“I hid my treatment,” Kennedy, a Democrat who represented Rhode Island from 1995 to 2011, told USA TODAY.
Over that time, he was the lead sponsor of the 2008 Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, which required insurers to equally cover mental illnesses and physical illnesses.
“I was the author of the biggest mental health bill, and I didn’t want to go to a psychiatric hospital. I had psychiatrists visit me in the regular wing of the hospital. I tried to hide it as much as I could,” said Kennedy, the youngest child of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.
“Sen. Fetterman will do more for people by being honest about this than anything else he’ll do this year in Congress,” he said.
Smith, a Democratic senator from Minnesota, shared her history of depression on the Senate floor on May 15, 2019.
“When it started, I thought I was just having a bad day. Or, really, a series of bad days,” she said at the time .
By her second year of college, she was finding it harder to cope. Therapy helped.
Depression returned again in her 30s, and that time therapy and medication helped.
“I remember feeling like I was slowly coming out of a fog,” Smith said on the Senate floor. “The color started seeping back into my life, a little more each day.”
She began to reconnect with the world, family, work and hobbies, and she started to feel hopeful again. Smith eventually tapered down off the medication and hasn’t needed it since then.
“There is no happily ever after when it comes to mental illness, but happier is possible,” she said.
Smith has been telling her story again since Fetterman was hospitalized, adding that, “seeking help when you need it is a sign of strength, not weakness, something that John is demonstrating for all of us.”
‘I break the cycle and honor my dad’
Feb. 22 marked 12 years sober for Kennedy. It’s also a special way he marks his late father’s birthday.
“I still miss my dad, and I could have used the grief as a license to drink,” he said. “But I use it as a permanent sobriety date. I break the cycle and honor my dad.”
He went to 12-step meetings while he was in Congress, “but I always felt like I had to edit what I said. In Washington, nothing is really anonymous. Everybody talks.”
Kennedy finished his eighth term in Congress and did not run for reelection in 2010, a year after his father died. Once he retired from the House, he entered treatment and attended meetings three times a day and saw a psychiatrist who was addiction certified.
Now, he’s helping others by leading 12-step meetings every day and letting people know, “Whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone. You don’t have to hide your feelings.”
Getting better: What to know about alcohol use disorder and how to get treatment
‘You can get better’
It’s nearing the four-year anniversary of her late partner’s suicide , and Rep. Susan Wild continues to channel her pain into legislative action.
Since Kerry Acker’s death in May 2019, she has introduced six mental health bills in the House, including one that was signed into law last March: the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act.
The act is named for a late New York-Presbyterian emergency room physician who died of suicide at the height of the pandemic in April 2020. Wild’s legislation funds grants to health care institutions so they can study and implement employee programs designed to reduce and prevent suicide, burnout, mental and behavioral health conditions, and substance use disorders.
“We’ve made a lot of progress,” Wild said to USA TODAY. “There’s still a lot to do.”
This work helped Wild win a tough reelection campaign in a purple county of battleground Pennsylvania, where independents helped to decide the race. Brendan McCabe, a 42-year-old independent voter in Easton, told USA TODAY in November he voted for her because of her mental health advocacy.
Wild said she looks forward to collaborating with Fetterman when he returns to Congress. “We can work together on these issues.”
Call to action: After partner’s death, Rep. Susan Wild finds new mission in suicide prevention
Mental health resources:
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call or text the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time day or night, or chat online at 988lifeline.org.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text LOVEIS to 22522.
Trans Lifeline: 1-877-565-8860 (para español presiona el 2).
Veteran’s Crisis Line: 988, then select 1, or text: 838255.
Support Line for Physicians: 1-888-409-0141 – physiciansupportline.com.
Help for Native American people: StrongHearts Native Helpline: 1-844-7NATIVE (762-8483) or chat online.
Resources for Black people: 988lifeline.org/help-yourself/black-mental-health.
Ayuda en español: 988lifeline.org/help-yourself/en-espanol.
Find treatment: findtreatment.gov
Candy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.
