Guts, Grit & The Grind: A MENtal Mechanics MANual

Join Kristin as she speaks with Frank King and Peter Dudley, both of who are authors and speakers within the mental health community, each in their own right. They discuss their own voyages as men who help others, men especially, within the mental health community as well as their parts in the second of an anthology series, "Guts, Grit & The Grind: A MENtal Mechanics MANual: Advanced Mechanics in Preventative Maintenance" by Sally Spencer-Thomas, Sarah Gaer, and Frank King.<br /><br />Frank is a standup comedian and storyteller who was born into a family with the gift of humor and the curse of generational depression and suicide. His maternal grandmother took her own<br />life after realizing her mental state was deteriorating and felt that “doctors have done all they could.” Frank’s mother found her. His grandmother’s sister, his great aunt, took her life after being diagnosed with glaucoma and deciding that she didn’t want to be a burden on anyone. Frank was four years old when he and his mother found her. According to Frank’s mother, he “screamed for days.” She said that she offered a deal to God, that she would give up 10 years of her life if God would make it so Frank didn’t remember any of this. He didn’t until 2014 when, in an instant, whatever had walled that off in Frank’s brain collapsed and the traumatic memory all came flooding back. It was a blessing and a curse. A curse, in that, up until that moment, he’d been blissfully unaware of his aunt’s final moments and of his family history of generational depression and suicide. A blessing, in that it explained the source of his major depressive disorder and chronic<br />suicidality. For as long as he could remember, suicide was always an option on his menu—for problems both large and small. He remembers one time when his car broke down and he had three thoughts—one, he could get it fixed; two, he could buy a new one; or three, he could just kill<br />himself. That’s chronic suicidality. Shortly thereafter, he went from being a ‘funny speaker,’ to being