The Importance of Mental Health
- Comedian and lung cancer survivor Kathy Griffin, 63, has offered details of her past struggles in the hopes of helping others. She previously dealt with an addictions to pills and suicidal thoughts.
- Griffin, who was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer in 2021 and declared “cancer-free” after surgery, has since been focusing on her mental health and sharing her stories to help others in similar situations.
- Taking care of your mental health is extremely important. One way to help you address your mental health is through therapy.
- One of our experts recommends practicing mindfulness and meditation in order to begin a journey of healing.
- Genetic testing can help determine the best course of mental health treatment for people struggling with issues like anxiety and depression. This testing help doctors gauge which medications are likely to work for their patients and cause the least amount of problematic side effects.
- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration says if you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Just call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.
Griffin is an inspiration to anyone who has overcome disease as she continues to do the things she loves after cancer and tour around the U.S. performing stand up comedy.
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“I started thinking about suicide more and more as I got into the pill addiction, and it became almost an obsessive thought,” Griffin told ABC News’ Juju Chang, about how she felt back in the summer of 2020.
“I started really convincing myself it was a good decision. I got my living revocable trust in order. I had all my ducks in a row. I wrote the note – the whole thing. … And I just thought, ‘I’ll just take a bunch of pills, and I will just go to sleep.'”
Griffin, who was addicted to pills and contemplated suicide in June 2020, added, “Whether I like it or not, I think I’m a resilient survivor.”
She looked back on backlash she received after a controversial photoshoot she did back in 2017, saying, “I thought, ‘Well, I don’t even drink… Big deal, I take a couple pills now and again, who doesn’t?’ Also, my age was a big part of it. I mean, who bottoms out and tries to take their life at 59?
“It’s almost a joke, right, and by the way, someday, this will all be comedy. Trust me… I was laughing to stay alive. And what I found is I felt like if I can’t make others laugh, then there’s no purpose for me to live. There’s no reason for me to live.”
Expert Mental Health Resources
However, after her cancer diagnosis, she regained her will to live.
“The irony is not lost on me that, a little over a year ago, all I wanted to do was (pass on). And now, all I wanna do is live,” she said during the interview.
As for her addiction, Griffin said she started taking Provigil, a prescription medication she took to help treat her sleepiness, and then Ambien for help sleeping, followed by painkillers for different injuries.
“I really fell in love with them [the pills]. Then, it was kind of the allure of, ‘Oh, I can regulate my energy levels or my moods. Or … I fell on my elbow in my act or something and I can be pain-free or something.’ And it got out of control very rapidly,” she explained.
Following Griffin’s suicide attempt, she reached out to her doctor and her husband at the time, Randy Bick, helped her get treatment, according to People.
She was ultimately placed on a psychiatric hold and worked with two clinicians upon her release.
Griffin recounted going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, even though she doesn’t drink, and feeling as if “the clouds started to part,” but she admitted the detox was a tough time.
“The detox was nasty. I mean, it was months. I mean, the tremors … and the flop sweat, and I was so unsteady. Like, when I would brush my teeth, my husband had to hold my hips so I wouldn’t fall over,” she said.
“I would go to, like, two Zoom meetings a day, and the sober clinicians would come over every single day and they would pee-test me. And every day, my goal was to … test clean.”
Griffin is still in recovery but remains grateful for her supportive community of friends and family.
She added, “It’s such a mutually supportive environment. I find that very gratifying. I also like that in recovery, when I talk to other addicts, I love that it’s a no-BS kind of a conversation. I mean, you’re talking to other addicts that have been in the hospital or been in jail. … There’s not a lot of small talk and I like that.
“Here’s the silver lining [of sobriety’]. I am so thrilled and grateful. I feel like, at 60, I’m gonna get a next chapter. That’s the thing everyone said wasn’t gonna happen. I believed [it] wasn’t gonna happen.”
Two years ago Griffin posted a photo of her 2-year AA recovery chip on Instagram. The coin reads: “To Thine Own Self Be True,” and she captions her post, “Two years, baby!”
Kathy Griffin’s Cancer Battle
In 2021, after Griffin was diagnosed with lung cancer, she took her journey public and has been transparent about her experience. A non-smoker, she was diagnosed with stage 1 lung cancer, indicating that the disease hadn’t spread to her lymph nodes or any other organs in the body.
The comic revealed her stage 1 lung cancer diagnosis via social media in Aug. 2021. Thankfully, the cancer seemed to be contained to one part of her lung, so she underwent surgery to have half of her left lung removed shortly after sharing the news.
