Michael Weitzman speaker suffered from a mental health problem for many years...until he discovered something that would change his life.
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00:00It's in my head.
00:02It's okay. You're okay.
00:04Doctor, how do you know my child has depression?
00:07Isn't he just a moody teenager?
00:09It's not a good day.
00:12I'm trying hard.
00:14I'm really lonely.
00:16In fact, 60% with depression and 80% with anxiety
00:20do not get any treatment.
00:22Did you feel shame or stigma or embarrassment?
00:26That's why my favorite movie is Patch Adams
00:28and my other favorite movie is Mrs. Doubtfire
00:30and the reason I'm in the mental health field
00:32for one reason only is because of Robin Williams.
00:35People want you to be a certain way
00:38and sometimes you can't help but be depressed
00:40just the nature of being.
00:42Because I am so much crazier than you.
00:45Keep your voice down.
00:50Be a resource.
00:51I'm not going to be the overall for everybody
00:54but at least have me tell my story.
00:57Tell my sad story.
00:58Tell how I suffered and I used to sleep in my car
01:02and how I'd just take medicine just to go to sleep.
01:04But what did I do to get well?
01:07I suffered over 40 years with a mental illness.
01:1025 of those years basically was just suffering in silence.
01:14Then I finally decided to do something about it in 1999
01:18when I was 40 years old with a marriage and two kids
01:21and that really was the start of it.
01:23Taking medicine, doing the psychiatry,
01:25doing the talker, whoever my therapist was.
01:28Unfortunately, I did the old I got well
01:31and then got sick again.
01:33I was never able to work.
01:36After I struggled and I was in my last hospitalization
01:39while I was in there I said I just want to stay well this time.
01:43So I worked on things in my own hospitalization
01:47in White Plains to basically use
01:50at least humor and wellness tools
01:53to get myself to stay mentally well.
01:56That's why my favorite movie is Patch Adams
01:58and my other favorite movie is Mrs. Doubtfire
02:00and the reason I'm in the mental health field
02:02for one reason only is because of Robin Williams.
02:05I believe that I as someone who has suffered
02:09for so many years with a mental illness
02:11can use my passion to help others that are suffering,
02:15suffering in silence and not suffering at all.
02:18Yes, people are still struggling in middle schools and elementary
02:22but the bulk of it is really the youth.
02:25The youth basically, the high schools and colleges
02:28are suffering so much and suffering in silence.
02:31At 14, Alex was diagnosed with major depression and anxiety.
02:36Child and adolescent mental health disorders
02:38are the most common illnesses
02:40that children will experience under the age of 18.
02:42Suicide rate in colleges is astronomical.
02:45I mean, a college student kills himself every day.
02:48...and says the brain doesn't fully mature until age 26,
02:52so college students are put in a difficult situation.
02:55Did you feel shame or stigma or embarrassment?
02:58Yeah, definitely.
03:00That's a big reason why I didn't tell anyone sooner.
03:04I'm not asking, I'm just asking the schools
03:06and other places to let me be a resource.
03:08I'm not going to be the overall for everybody.
03:11Right.
03:12But at least have me tell my story.
03:14My quest and my mission and my message is,
03:17number one, I want to get rid of this terrible stigma,
03:20discrimination, oppression, whatever you want to call it,
03:23of mental illness.
03:24What do you want your parents to know about you?
03:27I am so much stronger after coming out of this
03:31and if I didn't have the parents I have,
03:33I really don't think I could be sitting here today
03:37talking to you.
03:39I would do anything for them
03:41because I know that they'd do the same for me.
03:43There's myth.
03:44They say that it's contagious.
03:47You got my phone, son.
03:50You can't get it from touching anyone.
03:53It doesn't work that way.
03:54Also they say it's about weakness.
03:56It's not weakness.
03:57Strength when you go and try to get help.
03:59That's strength.
04:00It's weakness if you're not going to do anything
04:02about your recovery.
04:04They say you can never get better.
04:05You can get better.
04:07You will get better.
04:08And you will stay better.
04:10I've done it.
04:11Other people have as well.
04:12And then they say,
04:13I love when people say it's all in your head.
04:15Duh.
04:17Duh.
04:18Duh.
04:19But what is it that got me better, ladies and gentlemen?
04:22It's all the holistic wellness tools.
04:25What are they?
04:26Deep breathing exercises.
04:28Meditation.
04:29Not just meditation.
04:31Creed.
04:32Prayer.
04:33God.
04:34And then reading books like Wayne Dyer.
04:36He says things like,
04:37I'm not better than you.
04:39I'm just better than I used to be.
04:41You're going to have situations.
04:43You're going to have circumstances.
04:45And you're going to have disappointment.
04:47The question is,
04:48don't let these things turn into a trigger
04:50and you get sick over it.
04:52And whether you have a mental health condition or not,
04:54it doesn't matter.
04:56People,
04:57whether you're sick,
04:58in a wheelchair,
04:59disabled,
05:00without a limb,
05:01disabled,
05:02have mental illness,
05:03chronic illness,
05:04it doesn't matter who you are.
05:05We all are pretty equal.
05:06I want you to keep learning.
05:07I want you to keep moving.
05:08I want you to keep dancing.
05:10And I want you all to keep getting alive.