Maurice Benard Hosts Diedrich Bader – Candid Mental Health Chat

General Hospital (GH) fans who watched Maurice Benard (Sonny Corinthos) on his State of Mind podcast this weekend saw that he was joined by Diedrich Bader. He’s famous for his rols in Napoleon Dynamite and of course, fans also saw him on The Drew Carey Show. Read on to find out what they talked about.

Not Avoiding Mental Health

As usual with Maurice Benard, he started off with an introduction and then the duo started talking about Hollywood. But, with the real-life Sonny Corinthos, almost nobody avoids opening up about mental health.

Of course, Diedrich Bader makes people laugh, and that’s a rare gift. But people who laugh can also keep a lot of personal vulnerabilities very well hidden. So, it was great to hear him get rather candid.

Staying Away From Dark Roles

Notably, Bader talked about why he avoids dark, dramatic roles. Often, he’ll end up feeling “emotionally wrought” and “sad at the end of the day.” So, staying in the comedy lane makes life easier for him.

What he really likes is very simple: do a day’s work, go home, and spend time with family and with his dogs. That way, he avoids taking home the negative energy of dark characters.

A Difficult Year

In the last year or so, Bader seemed to struggle a lot. He told Maurice that those 12 months were the hardest of his life. Sadly, people he liked and loved passed away. In fact, he described the events as a “series of deaths.”

On top of other worries, it all seemed a lot, and much like Bluesy Burke reveled in her chat with Maurice Benard, it manifested physically.

Alternative Treatments

For a long time, he struggled with not being able to sleep. And everyone knows how debilitating that can be. Some nights, if he managed “two or three hours tops,” it was a lot. And that went on for a whole nine months.

Not surprisingly, he felt totally exhausted: to the point where he decided he needed some help. GH fans heard him tell Maurice that he decided to step away from traditional Western medicine.

Instead, he went off and saw a healer who used chanting and “adjusted my chi.” Okay, well you might laugh, and even Bader wanted to, but it wasn’t so “hilarious” because he felt so desperate. Did it work? Well, yes it seems that it did because he added, “it genuinely worked.” Additionally, it made him find some peace: the first in a long time.

Medicating For Anxiety

After a bit, Maurice Benard turned the conversation to medications. Actually, some General Hospital fans heard him talk about it before. Still, many people can relate to his tale. If you haven’t heard about it before, the ABC daytime star mentioned his anxiety sometimes becomes monsterous.

But, he also suffered a “scary” experience with anxiety medication. The best he could describe it was that he lost his “balance nerve,” making it feel like he couldn’t take a step.

Of course as an actor, that seems very distressing. Unfortunately, a previous psychiatrist passed away, and Maurice tried getting off his meds. But, he did it too fast, and the actor laid that right at the door of his new practitioner.

Instead of getting better, he got a whole lot worse. Why the duo discussed it,  seems to be because it illustrated that there’s no carved in stone approach to medication.

Of course, they also highlighted that there are other paths to recovery. However, their advice for State of Mind viewers was that folks need to find the best anxiety methods that work for each individual.

The Pedestal Problem

One particularly interesting topic that Diedrich Bader and Maurice discussed was what’s known as the “imposter syndrome.” While it’s not always prevalent in other countries, in the USA, many famous people get put up on a pedestal. And that’s why if they fall, the backlash can be severe.

Apparently, many successful people feel pressured by the expectations of fans. That’s because often, theyr’e expected to be “happy all the time.”

Well, Diedrich won’t buy into that. So, he suggested people “walk away” from situations that trap them. As far as he’s concerned, the “hero cycle” is about returning after finding yourself.

So no, neither of them really like the way celebs so often end up being placed on a pedestal. After all, they’re human too.

Viewers React

Maurice Benard has nearly 200K followers now, and many of them engaged with him in the comments section.

One of them penned:

Sometimes you have to try many different things before you find what works for you….Don’t give up if one or two things don’t work for you; keep trying to get the healing you deserve when your mental health is at risk.”

Here are a few other reactions from the discussion:

• …this is a MUST watch. I need to find a healer because I am very open to getting help with my issues. You are doing a wonderful job, Maurice, for mental health.
• We can’t ignore the topic of mental health, we have lost too many to suicide and so respect you for keeping the conversation alive.
• Thank you Maurice for your State of Mind channel…You have created authentic conversation that is vitaly needed in our country and the world. Keep up the amazing work.

What are your thoughts? Do you think it’s a great idea for people to try more than one approach to cope with their mental health? Let us know in the comments below, and remember to come back here often for all your General Hospital cast news and updates.