Episode notes
Jason Kander had heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. He just didn’t think he had it. After all, he hadn’t been in any firefights while stationed in wartime Afghanistan, he had merely worked as an intelligence officer. And even though that job put him in positions of tremendous vulnerability where he may have to kill or be killed in an instant, it never occurred to him that he was experiencing trauma.
So when Jason got back stateside and remained hypervigilant, was destroyed by night terrors, patrolled his house with a gun, and was generally a mess, he figured it was something that would soon go away. As he waited for that to happen, he climbed the ranks of Democratic politics, eventually being told by Barack Obama that he should consider running for the highest office in the land.
But you can’t run from mental illness forever. It catches you. It caught Jason in the middle of a race for Mayor of Kansas City. That’s when he hit bottom and got help. It’s a story told in his new book, Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD.
Get your copy of Jason’s book, Invisible Storm: A Soldier’s Memoir of Politics and PTSD, wherever books are sold. Listen to Majority 54, Jason’s podcast with Ravi Gupta, wherever fine pods are cast. Visit Jason Kander’s website at JasonKander.com. Follow Jason on Twitter @JasonKander and on Instagram @jasonkander.
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Help is available right away.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-8255, 1-800-273-TALK
Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741.
International suicide hotline numbers available here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines
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John’s acclaimed memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250209566/thehilariousworldofdepression
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John is on Twitter @johnmoe.
In this episode...
Guests
- Jason Kander
- Laura House
About the show
Join host John Moe (The Hilarious World of Depression) for honest, relatable, and, yes, sometimes funny conversations about mental health. Hear from comedians, musicians, authors, actors, and other top names in entertainment and the arts about living with depression, anxiety, and many other common disorders. Find out what they’ve done to address it, what worked, and what didn’t. Depresh Mode with John Moe also features useful insights on mental health issues with experts in the field. It’s honest talk from people who have been there and know their stuff. No shame, no stigma, and maybe a few laughs.
Like this podcast? Then you’ll love John’s book, The Hilarious World of Depression.
Logo by Clarissa Hernandez.
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