CHARLOTTE, N.C. — According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, in 2022, about 12,500 North Carolinians were hospitalized for self-harm. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in February 2021, 45% of North Carolina adults reported feeling depressed or anxious, yet mental illness often makes people feel alone.
During suicide prevention month, it's important to remember you are not alone and there are treatments out there that can help.
Daniel Cooke shared with WCNC Charlotte how he overcame depression and ultimately saved his life. Cooke is a father, Navy veteran, and licensed therapist.
"I have the life that you dream of having," Cooke said.
He beams of happiness when talking about his fiancée, but just a few years ago, he would’ve never imagined living this life.
"I felt that there was no point in life, there was no value in life, I felt I didn't have any worth," Cooke shared about his battle with addiction and depression.
His mental health became so poor, Cooke said he attempted suicide five times.
"I ended up going through the VA inpatient unit several times after a few suicide attempts," Cooke said.
Anti-depressants and medication often help people struggling with depression. However, sometimes people struggle with finding the right one or experience uncomfortable side effects. When medication after medication didn’t help Cooke, his psychiatrist recommended Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS.
The clinical depression treatment has been around for a long time but isn’t as well known as it should be, according to Novant Health psychiatrist Dr. Michael Christo.
"The magnet creates a small electrical current that passes into the brain, and what that does is you can think of it as kind of waking the brain up," Christo explained. "It stimulates the neurons in the brain."
Christo said TMS has worked on his patients 60-70% of the time. Christo is not Cooke's doctor nor does he work with Cooke.
He said there aren't a lot of side effects either.
"Maybe a little bit of discomfort initially once the patients are getting used to it," Christo said.
Cooke said his family noticed a difference in him after a couple weeks of treatment.
"They started to see that I was smiling more," Cooke shared. Adding that his pastor at church said, "he saw life in my eyes again."
Cooke did a total of 36 TMS sessions and ended treatment in February 2022. The treatment took Cooke about 20 minutes each time.
Now, he’s helping others achieve happiness as a therapist and addiction specialist at a TMS clinic called Genesis... A New Beginning.
"As long as you're crawling, you're still moving and as long as you're moving, you have a chance to find change, and if you don't give up you'll find it," Cooke said.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
If you or a loved one are facing thoughts of suicide or self-harm, there is help readily available. You can call Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat with them online. There are also resources in North Carolina available here and in South Carolina available here.