In fact, so destructive has Reith's personal battle been with depression, it is quite an achievement that he is even here to be part of one of the biggest days of the Sydney Carnival.
Diagnosed with clinical depression and severe anxiety at 18, Reith ignored help and instead rode the high-life.
A promising young jockey climbing the ranks of the cut-throat Sydney market, he had plenty of cash and loved a drink. So much so that he would polish off a bottle of spirits a day. Not to celebrate, but to try to solve the puzzle inside that was his mind.
"Things were getting out of control and it all had to stop. I was drinking to cover the depression and the anxiety but it was just making things worse," he recalled yesterday.
"I tried to stay away from the drink but I couldn't - it was my release. I just couldn't cope with everything that came with being a jockey.
18歲時確診抑鬱,少時常酗酒,以為飲酒可以解決問題.
http://www.news.com.au/national/how-a-tortured-jockey-became-a-happy-hippy/story-e6frfkp9-1226038697390
