Actress Delta Burke, who has long been an advocate for talking about mental health issues, spoke with Entertainment Tonight about her recent hospitalization in a psych ward. It was widely reported that Delta was hospitalized for her hoarding, and while that played a large part in her struggle, it appears that her biggest worry was that her depression had gotten out of control. Delta says that before she was hospitalized, she couldn’t get out of bed for over two weeks.

Burke, 51, says she had been on five medications to treat her lifelong battle with depression when all of them stopped working. So she went to a clinic “to get my meds straightened out and to get properly diagnosed,” she says, adding that her meds have since been cut back to two and she has been put on a diabetic diet.

Burke says she has come a long way since her Designing Women days when her depression severely escalated. One night, she recalls, she was parked in a car on top of a hill with a gun beside her and a bottle of Xanax. She was upset over what a tabloid had written about her. “I just kept taking Xanax and hoping the pain would stop,” she tells ET. “I got really sleepy and decided to go for a ride. I needed a Diet Coke really bad. I called up [husband Gerald McRaney]. I didn’t know where I was but he found me.”

Burke says she continues to speak out about her depression — “something that I deal with and millions of Americans deal with” — “to remove the stigma. “I will always fight and everyone out there who battles this should always fight,” she adds.

[From Us Weekly]

Delta also reported that her hoarding had gotten out out of hand. She was addicted to QVC and eBay. I think eBay is becoming a much more common addiction than people realize. Delta’s addiction had led to her having to rent out 27 storage units in New Orleans, which she filled with her belongings. As part of her recovery, Delta’s sister is helping her sort through the items. She’s doing her best to sell and donate as much as she can. Hoarding is an interesting, and not often talked about disease. We discussed it in detail in relation to Delta’s hospitalization here. I can imagine that when you’re depressed, thinking of the extreme clutter and mess really could push you over the edge and make it impossible to even get out of bed and deal with it all. Congratulations to Delta not just for dealing with her issues, but for being unashamed and unafraid to talk about them.