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Larry King shares his personal experience coping with depression after undergoing heart surgery, and

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Speaker 1: Larry King is one of the most well-known figures in broadcast journalism, having conducted over 40,000 interviews on a wide range of topics. What many people may not know is that Mr. King has waged a personal battle with depression. Larry King: Well, I knew something was the matter, the heart attack was the beginning of it, but then I had heart surgery. That's when it was really bad for like six to eight months. Most people have depression for a lot longer than that, I was lucky. Speaker 1: Throughout his career, Mr. King has worked to educate the public about depression, in the hopes raising awareness and inspiring others to speak out. Larry King: The more knowledge you have, the better you are. It's stupid not to have knowledge; so the more we are aware of, cognizant of at first, there's less of a stigma. Certainly less, someone says "Oh, yeah. You know my uncle is depressed." There's no more panic over it, we know he has it. That's a major, important step. Two, the knowledge of supporting people who have it, the understanding of it, you know the more we have a knowledge of it, now if you have a cousin or friend that has it, you know that this is not the "I'm having a bad day." This is an important thing, that they need comfort and understanding; and the one thing you can't do with a person with depression, and I've discovered this with my postpartum, I've seen people, of course, my wife after the birth of our child had it. You can't say "Feel good. Come on, just get out of bed. This is silly." That don't work. Speaker 1: Mr. King maintains that one of the best ways to educate others and provide support is through an honest and open dialogue. Larry King: Talk about it, I mean there's nothing wrong with talking about it. Don't be afraid to talk to someone with depression about it, sometimes they may not want to talk about it, and a lot of times they will. Because it's confounding to them, you know, you can learn everything you like about it, but there's so much material; so much material. I'm sure there's DVDs available and videos. If you want to know more about it, and you should, because it affects everybody, it's easy. Speaker 1: Thanks to the efforts of Larry King and other advocates, depression has begun to come out of the shadows. Larry King: I wouldn't call it a stigma anymore. I think we've made enough strides in almost all the areas, and the advancement of media, media is everywhere, and we're so cognizant of it. Shows like "Oprah" and daytime television which discuss it a lot, I think we've come a long way.

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