Patty Duke Opens Up About Her Mental Illness

[Brian Damage]

Last March, Patty Duke celebrated her 25th anniversary with her husband, Michael Pearce, but this spring will mark an even longer milestone: the 30th anniversary of when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

The diagnosis was a turning point in her life — a second chance to build a life without wild mood swings, substance abuse or fractured relationships.

She's still acting; her latest role is guest-starring on an upcoming episode of Hawaii Five-O. And she's still speaking about living with mental illness and the importance of diagnosis and awareness, which she'll discuss next Wednesday (Sept. 28) at the East House's luncheon.

"Part of what I talk about is that the patient isn't the only person who suffers," says Duke, who will turn 65 in December. "So do their relatives. ... Mental illness is an illness of the whole family."

Her sons, Sean and MacKenzie Astin, didn't know which way was up when they were young, she says. When she was in a depressive mode, she'd be in bed for days.

"Sean and Mac have stuck with me. For that, I'm extremely grateful," says Duke, who also has a son, Kevin, from her current marriage.

Recovery is a journey, she says, and not unlike other chronic illnesses where medicine must be adjusted, lifestyle changes must be monitored and relationships must be rebuilt bit by bit.

"That takes a good deal of time and patience on everybody's part," she says.

Duke was a child star who broke boundaries. She was the youngest person ever to win an Oscar, at 16 for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. She was the youngest person to have a show named after her; also at 16 as she played identical cousins in The Patty Duke Show.

As an adult, she continued to excel in firsts — first actor to win an Emmy for a TV movie, for My Sweet Charlie; first woman to be president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Yet through it all, she was suffering. Duke was raised by her managers, who changed her given name, Anna Marie, to Patty, causing identity issues. She says they encouraged alcohol and prescription drug use when she was a teen (fueling manic-depressive episodes). She was hospitalized at 20, tried to commit suicide by age 25. As her third marriage, to actor John Astin, was breaking up, she needed a cortisone shot to treat nodes on her vocal cords. The medicine brought on a manic episode, and she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...ng-an-advocate