August 13, 2014
In honor of Robin Williams, whose depression and anxiety drove him to his end this week, we hereby declare our full throated encouragement to go get yourself some help. Therapy – hard, bitter, sometimes triumphant talk therapy, coupled with the appropriate, conservative doses of prescribed drugs – should be the right of every human.
(If you are one of the people who thinks that depressed people should just “get over it,” then you are the first one I’d like to stick on the couch with two pillows and a big box of tissue. That judgment you’re carrying around can be dislodged by a good shrink and a lot of tears.)
Mental illness is real, expensive and treatable but we have to see it as it is – a physical condition; Not a show of weakness.
This week’s show deals with a difficult issue that plagues over 25% of people in this country. It is so important for us to talk about it and to remove the stigma that has been placed on mental illness. It’s not a moral failure or something that people can just “get over.” Mental illness is a long term illness like any other. We need to start treating like that.
Also, firefighters have a tragic rate of suicide linked with PTSD and other mental disorders. This is a hidden and tragic national scandal that no one is talking about, and the worst part is that it’s completely treatable.
Tim, a former firefighter and suicide survivor, called in to talk about the enduring suicide rates of Firefighters. Tim is currently in the process of writing a book on the startling rates of firefighter suicide and is trying to raise money for its publication through an IndieGogo campaign, called “Saving Firefighters”. Check it out here and consider supporting his campaign to save the live of American heroes.
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