In July 1972, U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton was named as Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern’s running mate. Rumors swirled almost immediately about Eagleton’s medical history. Three weeks later, Eagleton resigned from the ticket admitting he had been treated for clinical depression, that included electroshock treatments. In the 50 years since, depression or any hint of mental illness was enough to sink a political candidate or someone in a position of authority.

That is until Pennsylvania’s newly elected Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman sought treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Fetterman has been lauded by some for coming out publicly about his depression and criticized by others for not being forthcoming and transparent with voters.

Major depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the U.S. An estimated 21 million adults, approximately 8.4% of U.S. adults, experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2020, according to data from the National Institute of Mental Health.

On The Spark Tuesday, psychologist Dr. Ashley Milspaw, defined what clinical depression is,"In order to have a depressive disorder, clinical depression, you need to have at least five of these symptoms over a two week period. So at least ten days, So. From time to time. We all have a bad day, one or two bad days. To be clinically depressed it needs to affect your work, your relationships, your life in a significant way in order to become a full blown disorder. And real quickly, these symptoms are anhedonia, which is lack of pleasure in things you to take pleasure in. So you feel kind of depressed. Most of the day feeling sad, empty or hopeless, a second symptom is diminished interest. Anhedonia, which I just mentioned, you can either eat more or eat less. You can sleep more or sleep less. And that can also vary from individual to individual. You may have insomnia and or sleep 2 hours on a Tuesday and then your sleep in 14 hours the next day on a Wednesday that can also go back and forth. There's some physical symptoms, so you might have brain fog fatigue, feel restless, but not able to focus on anything. A diminished ability to think, concentrate, focus, make decisions, and then also thoughts of death. Or dying. So some suicidal idealtion, be that active or passive. And so all of these symptoms together."

Psychologist Dr. Jonathan Gransee, talked about whether genetics play a role in depression,"There is a fairly common scientific thought that there is a genetic component to depression. I look at it in a maybe more complex way where genetics maybe sets the stage for things that then can create depression or I'm not sure I would agree that it's directly because they have a particular brain cell, you know, that is coded for depression. I think that certain people are born with personalities and then they go through certain things in their early life that kind of direct or emphasize a particular part of their personality that then ends up causing all sorts of problems when they interface with the world, which then can result in symptoms such as depression or anxiety or whatnot."

Gransee added,"And they also have a parent who's depressed, they're going to teach you how to be depressed. If you have a parent who has PTSD, they're going to teach you how to have PTSD."

Dr. Milspaw was asked how depression is treated,"It is most often treated with therapy and medication. The most recent research that I'm aware of is you want to do therapy and medication. What I personally like to recommend for individuals is to try 8 to 10 sessions of therapy first, because we know we can do psychoeducation on exercise your diet because we've got serotonin receptors all throughout our body and a lot in our gut. And as we all know, if we feel sick physically, we get depressed, we get sad. So if and then if things are not significantly improved after eight or ten times of meeting, then I recommend okay, let's see what other what other supports we have to bring in, because there's a lot of empirical treatments for depression that work. And so a lot of people, if you do as an example, 8 to 10 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy, where you're focusing on cognitive, your thought behavior, you know, what's your sleep hygiene, what's your exercise? What's your diet?"

In July 1972, U.S. Senator Thomas Eagleton was named as Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern’s running mate. Rumors swirled almost immediately about Eagleton’s medical history. Three weeks later, Eagleton resigned from the ticket admitting he had been treated for clinical depression, that included electroshock treatments. In the 50 years since, depression or any hint of mental illness was enough to sink a political candidate or someone in a position of authority.
That is until Pennsylvania’s newly elected Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman sought treatment for clinical depression at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Fetterman has been lauded by some for coming out publicly about his depression and criticized by others for not being forthcoming and transparent with voters.
Major depression is one of the most common mental health disorders in the U.S. An estimated 21 million adults, approximately 8.4% of U.S. adults, experienced at least one major depressive episode in 2020, according to data from the National Institute of Mental Health.
On The Spark Tuesday, psychologist Dr. Ashley Milspaw, defined what clinical depression is,"In order to have a depressive disorder, clinical depression, you need to have at least five of these symptoms over a two week period. So at least ten days, So. From time to time. We all have a bad day, one or two bad days. To be clinically depressed it needs to affect your work, your relationships, your life in a significant way in order to become a full blown disorder. And real quickly, these symptoms are anhedonia, which is lack of pleasure in things you to take pleasure in. So you feel kind of depressed. Most of the day feeling sad, empty or hopeless, a second symptom is diminished interest. Anhedonia, which I just mentioned, you can either eat more or eat less. You can sleep more or sleep less. And that can also vary from individual to individual. You may have insomnia and or sleep 2 hours on a Tuesday and then your sleep in 14 hours the next day on a Wednesday that can also go back and forth. There's some physical symptoms, so you might have brain fog fatigue, feel restless, but not able to focus on anything. A diminished ability to think, concentrate, focus, make decisions, and then also thoughts of death. Or dying. So some suicidal idealtion, be that active or passive. And so all of these symptoms together."
Psychologist Dr. Jonathan Gransee, talked about whether genetics play a role in depression,"There is a fairly common scientific thought that there is a genetic component to depression. I look at it in a maybe more complex way where genetics maybe sets the stage for things that then can create depression or I'm not sure I would agree that it's directly because they have a particular brain cell, you know, that is coded for depression. I think that certain people are born with personalities and then they go through certain things in their early life that kind of direct or emphasize a particular part of their personality that then ends up causing all sorts of problems when they interface with the world, which then can result in symptoms such as depression or anxiety or whatnot."
Gransee added,"And they also have a parent who's depressed, they're going to teach you how to be depressed. If you have a parent who has PTSD, they're going to teach you how to have PTSD."
Dr. Milspaw was asked how depression is treated,"It is most often treated with therapy and medication. The most recent research that I'm aware of is you want to do therapy and medication. What I personally like to recommend for individuals is to try 8 to 10 sessions of therapy first, because we know we can do psychoeducation on exercise your diet because we've got serotonin receptors all throughout our body and a lot in our gut. And as we all know, if we feel sick physically, we get depressed, we get sad. So if and then if things are not significantly improved after eight or ten times of meeting, then I recommend okay, let's see what other what other supports we have to bring in, because there's a lot of empirical treatments for depression that work. And so a lot of people, if you do as an example, 8 to 10 sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy, where you're focusing on cognitive, your thought behavior, you know, what's your sleep hygiene, what's your exercise? What's your diet?"

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at https://witf.org/programs/the-spark.

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from <a href="https://www.witf.org">WITF</a>, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

The Spark

When people come together and talk about really interesting topics, great questions spark better understanding and opportunities for new ideas to form. On The Spark from WITF, hosts Scott LaMar and Aniya Faulcon start the conversations about what’s happening in the world and at home. Share your ideas at <a href="https://witf.org/programs/the-spark">https://witf.org/programs/the-spark</a>.

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