Dr Daniel & Tana Amen
Dr Daniel & Tana Amen
I Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge & Lived with Kevin Hines
I Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge & Lived with Kevin Hines
I Jumped Off The Golden Gate Bridge & Lived with Kevin Hines
Friday 27th March 2026
Kevin Hines shares his Golden Gate Bridge suicide attempt, bipolar disorder, brain scan results, and practical steps to care for brain health and recovery.
13 minutes
Honest
Inspiring
Informative
Hopeful
Authentic
About this podcast
Author:
Dr Daniel & Tana Amen
Overview:
Categories:
Body & Mind
Mindful Recovery
Mindfulness & Technology in Health
Innovative Treatments & Recovery Paths
Healing from Sexual Trauma
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Get the buttons here!Surviving the Golden Gate Bridge: Kevin Hines on Brain Health and Hope
Episode Overview
- Kevin describes surviving a nearly always fatal jump from the Golden Gate Bridge and the instant regret he felt as soon as his hands left the rail.
- He shares how childhood trauma, bullying, racism, and rapid-cycling bipolar disorder contributed to hallucinations, paranoia and suicidal thinking.
- High school wrestling culture led to extreme weight-cutting and purging, which he later recognised as an eating disorder.
- A severe reaction to medication caused extensive burns, sleep disorders and withdrawal psychosis, showing how complex treatment can be.
- Dr Amen’s SPECT scan findings reframe his struggles as issues of brain function and highlight practical steps like vitamins, omega-3s and vitamin D to support better brain health.
Every day, you want to love your brain.
What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction and mental illness? This conversation follows Kevin Hines, who at 19 jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and survived, later becoming one of only a handful of people able to stand, walk, and run after such an attempt. Kevin talks through a childhood marked by abject poverty, his birth parents’ drug and alcohol use, early trauma in foster care, and severe bullying at school.
Despite growing up in a loving adoptive home, his mental health collapsed at 17, when he says his “brain broke”, leading to hallucinations, paranoid delusions, rapid-cycling bipolar disorder, and panic attacks. He explains how denial, shame, and the fear of being “labelled mentally ill” kept him silent, even as his suicidal thoughts escalated.
He also speaks about disordered eating in high school wrestling, where extreme weight-cutting and purging were normalised, and a later medication reaction that caused 38 weeks of intense burns, pain, and sleep disturbance. These experiences highlight how physical health, medication, and mental health can tangle together in cruel ways. Dr Daniel Amen reviews Kevin’s brain SPECT scan, showing both impressive strengths and clear trauma.
A visible “dent” and a hole in the left temporal lobe suggest injury and help explain his dark, intrusive thoughts and anxiety. Rather than framing it as a character flaw, Dr Amen keeps bringing the focus back to brain health, saying, “Every day, you want to love your brain.” You’ll hear practical suggestions like targeted vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and focusing on brain function instead of vague “mental health” labels.
For anyone dealing with addiction, mood swings, self-harm thoughts, or the fallout from past trauma, this episode offers a raw, honest look at how understanding the brain can open the door to better treatment and real hope. It might just make you ask: what would it look like to start loving your own brain today?