Following recent reports that anti-depressants are no better than a placebo in treating the majority of depressed patients, THIS MORNING explores the topic to depression on tomorrow’s show.
Dr Chris Steele will speak for the first time about the three bouts of severe depression he suffered between 1981-1991. He recalls chairing a depression phone-in on the programme whilst in the grips of a bad bout of the illness. Unable to cope with the item, he locked himself in the studio toilets and broke down. “I was crying and shaking and suffering from anxiety.”
Unable to imaging presenting the phone-in he called his wife Monica who said, “The item is just going to be 10 minutes long. All you have to do is get through the next 10 minutes.” Dr Chris describes those 10 minutes as ‘hell’ but his wife’s words helped him through and at the time, no-one was any the wiser to the crippling depression he was suffering.
Speaking about his experiences Dr Chris now says:
“We all have problems and our viewers should know that I can relate to exactly what many of them are going through as I’ve experienced it myself. Sometimes people look at those on TV and think that life must be perfect but it’s not. Looking back on those ten years and the three periods where I suffered such severe depression I realise how much my wife and four children really helped me come through the other side.”
Post a Comment