Volume 44 - No. 35
SKIPPING THROUGH THAT LONESOME VALLEY
By Kent Ballard
When the news reports came about the death of Robin Williams, most folks were stunned. How could one of the funniest men in America be gone so suddenly, with no warning? Within hours the press informed us it was a suicide. Further reports went into more detail—damn their eyes—that he’d hanged himself with his belt and there were superficial cuts on his arms. I think that information should have been kept private for his family’s sake, but then I’m not a mega-conglomerate interested only in how much money I can rake in selling dog food and beer commercials.
Yes, I was offended. Because Robin Williams and I were from the same family, in a manner of speaking. In 1991 I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, Type II. For 23 years I’ve been with the same psychiatrist. In that length of time he’s risen through the ranks to become the head of the Indianapolis Psychiatric Association, because he’s good, very good, at what he does. I’m lucky to have him. I clearly remember our first few talks. There is actually very little known about Bipolar Disorder, much less than you might think. Even the discovery that lithium can treat some portions of it was made by accident. To this day no one has a clue what it does or how it works but it’s the prime drug prescribed to bipolars. Everything about Bipolar Disorder is mysterious in some way. It used to simply be known as “manic-depression” which is actually more descriptive, but now considered politically incorrect.
The symptoms usually manifest themselves in the late teens to early twenties, but there are many exceptions. People can develop this in their 40′s or 50′s. In my case, when I pressed my shrink, asking him when Bipolar Disorder took The Paper - 760.747.7119
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September 04, 2014
Other notables who suffer(ed) from Bipolar Disorder
Winston Churchill
Ernest Hemingway
Jane Pauley
Marilyn Monroe Above, Robin Williams, circa 1999, below, Robin Williams of more recent vintage
Mel Gibson
Richard Dreyfuss
Patty Duke
Kurt Cobain
over my head, he gave me a straight answer: “Kent, you should have had lithium in your baby bottle. As nearly as I can tell, you were born with it. That’s rare, but not unheard of.” He then leaned in a bit closer, as if he wanted to get a point across to me in a manner that I would never forget. “Do you realize what that means? It means your entire sum total
of life experience was lived as a bipolar. Every book you ever read, every movie you ever saw, every conversation in your life, every friend you ever made, everything you ever learned, every date you ever went on, all of your experiences, every one, was lived through and understood and became part of you filtered through Bipolar Disorder.
You’ve never known anything else. You probably never will.”
As you might guess, THAT rocked me back on my heels. I sat there and blinked for some time, then quietly asked, “Doctor, are you telling me that…that I’m crazy?” No, quite the opposite was the case. Take a moment and do
That Lonesome Valley Continued on Page 2