Sinead O'Connor: "Mental illness doesn't care who you are."

Sinead O’Connor has emotionally pleaded for help from her family and opened up about her mental illness in a Facebook video posted from a New Jersey motel she had been living in.

The 50-year-old Irish singer says in the video posted on Thursday that she was staying alive for the sake of others, including her psychiatrist, and if it were up to her, she’d “be gone”.

“Mental illness is a bit like drugs, it doesn’t give a s**t who you are. And you know what’s worse, the stigma doesn’t give a s**t who you are,” she said in the video.

“I’m fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting – like all the millions and millions that I know I’m one of – to stay alive every day.”

O’Connor lamented what she described is a lack of support from loved ones, saying that “strangers on Facebook” are kinder to her than her own family.

She asked her adult children and their fathers to make an effort to bring her home to Ireland.

“It should not be acceptable to any man who knows me and claims to love and care about me that I’m still sitting here after two years and I’m begging … to be brought home,” she said through tears.

O'Connor said she was living in a New Jersey Travelodge and later posted the address of a Travelodge in South Hackensack.

South Hackensack Police Captain Robert Kaiser said on Tuesday that officers conducted a welfare check, but O'Connor wasn't in her room at the time.

He said she was no longer staying there and police don't know where she was currently living. An email sent to her agent wasn't immediately returned.

A follow-up Facebook post on O'Connor's page late on Monday, said to be made on the singer's behalf, said the singer was safe and not suicidal.

"She is surrounded by love and receiving the best of care," the post read.

O'Connor has been open about her mental health problems over the years and previously said she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The singer was found in a Chicago-area hotel room last year after a call from a concerned doctor prompted a search by authorities.

Two years after she topped charts across the globe in 1990 with her cover of Prince's ballad Nothing Compares 2 U, O'Connor was sharply criticised for ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a performance on Saturday Night Live.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

The argument that our focus on happiness is doing us no good.