Tony Slattery

• After his 1996 breakdown and multiple voluntary hospitalizations, Slattery was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He described the diagnosis as helping him make sense of the contrast between periods of mania and periods of withdrawal, apathy and depression. [2][1]

• Slattery described periods in which his behaviour became highly disinhibited and difficult to control, followed by profound withdrawal and depression. During his breakdown in 1996, he spent about six months largely isolated at home, not answering the door or telephone, opening bills or washing. A friend eventually helped get him to hospital. [2][1]
• He also spoke publicly about heavy cocaine and alcohol use during this period, alongside serious financial and occupational disruption. [2][1]

• After his breakdown, Slattery received psychiatric care and used medication. In 2003, he said he preferred medication and psychiatric intervention to supportive therapy. [2]

• By 2020, Slattery had long since stopped using cocaine and had begun reducing, but had not stopped, his alcohol consumption. He described cutting down his drinking as a start rather than a completed recovery. [3][4]

• In 2020, Slattery continued discussing his mental health publicly through the documentary What’s the Matter with Tony Slattery?, which followed him as he sought further assessment and explored the roles of addiction and earlier trauma in his life. [4]

“The mania, finding things too exciting, then the withdrawal, apathy and bleakness.”

— Tony Slattery [1]