Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) from General Hospital hosted Dr. Suzette Glasner a number of times on his State of Mind podcast, and this weekend, they openly talked about September being Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. It’s a difficult subject, but many ABC fans felt grateful that they addressed it.
An Important & Candid Conversation
Many people don’t like to hear about those who take their own lives. So take this caution right here as a trigger warning if it bothers you. In fact, if you know anyone, or if you have thoughts of distress, you can call the 988 lifeline for help.
The important and candid conversation delved deeply into the trauma of depression, anxiety, and self-harm. Maurice Benard kicked off his podcast by noting:
I’m calling it State of Mind on the dark side
and it’s about just real real tough times. So if this triggers you in any way, maybe it’s not the best one for you. But, I think it’s very important to talk about the dark side, which is horrible thoughts of not wanting to be here.
Suzette Wants To Help
Suzette Glasner said that while there’s professional help available, she was chatting with the GH star to “help some people” in a dark place, “or close to somebody who is and just don’t know what to do.”
Maurice noted that one thing about social media is that there is information out there. However, when he was in his 20s and suffered from manic depression, he didn’t know that he had it. “Nobody told me,” he added. Well, his fans don’t need to go through it “alone,” like the real-life Sonny Corinthos, because of his mental health awareness project.
Talking Is So Important
Suzette Glasner understood the alone feelings that Maurice experienced years ago. So, she elaborated on how important it is to talk to those in a dark place. Mentioning a study, she told ABC fans that those who attempted to take their own lives mostly agreed that being able to “vent” or reach out and talk would have “made a difference.”
From Maurice Benard’s perspective, he talks about “anxiety” and mental health when he can. That’s because so many people feel it’s not okay to talk about it. But when he starts, then others respond, he said, ‘Oh, well, you can talk about that, then I can talk about this.”‘ He added, “it’s like you’re giving them permission to talk about their dark side.“
There was a lot more useful advice for fans in the interview, and you can watch the whole episode further down in this article.
Appreciative Audience
In the comments section, many people felt grateful for the candid conversation about those who might wish to unalive themselves. One of them wrote, “You are, an exceptional person Maurice. You are shedding light, on these subjects which need to be addressed. Keep doing what you are doing.”
Here are a few more reactions from the discussion area:
- This such a important part of mental illness, I loss my uncle my favorite person, I was only in 9th grade…
- We had a family friend. he told people that he was going to do that. No one he talked to believe[d] him…
- Please keep up the great work here!
