Dan Miner talks of small ‘tuneup’ in his long battle with depression

By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor

Two years after going public about his 35-year battle with depression, WCKM radio personality Dan Miner again sat down with The Chronicle to talk about a recent setback and why he sought help.

“It felt like a switch was turned off,” said Mr. Miner, 51, sitting in the press box at the Glens Falls Civic Center before an Adirondack Thunder game. The long-time hockey public address announcer and Whitehall native is station manager at WCKM-FM 98.5 and hosts the morning show with Pete Cloutier.

“Nothing was working,” he said. “I was done. It was similar to when I wasn’t taking any meds and attempted suicide back in 2010. I didn’t see it right away, but my wife Lisa did. She saw it two months before I did.

“Lisa kept saying, ‘You need to talk to someone’ but I tried to tough it out. I tried to do it myself, but that just doesn’t work. It didn’t work before, and it didn’t work this time.”

He did his radio job because “being on the air for five hours is the easiest thing in the world for me. I could do it in my sleep. Everything else was very difficult.”

He decided to get help in late August.

Sat in car ‘just sobbing’

“I was at Derby Park [in Hudson Falls], where my grandkids Sophie and Thomas had a soccer game,” he said. “I got there early because I misread the schedule. It was pouring rain, and I was just sobbing and crying in my car. I couldn’t stop.

“That’s when I said, ‘Okay, Lisa is right. She’s been right all along.’”

That night, he said he called a friend “who is friends with Glenn Dorman, who was a counselor of mine at Four Winds six years ago. He had Glenn’s number, and I called him and he reminded me about all I had learned and worked so hard for a Four Winds.

“It was a wake-up call. I talked to Glenn for maybe 45 minutes to get my feet back on the ground. Then I called my doctor because I had read things that suggest that you can build up a tolerance to medications.

“My doctor, Dr. Paul Filion, had me on a low dose of Zoloft, and he was able to put me on a higher dose, and within three and a half weeks, I could tell the difference.

Imbalance, anxiety ‘all came back’

“It’s a chemical imbalance. I have depression. I have PTSD. I have anxiety, and it all came back.”

Mr. Miner said it wasn’t until the beginning of November that “I really was back to feeling really good again.”

For two months “I had taken myself off Facebook,” her said. “I deleted it from my phone and from my iPad. It was not helping me. And I had to focus on me. And I waited weeks until I went back on Facebook.

“This is me. I know what the end is, and it’s not good. I just felt blah. Suicide wasn’t in that, but there was just a feeling of worthlessness and for no reason. Everything was going so well.”

He added, “I’m not crazy. I have depression. There’s a difference.”

Mr. Miner said after the initial Chronicle story in November 2014, “I found out that there are hundreds of people who suffer from depression or have family members or friends who go through the same thing I go through.

“It’s a battle. I knew better, but still there’s the stigma of it, and that’s embarrassing to say.

“And that isn’t just my battle. It’s Lisa’s battle, it’s our kids, it’s our grandkids, it’s my coworkers. I’m very up front with my staff about what I go through.

“The battle is real, but help is available. It’s been tough on me, but it’s tougher on Lisa. She kept telling me, but I didn’t respond.”

He said he decided to talk about his latest experience because “I know how much good it did the last time and I know this is a very difficult time for people who have depression. It’s a tough time. This is a down time.

“I tried to stay on top of it and it still got the best of me. This just shows me I have to keep working. Was I lazy? Yes. Was

I in denial? Yes. Guilty.

“I thought, ‘I don’t need to pay attention to the signs,’ even when my biggest cheerleader is telling me what was going on. You have to find out what is going on. It’s the only way to work through it.

“And you have to get better for you. You can’t want to get better for your wife or significant other or your kids or your co-workers. You have to want to get better for you. And for me, it’s very hard to be selfish. To do something for yourself is very difficult, and I think a lot of people are like that.

“You gotta right the ship. Get the help. Don’t be afraid to reach out. There’s nothing wrong with reaching out for help. This is not something you did to yourself.

“And listen to the people closest to you who have your back. I didn’t. Being proud doesn’t do anything. It will take some time, but that other place is scary and dangerous.”

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