Tony Mantor: Why Not Me ?
Darrell Herrmann : Straight Talk About Living With A Severe Mental Illness
20 May 2025
Send us a text Darrell Herrmann, a retired US Army captain and former computer programmer, shares his remarkable journey of living with schizophrenia since 1984 and his mission to help others with severe mental illness live better lives. • Former US Army captain specializing in field artillery and nuclear weapons before developing schizophrenia • Earned a computer science degree and worked as a programmer for 18 years after his military discharge • Spoke to over 30,000 people in hospital groups before COVID, helping patients understand psychosis • Author of "Straight Talk About Living with Severe Mental Illness," available on Amazon • Explains that diagnosis often changes and finding the right medication takes time and patience • Defines psychosis as experiencing hallucinations and delusions while losing touch with reality • Developed a personal three-bucket strategy to sort real experiences from hallucinations • Advocates for comprehensive education programs for people diagnosed with psychotic disorders • Believes the mental health profession itself is often the biggest source of stigma • Argues most mental health professionals lack proper training in understanding and treating psychosis https://tonymantor.com https://Facebook.com/tonymantor https://instagram.com/tonymantor https://twitter.com/tonymantor https://youtube.com/tonymantormusic intro/outro music bed written by T. Wild Why Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Full Episode
Welcome to Why Not Me? The World Podcast, hosted by Tony Mantor. Broadcasting from Music City, USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as our guests tell us their stories. Some will make you laugh, some will make you cry. real life people who will inspire and show that you are not alone in this world.
Hopefully you gain more awareness, acceptance, and a better understanding for autism around the world. Hi, I'm Tony Mantor. Welcome to Why Not Me? The World, Humanity Over Handcuffs, The Silent Crisis special event. Joining us today is Daryl Herman. He's a retired U.S. Army captain and computer programmer from a small family farm in Weston, Kansas, about 30 miles east of Dodge City.
Specializing in field artillery and nuclear weapons, his military career ended after he sought treatment at an army hospital, believing he was being drugged with experimental medicine. Doctors recognized his delusions and emerging psychosis, leading to his discharge.
He later earned a college degree and worked as a professional programmer, but job stress triggered mild delusional thinking, prompting him to go on disability. Since then, he's found purpose in volunteering, speaking to patients, and writing a book, Straight Talk About Living With Severe Mental Illness.
He continues to advocate for those with serious mental health challenges, bringing tremendous insight to his work. It's truly an honor to have him here, generously sharing his deep insights and remarkable journey with us. Thanks for coming on! No problem. Let's tell us a little bit about your story, because it's a pretty fascinating story of what you've done.
What started your getting in to support the NSSC?
I developed schizophrenia in 1984 when I was a captain of the United States Army. My specialties at the time were field artillery and nuclear weapons. And obviously, you can't have a military career with nuclear weapons when you have schizophrenia. So I had to do other things.
So I went back to college, got a computer science degree, became a professional computer programmer, did that for 18 years. And then the stress of doing that and coping with my job and all with my illness just became more than I could manage. And I decided to go with disability because I found out this kind of stress was just endemic in the American workplace.
And when I went on disability, I made it my mission in life to do everything I could to help other people with serious mental illness live better lives. Ever since then, that's what I've been doing. I started doing hospital groups, talking to patients in the hospital about how to live better lives with a severe mental illness, and that grew over the years.
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