I only feel good because I’m medicated: MP opens up about depression
Andrew Gwynne said he only sought help once he entered Parliament.
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Your support makes all the difference.A Labour MP has said he only feels good because he takes antidepressants, as he opened up about his mental health struggles.
Andrew Gwynne MP for Denton and Reddish revealed there was a history of mental illness in his family.
The former shadow frontbencher said it was only after he entered Parliament that he sought help for the “black dog” of depression.
Speaking to GB News Mr Gwynne spoke about the death of his mother from cancer when he was 19 in 1994.
He described it as his lowest point, “because you don’t get over that”.
Mr Gwynne said: “It’s affected most of my adult life.
“It doesn’t get any easier, I’m 47 now and I still miss my mum.”
It was not until Mr Gwynne was an MP that he sought help, first from then-Commons speaker John Bercow and then with antidepressants and talking therapies.
He said: “And I remember waking up one morning feeling normal, feeling like I did as a child, without a worry, without any of the stresses.”
Mr Gwynne recalled being sent out to represent Labour in interviews during the 2017 election, when the party was 25% behind in the polls.
“We were facing a drubbing, and you’ve got to convince the world that there is a Labour Party worth voting for on day one of a general election,” he said.
“And I remember being asked about what Labour’s chances are, and I’m all, ‘we’re in it to win it’ and ‘of course we can fight to win’ and ‘we’re in it to pick up seats’ and put on my usual brave face, and the interviewer said ‘Mr Gwynne, you’re 25% behind in the opinion polls. Why are you so cheery?’
“And I just laughed and said, ‘oh it’s the pills, not the polls’.
Mr Gwynne said he had not considered coming off the medication, although he was aware of the possibility of them becoming “a crutch”.
He said he had “never really thought about” whether he would come off the medication.
He added: “I only feel good, probably, because I’m medicated, and whatever chemical imbalance I’ve got going on in my body, that fixes it.”
The full interview will be broadcast on GB News at 12.30pm on Monday.