On the Edge of Healing: Kathy Cronkite Brings Hope to Those With Depression

When Kathy Cronkite arrives at the podium, her audience sits up and takes notice. Chalk it up to her actress’s sense of timing and delicate good looks. Or possibly the disarming way in which she expresses herself, or just the fact that when she speaks about her chosen topic depression her tone becomes so compelling that anyone might hear a pin drop across the room.

The mild mannered Cronkite is by all accounts a gentlewoman and definitely a survivor. Her story is woven with colorful anecdotes about growing up with her father, Walter, possibly the best-loved television personality of his era; a troubled adolescence shaded by the turbulence of the ’60s and ’70s; the ups and downs of promising careers in acting and radio; marriage, motherhood, and, more recently, a painful divorce. Intertwined throughout are her experiences with major depression, a condition that she has battled successfully for the better part of her adult life.

While more is being written about depression than ever before and treatment has improved vastly over the past three decades, there is still a serious disconnect among commonly held perceptions and the realities of the disease. Depression is by far the most common of the mental illnesses classified as mood disorders, and it affects large numbers some estimates go as high as 19 million persons nationwide. The emotional toll on individuals and families and the financial costs from lost productivity and wages are staggering. Austin is reported to have one of the higher rates of depression in the country and Travis County has had the highest rate of death by suicide of any major county in Texas for the past six years. A disproportionate number of those with depression self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, often exacerbating the very problems they are seeking to reduce.

Let’s face it everybody gets depressed. Who among us has not burst into tears for no accountable reason, spent a night or two awake in dreadful anxiety or been totally overwhelmed while seeking to balance our daily activities with trips to the dentist or cleaning up after a new puppy? Combine these with a traumatic event such as the death of a loved one or loss of a job and nearly anyone, for a time, is likely to experience depression. The difference is that situational depression generally responds to a few hours of a favorite activity like shopping or walking on the beach, vigorous exercise, or even a big bowl of chocolate ice cream. Sometimes it may even take a few counseling sessions or a month or two of antidepressants to get things back on track. But for those who suffer from pervasive, clinical depression, these strategies are not enough. Expecting a person with depression to stop wallowing in self pity or to just snap out of it, is about as realistic as asking a person with leukemia to get his or her blood cells in order.

In retrospect, Cronkite believes that she was feeling depression at an early age. Telling signs were the report cards that ranged from what a joy she was to work with to how she seemed disengaged and her own memories of a landscape that seemed chronically gray.

It is difficult to explain the significance of Walter Cronkite to anyone born after about 1980. Television was a much sparser and simpler medium 40 years ago: Nearly everyone’s set was black and white, and the average household was lucky to get three channels. Cronkite and his colleagues infused a professionalism and accessibility into television news that rivaled any media of the day. He was a beloved fixture in nearly every household, and his commentaries are an integral part of several generations’ memories of historical events including John F. Kennedy’s assassination and the first moonwalk.

Both parents were kindly and life afforded Cronkite many opportunities. She achieved modest success as an actress with notable roles in Network, The Trial of Billy Jack and several TV series. She was barely 30 and newly married when she published her first book, On the Edge of the Spotlight, Celebrities’ Children Speak Out. A kind of coming-to-terms with her famous family, the book contains thoughtfully-written interviews from children of other public figures, including her siblings Nancy and Chip. Cronkite moved to Houston with her husband, Bill Ikard, and later to Austin, where she hosted a popular interview program on KLBJ-AM Radio and raised two sons. But despite what many would see as an ideal life, she continued to battle the mood swings, suicidal sadness, self-doubt and personal withdrawal that shapes the definition of clinical depression. Her symptoms were seasonal, worsening in the spring and fall, and, like many young mothers, she suffered from postpartum depression. For years she underwent therapy and was prescribed a number of psychotropic medications before being stabilized.

Her second book, On the Edge of Darkness, is another compilation of interviews from well-known people, but this time they are speaking out on their depression and there is a clear, albeit underlying message: There is no shame in this disease, and help is available. For the past decade or so, Cronkite has been taking her book and her message to the public speaking to mental health and human service organizations, universities and other groups across the country. “If you think you have a problem. you probably do,” as she says, encouraging audiences to take the steps to move forward and reclaim their lives.