial relationships. It basically means that people feel like they have some type of relationship with a celebrity or character in a show or movie, it feels like they are part of one's social circle. People mourn the loss of celebrities when they die as if they knew them in real life. What's disturbing is that the relationships are one-sided. 

[Eighteen 5,430]

idk and idc. do what makes you happy (people need to stop being judgmental) 

[Xoxo Adriana 15,040]

I think that as long as you're stanning more than one celeb/subject then its completely normal, especially for people obsessed with pop culture. However if someone refused to listen to any other artists and only gaga and went completely mental and had to have every bit of memorabilia they could find, then that could get pretty insane and obnoxious. I had a friend who was ocd about One direction and thats pretty much all she talked about and listened to. It gets annoying after a while.

[candyglam 62]

I'm a therapist and I would never say someone being a fan of someone or having a hobby was unhealthy, unless it got to the point where it was interfering in their everyday life. And I mean actually interfering, not just taking up some time. Everyone has things and people they like - some people go to the movies all the time, some people spend their whole weekends in the fall watching football (I'm this person), some people follow musical artists because they love their music and/or feel some sort of connection with them. These are just things that enrich our lives, give us personalities and interests.

Now, when there are signs that people are becoming obsessive, that's when there's an issue. That's usually when some delusion starts to appear as well. Believing that they know the person on more than a fan level, like they're personal friends. Talking about them all the time to whoever will listen. Becoming overly-emotional about their personal lives. Spending so much time reading everything about them that their responsibilities suffer. Modeling their appearance after them. And usually people get like this because they find their own lives boring or empty; they're seeking an escape or trying to make up for not having friends. Which is a reason that people who lack proper social skills can often become overly-obsessed super fans.

I know some people are going to look at that list and think that's them, but the difference is I'm sure (hopefully) most of you realize you don't actually know Gaga and you don't let your fan activities negatively affect your lives. The unhealthy obsessed person actually believes they know Gaga and are even perhaps important to her on a special personal level and they let their Gaga obsession get in the way of living their own life.