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Those of us that are old enough remember Thomas Eagleton, a Senator from Missouri who was the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee George S. McGovern in 1972. Well, let me amend that. He was the “initial” vice presidential running mate.
Things were going along just fine until it was reported that Mr. Eagleton had been hospitalized for nervous exhaustion three times during the 1960s and had twice received electric shock therapy. On July 25th Mr. Eagleton had the courage to confirm these reports, and less than one week later was asked to withdraw his nomination by Mr. McGovern, which he did, in his own words, “to unify the Democratic Party.”
While researching ECT (Electro-Convulsive Therapy) websites for a consumer recently, I ran across Mr. Eagleton’s name. I was very curious about what had happened to him over the years. The website mentioned that he remained Senator until 1987, but gave no further information.
Still wishing to know how he was doing after having his treatments so many years ago (I had my own in 1998-2000), I wrote to him, and was surprised to receive a letter back from him within a week or two.
The letter was very open and candid. In it he wrote that he is now 73-years-old, and fortunately has not suffered a depression in 40 years. He also wrote that he still takes anti-depressant medication and even told me the name of it (pretty honest for someone who has been a politician for decades).
To me, this is definitely a mental health success story.