MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Time now for "My Unsung Hero," our series from the team at the Hidden Brain podcast. "My Unsung Hero" tells the stories of people whose kindness left a lasting impression on someone else. Today's story comes from Missy Nicholson. In 1993, when her firstborn child was 18 months old, Missy admitted herself to a psychiatric unit. She had a history of depression, and she was starting to realize that if she wanted to be a good mom, she needed help managing her mental health. During her stay, she had a powerful encounter with another patient.
MISSY NICHOLSON: Every morning, there was a community meeting, and everybody - all the inpatients - sat in a circle, and people were encouraged to tell their stories or open up about whatever happened to be on their minds. And I didn't feel like I was really able to open up for a while, for a few days anyway. And in the meantime, I noticed there was a woman who was admitted and was just in a hospital bed parked at the nurses' station because she had attempted to kill herself, so she had to be under constant watch. And she just seemed catatonic. She just gazed into the distance and didn't seem to have any connection to the outside world. And she was - it was sad. She was this beautiful, young, blonde woman, but clearly in a lot of pain.
So a couple days after that, we were in the morning group therapy session, and for whatever reason, I felt able to open up and talk about my own history and what had brought me there. And it became very emotional. I was just sort of pouring my guts out and sobbing. And all of a sudden, I felt a hand take my hand. And I looked over, and it was this woman who had been the suicide survivor. And it was just such a powerful moment because I realized this person who was in so much pain was able, despite that, to reach out and really make a connection with me, and I felt so safe in that moment and so seen and heard. And it also made me realize how effective the simplest action like that could be - to reach out to somebody to make a connection.
And I never saw her again. I have no idea what her name was or who she was or where she came from, but I love the idea that she made this huge impact on me that was a long time ago, and it's really stayed with me. And I love the idea that she would hear this and see herself in that and see what an impact she made, probably not knowing it at all.
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KELLY: Missy Nicholson lives in Grafton, Massachusetts. Missy's daughter is now in her 30s and is a practicing psychotherapist. Her son, in his 20s, also works in the mental health field. They share a close bond, which Missy believes is strengthened in large part by her decision to seek psychiatric help when she needed it. If you're living with depression or thoughts of self-harm, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is there to help. You can reach a mental health counselor 24/7 by calling or texting 988. And you can find more stories of unsung heroes and learn how to submit your own at hiddenbrain.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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