My question to people is “Do you want to be well?”
An article from the Hattiesburg American1 reports on Patty Duke’s presentation at the the Women’s Life Conference.
Duke, best known for playing “identical cousins” on the Patty Duke Show, recounted that after her show was canceled when she was 19, she experienced the first symptoms of bipolar disorder. She became pregnant, married a man who came to her apartment to perform routine maintenance work, rented a Learjet to fly around the country, and bought “four Mercedes-Benzes in an afternoon.” Her disorder was diagnosed when she was 35, at which time she began treatment with lithium, which she still takes.
Duke identified compliance as an especially important aspect of treatment:
It’s a key stumbling block … My question to people is, ‘Do you want to be well?’ It is a lifetime commitment. I was out of control, destructive to myself and my family. I know what made it better. I know not to stop taking the medication. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. It’s been 25 years since my diagnosis and I began taking medication.
Footnotes
- Duke shares struggles with mental illness By Nancy Musgrove Hattiesburg American April 30, 2007↩