'It Doesn't Just Evaporate': Herschel Walker's Claim He Has 'Overcome' Mental Illness Called Into Question Days Before High-Stakes Senate Race
Herschel Walker’s claims he overcame mental illness are being called into question just days before the candidate’s high-stakes Georgia Senate election race, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The 60-year-old NFL running back-turned Senate candidate has previously insisted he is “cured” of his dissociative identity disorder, although experts weighing in on the subject have claimed patients of the disorder cannot be fully cured of such a diagnosis.
Dr. David Spiegel, a Stanford University psychiatry professor who both studies and treats patients with dissociative identity disorder, recently told the New York Times that DID patients might “get better” but the disorder does not fully disappear.
“You can get better,” Dr. Spiegel told the outlet. “But it doesn’t just evaporate.”
During a debate against his rival, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, Walker claimed he is “doing well” and doesn’t “need any help” regarding his dissociative identity disorder.
“I continue to get help if I need help, but I don’t need any help,” he told the Georgia audience on Friday night. “I’m doing well.”
The former NFL star also compared his battle with mental illness to be like a broken leg that can be fixed with a cast.
“I put the cast on,” he said during an interview in 2021. “It healed.”
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Although Democratic voters and psychiatry experts have called into question Walker’s claims he overcame DID, Republicans have also questioned why the GOP Senate candidate doesn’t simply respond honestly when pressured about his disorder.
“I think it’s fair, and Herschel obviously thinks it’s a big part of his life,” Scott Jennings, who previously served as an adviser to Senator Mitch McConnell, said.
“If I were Herschel’s campaign I would say Americans live with mental health challenges every day — we just happen to be the first campaign to talk openly about it,” Jennings added.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Walker was accused of turning violent and threatening his ex-wife’s life during a series of manic episodes during their marriage.
Walker has since denied his ex-wife’s accusations, but he has admitted his battle with DID has resulted in a series of violent outburst that sometimes threatened not only his own life but also the lives of others around him.
In one example, Walker admitted to playing games of Russian roulette with a loaded gun. During another example, the candidate explained how he once thought about murdering a car salesman when the man was late making a delivery.
“One of the core aspects of successful treatment for DID is holding people with the disorder responsible for their behavior,” Dr. Richard J. Loewenstein, another psychology expert, said regarding Walker’s DID. “Even when they say they don’t remember it, or that another self-state did it.”
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