Because of mental problems: SPD politician Roth takes time out

As a Ukraine explainer, Michael Roth is present in various talk shows and even travels to the war zone with colleagues from the traffic light coalition.

Because of mental problems: SPD politician Roth takes time out

As a Ukraine explainer, Michael Roth is present in various talk shows and even travels to the war zone with colleagues from the traffic light coalition. The decision of the SPD politician to step down is all the more surprising. Roth speaks openly about psychological problems, which is why he announces a break.

The SPD politician Michael Roth, who has recently been a frequent guest on talk shows about the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, has announced a break. "On the advice of my doctor, I will take a break from traffic for a while," Roth announced in "Spiegel". The 51-year-old is therefore planning not to give any interviews, not to keep appointments and not to be available for the time being. Roth, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Bundestag, also announced on his Twitter account that there would be radio silence until July in order to recover.

In the magazine, Roth speaks openly of the mental exhaustion that has been plaguing him for some time: "I had the feeling that I was jumping from floe to floe in the Arctic Ocean and they gradually got smaller." In the past few months, "fears of failure" and "panic about what is to come" have spread to him. Roth, who has been a member of the Bundestag for more than 20 years, had never known that before.

In the federal election campaign last year, he was "sometimes afraid of meeting people, although I usually like doing it and I'm good at it." Appointments would have cost him a lot of strength. In his constituency he achieved a great success with more than 40 percent, but the problems have persisted and even worsened. Even with very simple everyday things like shopping or cooking, he suddenly failed: "It was clear: I need help." Roth has been under medical treatment since the beginning of the year and he is doing better now. In June he is on sick leave for four weeks.

Roth has been a member of the Bundestag since 1998 and is considered an expert on foreign policy. From 2013 to 2021, the 51-year-old was Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office. In the Bundestag elections last year, he ran as the top candidate for the Hessian SPD.