Quarterback Handed Off to Psychiatrist
Terry Bradshaw's extensive experience with mental health clinicians helps him know where to place psychiatrists.
They just aren't as emotional as the preachers and family counselors he went to when his third marriage was collapsing, said the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and current football analyst for Fox Sports.
“I respected their expertise, but I didn't want to hug them,” he told listeners in the Conversations event sponsored by the American Psychiatric Foundation at APA's 2010 annual meeting in New Orleans.
He was interviewed by Pittsburgh psychiatrist and Steelers fan Alan Axelson, M.D.
Bradshaw took a winding path to a psychiatrist's office. When he was young, he was a “hyper kid who wouldn't shut up or be still,” a natural athlete but a poor student who struggled to learn the plays he orchestrated so masterfully on the football field.
Only much later did he learn that he had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and, still later, depression. “I just had some issues. I dealt with it. It's how we deal with it that's important.”
He now continues taking medications for ADHD and talk therapy.
“I tell people there's hope, there's answers,” he said. “I know there are people who care about me.”
When the conversation ended and Bradshaw stood to leave, Axelson walked over and gave him a big hug, to appreciative applause from the audience.
