Dexter man starts cross-country walk

A Southeast Missouri man is doing his best to spread awareness of mental illness.

Thirty-seven-year-old Marvin Kirkland of Dexter, Mo., embarked on a cross-country walk recently from Oceanside, Calif., and he hopes to conclude it in June in Washington, D.C.

"I want to bring attention to those who live with a diagnosis of mental illness," Kirkland said in a phone interview Tuesday from the west coast.

Kirkland holds a biology degree from Southeast Missouri State University and has completed work toward a master's degree in his field.

Kirkland knows firsthand the challenges of a mental illness diagnosis. He suffers from major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and a condition referred to as depersonalization disorder or DPD. The condition is a dissociative disorder in which the sufferer is affected by persistent or recurrent feelings of depersonalization or derealization. Diagnostic criteria include persistent or recurrent experiences of feeling detached from one's mental processes or their own body. The symptoms include a sense of automation, going through the motions of life but not experiencing it, feeling as though one is in a movie, feeling as though one is in a dream, or feeling a disconnection from one's body.

"Almost everyone experiences this sensation at some point during their lives," Kirkland said. "It is usually associated with having witnessed an accident or a monumental event."

For those who suffer from DPD, however, the occasion plays itself out over and over, sometimes when one least expects it.

"Of the three disorders, it's the worst one for me to deal with," he said.

Kirkland is walking in hopes that those who suffer from similar diagnoses might look at his accomplishments and his campaign for awareness and be convinced to pursue goals that they may not have thought attainable because of their disabilities.

"If my efforts can convince someone to go ahead and get that job they've been wanting to apply for, or to inspire them in any way, it will be worth it," he said.

His six-month journey also serves as a "personal catharsis," Kirkland said. "It's sort of a mental, emotional, and spiritual cleansing for me."

It's Marvin Kirkland's dream that by the time he reaches the nation's capitol in June, authorities involved in health care might have heard about his plight and meet with him to discuss mental health awareness.

"Hopefully they will have some recognition of my cause and we can talk about recognizing some of the more rare mental health disorders," he said.

More importantly, Kirkland said, he hopes his walk across the country will serve to inspire those who live each day with a mental disorder.

"I want people to realize that we aren't our diagnosis, but that we are human first," he said.