She then revealed she was cancer-free in December 2021, but she still had a lot of recovering to do. After the surgery, her voice was temporarily altered by an intubation tube giving her a “Minnie Mouse meets Marilyn Monroe” type of voice.
After sharing that her six-month check up scans were clear in February 2022, she later told fans she was concerned about the way that her doctor handled her initial treatments.
Girffin has since been seen by a doctor who made her feel heard (something our experts recommend if you feel your concerned aren’t being addressed appropriately), and she continues to make strides in her recovery.
It’s unclear exactly what procedure she had done, but a post from December 2022 revealed Griffin was having another surgery to address her voice.
Taking Care of Your Mental Health
Taking care of your mental health is of the utmost importance, but it’s not always easy. One place to start is to be aware of the following signs that there may be something affecting your mind:
- A change in eating or sleeping habits
- Losing interest in people or usual activities
- Experiencing little or no energy
- Numb and/or hopeless feelings
- Turning to drinking or drugs more than usual
- Non-typical angry, upset or on-edge feelings
- Yelling/fighting with loved ones
- Experiencing mood swings
- Intrusive thoughts
- Trouble getting through daily tasks
Symptoms of a mental health disease or issue can vary from person to person, so it’s always crucial to promptly speak with a healthcare provider if you’re experiencing any changes to your physical or mental health. There are many treatment options available and many different healthy ways to help you cope.
How to Be Realistically Optimistic: Coping With Mental Health Long-Term
One such option is therapy. In a previous conversation with SurvivorNet, ovarian cancer survivor Ni Guttenfelder talked about how finding the right counselor helped her process the feelings that came after her diagnosis.
“One of the things that my counselor has taught me from the very beginning that has helped me is the concept of acceptance,” she says. “Acceptance is a process. It’s like downloading a computer file in increments. Visualizing it in that way has really helped me.”
In addition to therapy, meditation and practicing mindfulness can also be used to cope with a mental health struggle. Dr. Deepak Chopra, acclaimed author and pioneer of mindfulness movement, spoke with SurvivorNet about how asking yourself who you really are is the first step down the path to practicing mindfulness.
“If we can combine our actions in the world with reflective self inquiry, love and compassion, and a state of secure, stable, ornamental, peaceful being without the addictions that humans have, then we can begin our journey of healing,” Dr. Chopra explained.
Medicating isn’t the right choice for everyone when it comes to addressing a mental health issue, but there should be no shame in turning to medication when you need it. That being said, it can be hard to find the right one. These days, however, there is a form of genetic testing that has shown the ability to match people with the best medication for mental health treatment.
We’ve seen genetic testing used for treatment plans for other diseases, such as certain types of cancer, but the ability to use it to help people who are suffering from things like anxiety and depression is relatively new.
How Can Genetic Testing Help Determine the Right Form of Mental Health Treatment?
“Doing the genetic testing has absolutely transformed the landscape of psycho-pharmacology,” psychiatrist Dr. Lori Plutchik told SurvivorNet. “It’s something that I highly recommend for anybody that is taking medication, whether they are being treated for cancer, or not … I recommend it for children who are taking medication. I recommend it for elderly people. Anybody who is taking medication, I think, can greatly benefit from genetic testing.”
Genetic testing can give a profile of how a person is likely to respond to different types of psychiatric medications, Dr. Plutchik explained. Testing is also available to create a profile of how patients will likely respond to different sorts of pain medications, which can be really beneficial for those going through some other sort of health issue.
Genetic testing “gives me information about which medications are likely to work without having problematic side effects. It also gives information about interactions between any of the psych medications that we choose,” and other medications a patient may be taking, Dr. Plutchik said.
The genetic test that Dr. Plutchik was discussing, Genomind, looks at multiple factors before determining which treatment is likely to have successful results and minimal side-effects. The test examines certain genes that are associated with responses to medications commonly prescribed for mental health issues and then looks into the patient’s ability to metabolize medication.
If you’re considering going on medication for mental health treatment, consider asking your doctor if genetic testing might be helpful for you.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you are not feeling your usual self and are facing a diagnosis or some other traumatic event, you should consider contacting your doctor to see if your mental health needs a boost.
- Should I consider going on medication to help with mental health struggles?
- Would genetic testing help determine the best treatment for me?
- What is the likelihood that the test will recommend the proper treatment?
- What can we do if I don’t succeed with the recommended treatment?
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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