Donald Kern
Posted March 2009
Donald Kern is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice in Woodland Hills, California. He is a member of a number of professional organizations and is on the Service Area II Advisory Committee for the Los Angeles County Mental Health Department.
Mr. Kern has been interviewed about Bipolar Disorder on local radio and television and has been a guest speaker at UCLA, County USC Medical Center, and recently gave Grand Rounds at Olive View Medical Center in California. He is a consultant to health professionals and other psychotherapists who desire to learn more about bipolar disorder. As well, he has provided in-service training for social service agencies and mental hospital workers. With a 35-year history of bipolar disorder, the last 25 on medication without an episode, he brings his personal experience to others.
Mr. Kern has written a variety of articles that have been published in professional and consumer magazines, as well as a book, "Mind Gone Awry," which details his illness and success and tenacity in overcoming bipolar disorder.
1) When did you first get diagnosed with bipolar disorder and were you ever misdiagnosed previously?
Donald: I was first diagnosed in 1974 as schizophrenic. At that time, lithium and the idea of a chemical imbalance being the cause of bipolar disorder were first becoming in vogue. Later that year, another psychiatrist diagnosed me as manic depressive.
2) How did you react to your initial diagnosis?
Donald: Having had several years of flagrant and psychiatric manic episodes, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder came with a sense of relief. At last, I had an explanation for my strange behaviour. I was somewhat stunned. The idea of having a mental illness filled me with fear, which in time, dissipated.
3) Any advice for someone recently diagnosed?
Donald: The advice I would give to someone recently diagnosed is to take your meds regularly and stay in therapy. It's all too easy to question the diagnosis, given the stigma of mental illness. Trust your doctor while still educating yourself on your illness.
4) Did you think you suffered from a mental illness before you were diagnosed or was it a complete surprise?
Donald: While I tended to have depression as a teen, I thought this was normal. When I became manic ten years later, I was completely surprised. As well, my manias were so compelling, I had a difficult time attributing them to an illness.
5) Did the people close to you think something was wrong with you or did you hide your symptoms well?
Donald: While I kept to myself, others who knew me soon got the idea that something was "off." I was 25 years old, on my own, and living in a remote, mountainous area when I first became ill. Since my family lived 600 miles away, they only got a sense of my imbalanced mind when I visited months later. I did not verbalize my delusional thoughts freely, keeping the severity of my illness hidden. My family finally realized how ill I was after an episode of strange behavior landed me in jail.
6) What techniques do you use to help manage your bipolar disorder, if any (medication, diet, exercise, therapy, etc.)?
Donald: I take my meds without question, meditate daily, focus on the here and now, and use visualization to relax if my thoughts become too intense. I have a psychiatrist I see every few months, and I utilize psychotherapy as needed. One "technique" I turn to for encouragement and feedback is my wife of 22 years.
7) How has bipolar disorder affected your professional life and relationships?
Donald: Professionally, bipolar disorder has become an important part of my practice. As a licensed psychotherapist, I treat others with bipolar disorder and have been comfortable with self-disclosing about my experience, which clients appreciate. I feel connected with myself and to others, so much so that I feel I'm an open book. Mostly, this has not affected my professional life negatively, but has enhanced my self-image as someone congruent with himself and his past.
8) How has bipolar disorder affected your personal life and relationships?
Donald: With a 35 year history of the illness, bipolar disorder is an integral part of who I am. Consequently, I lead my personal life with an attitude of openness and willingness to tell my story to others. I have become much more verbal about it in recent years, which has led to a sense of acceptance as to who I am. This has developed into a circle of friends I am close to and who respect me for the gains I have made in my life despite having a mental illness diagnosis.
9) Have you ever experienced negativity or stigma from people who have become aware of your condition?
Donald: Over the course of living with bipolar disorder, I have experienced stigma and negativity, though more in the earlier years than now. In speaking candidly about the illness in a public forum I have had people who have kept their distance, hesitating to enter into a discussion with me or who have blatantly ignored me. However, the main issue for me has always been self-stigma. It's more of what I put myself through than what others put me through that most adds to my struggle.
10) Have you ever experienced more positive or accepting reactions from people who have become aware of your condition?
Donald: My bipolar clients are a continuing source of appreciation , normalizing a regard for me as a person. Sharing my experience of dealing with the illness long-term, prompts them to value our relationship. As well, people I meet in my private life, especially friends of many years, express admiration for my tenacity in struggling to overcome my illness.
11) Do you think mental illness is generally looked upon differently now than it was 10 years ago? Better? Worse?
Donald: In my opinion, this is a mixed bag. Mental illness is looked upon differently now than it was ten years ago when it was seen as a character flaw rather than a biological disorder. At the same time, the increase in diagnosis of mental illness, in particular bipolar disorder, has brought the illness more to the public eye, as negative events in the news involving the mentally ill create a more frequent negative image.
12) What more do you think can be done to change the public's perception of mental illness?
Donald: Education and positive role models can help change the public's perception of mental illness. Those, like myself, who have come out publicly, represent a growing edge of individuals who are living successful and productive lives regardless of their mental illness. Perception is key to changing the values toward it. With the increase in diagnosis, more people know someone who has a mental illness and this has a normalizing and empathetic effect.
13) Do you consider bipolar disorder part of who you are, part of what makes up your character, personality and experience of self?
Donald: Living inside my own skin, I do not see myself as a bipolar individual as much as I do a person who has been affected by an illness, much the way a diabetic or heart patient has an illness.
14) With bipolar disorder having a lot of negative traits attached to it, is there anything positive that you associate with your personal experience of your bipolar disorder?
Donald: I see myself as a person with a life long learning experience and acceptance of my bipolar diagnosis. I have learned to value my episodes as visits to a foreign country which have caused me to learn a new language, a language I converse in with others also afflicted. I have acquired a persistence to fight against the darkness and fear, which have enveloped me in the past and have become a stronger person because of it even though I would not have chosen this path had I had a choice. It has shaped my character in many ways.
15) If the medical establishment could offer you a pill tomorrow that would cure bipolar disorder and remove all the associated symptoms (positive and negative) would you take it and why?
Donald: The medical establishment has already offered me a pill that has resulted in stability long-term and yes, I would take that pill. With many lost years in my early adulthood, I would trade my interesting, psychotic delusions for the ability to have pursued my life in a more normal fashion. The fact that my father didn't live long enough to see me regain my mental health fills me with sadness. The struggles I put my family though I would gladly have avoided, but I do not, however, see my life as wasted. In the end, it is what it is.
Websites
www.bipolarbychance.blogspot.com
www.kerntherapy.com
Published Book
Mind Gone Awry
By Donald Kern
based on 2 reviews.
