Joe Mansfield*, 41, works full time as a manager for a small grocery store in an upscale suburb of Boston. By all appearances, Joe is a hard-working, unassuming man whose job requires long and irregular hours and constant interaction with a wide array of customers and vendors. But what the public doesn’t see is that Joe suffers from major depression and is recovering alcoholic.
He’s reached a point in his life where he’s less affected by the stigma associated with having a mental illness. In fact, his ability to simply "function" is how I’ve come to know him. Over the course of a year, I became friendly with him through daily trips to his store. During one exchange, I shared with him that I promote mental health education and screening programs for a national non-profit, Screening for Mental Health, and he shared with me his struggle with depression. Within a few weeks, Joe graciously agreed to share his story with me in hopes of helping others. Most importantly, he wants employers to learn the signs of depression and use their human resources department to help employees learn about the options open to them for help.
He confides that he’s under the care of a doctor and with regular Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) treatments — an FDA approved brain stimulating device for depression — along with new medications, and that he can now work and function socially.
But that wasn’t always the case. Admittedly, he says it’s been a long and slow process, and it wasn’t a simple fix. Joe tried many different treatments in an effort to find the right combination of medication and therapy to help him manage his symptoms.
Interestingly, while his symptoms first appeared in his early teens, Joe didn’t get any professional help for more than 20 years. He says he abused alcohol, and knows now that his depression is part of that disease. It was in his mid-30s when Joe, who is now married and a father, began suffering from sleep apnea. At the time, he was working full-time in a different position and his job was stressful. Left untreated, his sleep issues made his depression worse and within months, he became suicidal and was unable to work and function socially. He was 36 years old when he finally received professional help for his depression.
Joe is lucky. Statistically speaking, the great majority of people who are dying of suicide are men of working age with almost 75 percent of suicides completed by white males. Also, more than 90 percent of persons who complete suicide have a mental disorder at the time of their death. The two most common disorders are depression and alcohol abuse, and some, like Joe, suffer from both (U.S. Preventive Services Task Force).
Through his experience, Joe has learned about many treatment options, and he wants others to know that there is help available and to not give up.
"I think the most important thing to recognize is that depression will tell you or make you feel like you don’t want to do anything to help yourself," says Joe. "You have to push yourself hard to seek out help and treatment."
*Names have been changed.