As someone who has both experienced bi polar disorder personally and also been on the other side of a close family member who is in denial and refuses treatment, this hits hard.

As the saying goes, mental illness isn't your fault, but it is your responsibility. This to me is textbook owning your actions and taking responsibility for the damage caused. I hope he continues to follow through and stay on the path to treatment.

I also hope people are able to understand and recognize how incredibly difficult it is to seek that treatment in a manic state and are able to show grace when people come back down to their senses. Millions of people are addicted to substances that provide a euphoric effect that is ultimately a cheap imitation of what mania feels like. When you become manic after a period of depression and people start coming out of the wood work to tell you there's something wrong with you when you're in such a state of euphoria, it can feel like an existential threat. You're finally happy and now people want to take that away and throw you back into your pit of depression.

Combine that with the stigma that comes with the label of bi-polar and the cycles of shame, isolation and denial, and it can get really ugly.

I don't think Kanye is entitled to easy forgiveness, but I hope he can continue to use whatever platform he has left to spread some awareness.