Deval Patricks wife, Diane, excited to lead on mental health issues as first lady – MassLive.com

Then Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick wanted to visit Diane, his wife of 35 years, after a bumpy first few months in office led her to seek treatment for depression and anxiety at the hospital in 2007.

State troopers in his security detail worked with hospital staff to help Patrick slip in and out of the building secretly.

It was ridiculous, the Democratic presidential candidate said Monday at the Politics and Eggs breakfast hosted by The New England Council and New Hampshire Institute of Politics & Political Library at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. I remember Diane saying, This is crazy. Im not ashamed. I just dont feel well.

After Diane Patrick, a brilliant but reluctant first lady, encouraged the new governor to say something, prompting Patricks team to publicly acknowledge that she suffered from anxiety and depression, she received thousands and thousands of notes and messages of encouragement and thanks, Patrick said Monday.

She made it OK to talk about what she was dealing with and what we as a family were dealing with, he said. One of the things shes most excited about in being first lady is being a leader on these issues. Some of this is just bringing light where there are shadows, getting past the shame.

When Patrick earlier this year declined a presidential run, he previously cited his wifes health and an attempt to shield loved ones from public scrutiny over the course of a national campaign. In his book, A Reason to Believe, he shared the story of his wife entering the hospital under a pseudonym to treat severe depression in the wake of negative media attention.

He noted after announcing his entry into the crowded Democratic primary that his wife was now healthy and cancer free.

Patrick argued it was essential to treat mental health as health care, and developing the capacity so we can respond to the needs people have in the stations they have in life ... where they are in their own journey."

His statements on mental health followed a question from John Broderick, former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, who speaks publicly on mental health awareness.

We have a crisis in this country of young people with anxiety and depression, Broderick said. No one talks about this issue. It affects one in five adults, one in five kids.

Patrick advocated improved mental health training among health care professionals and educators.

The underlying secret about expanding health care is that if we dont expand capacity, if we dont develop primary care physicians alongside specialists and mental health care professionals, and spread the responsibility across a range of health care professionals, were not going to meet the objectives that weve set up, he said. Im trying to think of these things as systems and what are all the elements of how we get the systems right.

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Deval Patricks wife, Diane, excited to lead on mental health issues as first lady - MassLive.com