Moroccan Rapper Khtek Breaks Silence on Bipolar Disorder, Uses Music as Therapy

Since childhood, Khtek has been struggling with depression. In 2016, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. A subject she often addresses in her lyrics. "I focus on things that really matter to me, namely mental health, women’s rights, the situation I live in, the fact that we don’t really have freedom of expression, and even my contradictions, the things I see in myself and in my society," she explains in an interview with the BBC. Like all people suffering from bipolarity, she wants to heal, especially to raise awareness about the disease. "It’s my reality and it’s what makes me who I am, because bipolar disorders can be linked to creativity, the performer of ’bizarre’ is convinced. Most of the world’s most extraordinary artists, even Kanye West, struggle with bipolar disorders."

Music serves as therapy for her against bipolar disorders. "It allows me to understand why some people do certain things. It makes me see the world differently. I don’t consider happiness as a given. [...] I often talk about my sadness, my suicidal thoughts, my mania, all the times I think I’m going crazy, which inspires my work and makes me an artist with a story to tell, so I’m really grateful to have bipolar disorders, as strange as that may seem." Opening up about the disease is beneficial for Khtek. She receives positive reactions from many people living in Moroccan society, where some hide their mental illness and do not take their medication in public, while others believe that mental illness is a kind of moral failure because the subject is not close enough to God.

"Yes, prayer and spirituality can help. It can help you feel better. But when you have something that comes from hormones, it comes from things that are really biological in your brain. It’s like diabetes. When you’re diabetic, you take medication," explains the rap star, delighted to have been supported by her family. "If I had been raised in another family, they might think I’m possessed or something, they’ll take me to get exorcised and those things can be very dangerous."