Rep. Adam Smith Opens Up About Mental Health Recovery: ‘It Was Really Difficult’

Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on April 12, 2018. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

With suicides on the rise and the opioid crisis plaguing the nation, mental health has come to the forefront in recent years as a critical issue facing the United States.

For Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), it has also been a very personal struggle—one he details in his new book “Lost and Broken.”

“My calculation is there’s probably tens of millions of people in our country who are suffering from some combination of anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. So, I want to help those people, a) understand they’re not alone, and b) navigate the system to find a path to getting better,” Mr. Smith told The Epoch Times’ sister outlet, NTD News, during an appearance on “Capitol Report.”

According to provisional data released on Aug. 10 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicides reached the highest number on record in 2022 as an estimated 49,449 Americans made the decision to prematurely end their lives.

The number represents a 2.6 percent increase from 2021 and breaks the previous record of 48,183 suicide deaths recorded in 2018.

“People’s inability to deal with the basics of mental health can absolutely snowball into larger problems,” Mr. Smith said.

“And it definitely raises that issue of how should we address those problems publicly. What should we do to put people in a better position to deal with their mental health challenges, I think, is one of the central public policy questions that we face in this country right now.”

Overcoming the Fear

The 26-year congressman’s book recounts his difficulties finding treatment for “crippling” anxiety that he developed while in his 40s.

“It was an uncontrollable, nonstop, existential fear that made it impossible to sleep, eat, function—it was really difficult,” he said. “And it didn’t have, like, any specific identifiable cause. And that is a deeper problem.”

Although he tried to cope with the anxiety on his own at first, Mr. Smith said he eventually realized that he was going to need some help. He sought treatment from psychiatrists and psychologists, but during that process, he also ended up needing physical therapy and surgery for chronic pain in his hips.

“I saw over 100 different health care providers,” he noted. “Now, a lot of them were physical therapists, massage therapists, that kind of thing. But it took me a long time to find a psychologist and a muscle activation therapist who diagnosed me correctly and gave me the treatments that I needed to get better. So, I chronicle that voyage in the book.”

Roadblocks to Recovery

One key message of Mr. Smith’s book is that there is a road to recovery for those who are struggling with mental health issues. But he also notes that, along that path, there are certain roadblocks that can make the healing process more difficult.

One of those hurdles is the negative connotation surrounding mental health.

“The stigma around mental health, it’s a big problem—certainly was a problem for me—and I document this in the book,” Mr. Smith said.

“When I started feeling this, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, no one can find out about this. If anyone finds out about this, they’re going to think I’m crazy and … it’s going to jeopardize relationships; I’m going to lose my job.’ So, we have to reduce that stigma.”

But stigma aside, the congressman stressed that certain limitations of the health care industry can also pose a stumbling block for patients seeking help.

For instance, not all patients will have access to affordable care. While in Mr. Smith’s case, he had health insurance, many of the providers from whom he sought help either did not take his insurance or didn’t accept insurance at all.

Additionally, he said providers’ dependence on medication can prolong the problem rather than resolve it.

“We’re too reliant on medication, particularly in mental health,” he said. “Rather than having the open, honest, deep conversations that you need to, to figure out what’s going on with an individual, we tend to go, “Here, take this pill. It’ll make it better.’ Yet, a lot of times, it doesn’t. It just hides the underlying issues.”

Another key area the congressmen highlighted for improvement was communication between providers and their patients.

Specifically, he noted that conveying to patients that their condition can be treated is critical. But on that, he said he feels the industry has not been clear.

“When you go see health care providers, they don’t really listen to their patients particularly well, and they don’t always communicate clearly,” he said.

“They are very educated and very smart about what’s going on with the brain and the body, but each individual is so distinct. … How do you actually communicate with someone to let them know what’s going on and how to get treatment? That communication problem is a big limitation.”