Dove Cameron Shares Emotional Post About 'Identity': 'I'm Struggling More Than Half of the Time'

Dove Cameron is opening up to her fans and followers.

On Wednesday, the Descendants actress shared that she's "struggling" with "the concept of self, my inner relationship to who i know myself to be and my outer perceivable self who i feel i have never known but other people seem to."

In an emotional Instagram post, Cameron, 26, posted a series of mirror selfies with tears in her eyes as well as a screenshot of a lengthy note. The accompanying caption addressed "identity vs the self" and "depression & dysphoria."

"I've been covering mirrors lately," she wrote in the note. "I've been feeling wrong in clothing that used to make me feel beautiful lately. i've been crying a lot lately, sometimes terrorized by my identity and image, sometimes in absolute flow with something new and peripheral and joyous to me."

She continued, "I don't know if i've ever slowed down enough to learn who i am outside of fight, flight or freeze. but the self finds ways of showing up anyway, trickling in enough to hint at who we might be if we didn't feel we had to be everything but the self."

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Additionally, she shared, "sexuality and performative gender norms, societal rewards and identity are really throwing me for a loop." The actress identifies as queer.

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Cameron also mentioned how "social media" and "constant broadcasting of self and visibility of ourselves and everyone everywhere" are among "modern problems" and not "optimal for mental health."

"What i am choosing to say is i am in process, im investigating, i'm struggling more than half of the time and i'm trying to maintain a quiet non judgmental curiosity rather than punish myself for not knowing what i'm feeling or where i'm going," she continued.

Explaining to her followers that she's sharing the message "without conclusion because i don't have answers from myself yet, and because i have a feeling it's a very intrinsically (modern) human conversation," the "Boyfriend" singer wants her fans to know she doesn't want them to "feel alone in a sea of what seems like humans who are comfortable in their identity."

"We all deserved a life unburdened by the societally created identity, we all deserve to unlearn self abuse and self hatred," she affirmed. "I am on that journey now, i'm sharing so that we may all feel more comfortable in a conversation that may be confusing, and we may navigate something that feels difficult to put to words, together."

"Human, first. The rest is all the rest," Cameron added. "Emotion is COOL. dysphoria is OK. living as a human is INTENSE. We are all holding hands. Don't forget."

In the caption, the Liv and Maddie star continued to share her thoughts on the topics she touched upon in her note.

"More days than not, i feel pulled towards no identity at all, i feel most natural as something imperceivable to myself, an energy and a presence," she said in part. "I don't know if i will ever be able to live as this, if i will ever find a rhythm in this job where perception is one of the major cornerstones."

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However, Cameron concluded she is "beginning to have a hope" that public platforms are becoming beneficial and can "be the conduit for change/mutual support/exploration/safety."

"There is room for us to talk about the things that terrify us/can't be commoditized on a large scale, that can't be commercialized and easily sound-bitten," Cameron ended the caption. "Maybe the spaces that are the least human can become the most human, if we want that, and we can all let each other take up a little more space. i love you."