Howie Mandel believes mental-health checkups should be part of the regular school curriculum.

And as for adults, Mandel -- who suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder -- thinks mental-health checkups should be as routine as dental appointments.

"Mental-health care should be part of the curriculum, and it isn't," said Mandel, who was in Toronto yesterday to promote his new autobiography, Here's The Deal: Don't Touch Me, which has been published by Random House. "And I don't just mean the curriculum of school, I mean the curriculum of life.

"We take care of our dental health, but we don't take care of our mental health. Even if there's no pain, you will schedule a dental checkup twice a year. They'll say you're OK, or they'll say you have a cavity you didn't even know about."

Mandel, of course, is a well- known comedian, actor and game-show host whose most recent TV projects are Deal or no Deal and Howie Do It. So having been in the entertainment business for as long as he has, why did Mandel think 2009 was the optimum time to write an autobiography?

"Because I don't think about things," said Mandel, a 54-year-old native of Toronto who lives in Los Angeles, has been with his wife for 36 years and has three children. "There's no thought to anything in my career.

"But Deal or no Deal has brought me a level of notoriety that was above and beyond, and more inclusive of, all my fractured audiences. So I imagine that's why a publishing company said, 'Maybe we can capitalize on this.' "

Mandel said the book was incredibly hard work because of his ADHD.

"I worked with Josh Young, who organized me and is credited," Mandel said. "He toured with me for months and we would sit each and every day. He'd say, 'Howie, just give me two pages.' You have no idea the mental effort it took for me. It was really hard to do my homework."

The book came out last week, and Mandel's conditions -- combined with the current state of the world -- has made for a bizarre situation.

"A big part of my issues with OCD are germs -- not the only thing, but that's a big part of it," Mandel said. "Then when you commit to writing a book, you must promote that book. So I'm on a tour, which includes public appearances and book signings. It's a much more intensive person-on-person thing than even performing.

"So who would think that my book, about me, would end up being released, and I'd be committed to do this, in the midst of the first international pandemic that I've ever been part of, H1N1?"

At this point, yours truly apologized to Mandel for laughing very hard.

"No, I get the humour and the irony in it, too," Mandel said. "This is the world's best publicity stunt. You couldn't have planned this, but it's how my life unfolds, always."

No one knows if Mandel's battles with OCD and ADHD would have been less severe had mental-health checkups been mandatory back when he was a student. But he truly believes it's a good idea.

"God forbid you get sent to a counsellor in school, because by then it's probably too late and you're just labeled," Mandel said. "But if everybody went to a counsellor as part of the regular curriculum, for something as simple as talking about coping skills, it would take away the stigma.

"And for some kids, certain things might not blossom."