Content Warning: This episode discusses Bipolar Disorder.
Long before his distinguished career as a Harvard professor of psychiatry and as Chief Medical Officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Ken Duckworth was a kid in Michigan wondering why his beloved dad was being taken away by the police again. He wanted to know why he was going to the hospital for an extended stay again. And once his dad was home and feeling better, Ken wanted to know when the whole cycle would start over. What Ken didn’t know is that his father had bipolar disorder, then known as manic depression. The desire to understand his dad’s condition and Ken’s inability to really help him, led Ken to a career in psychiatry, driven by a strong drive to help as many people as possible. Ken believes that lived experience with mental illness or seeing someone close to you deal with it provides both insight and sympathy and can be incredibly useful in healing. Dr. Ken Duckworth walks us through the sometimes intimidating topic of bipolar disorder in very human terms so we can all help more people down the road.
