SUCCESS AND SADNESS

They are the kind of people that you might just be envious of. She's won an Academy Award, then came the Emmys, and the Golden Globe award. She was once the president of the Screen Actors Guild. She has had so much success. But if you were around her during that period of time you'd never know it, because she was miserable. So were the people who loved her. Patty Duke always had a smile on screen in the Patty Duke show, but off screen it was a different story. There were suicide attempts. This pint size star sits across from me and talks about how for years she ran from Psychiatrists. Now they sit in rapt attention listening to her. She addressed the APA earlier this week. That's the American Psychiatric Association.

http://www.psych.org/

Duke talks openly about Bipolar Disorder. She said her kids would wake up not knowing what they would get each day. In the morning she might be all smiles, but by the time they got home from school they were greeted with Rage. Duke said just before she was diagonsed it was almost rage all the time. She's spending a lot of time these days doing Mental Health advocacy. She's also written a book about her life with manic depressive illness.

http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780553560725

Herschel Walker is sitting on this same set just a few minutes before talking about his bout with mental illness. Walker can't remember much of his Heisman trophy season, or the moment when he actually received the prestigious award. For Walker it isn't Bi-Polar disorder that has gripped his life, it is Dissociative Identity Disorder. He's written a book about his life, "Breaking Free: My Life With Dissociative Identity Disorder." http://www.simonsays.com/content/book.cfm?tab=2&pid=624584&er=9781416537489 He puts it simply, "I'm doing this to help someone."

Duke and Walker had it all, and yet it took them years to get help. Now both are happy and healthy and trying to get their message out. Illness is illness, but here in America it seems people are far more likely to go see a doctor for a minor cut then a major mental illness. I spent some time this weekend at the APA because I have friends associated with the orginization. I had a chance to many of the Pschiatrists there. So many of them will tell you this is a great time in our history when it comes to treating mental illness. There have been major strides in treatment in recent years. But unfortunately there haven't been as many strides when it comes to making easier for people to seek treatment. There is still seems to be a stigma associated with this form of illness. With more and more stars stepping forward, like Brooke Shields, Kitty Dukakis, Mike Wallace, Patty Duke and Herschel Walker hopefully that will change. If it does then Duke and Walker will have achieved something even more important than a Heisman or an Oscar.