From Indiana's WISH TV - Channel 8 - by Debby Knox

"Patty Duke is an Academy Award winning actress and best-selling author.  She's also a person with a mental illness.  Duke was in Indianapolis Thursday night.

Patty Duke has made it her life work to talk openly about her battle, and victory over bipolar disease.

Patty Duke was sigining copies of her book at an event sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company.  But she's best known for her acting career.  She won an Oscar at a young age for the portrayal of Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker.

But even then, she was battling her own demons, bipolar disease, which wasn't diagnosed until she was in her 30's.  "Once my diagnosis was made and confirmed and accepted by me, the medication that was begun in my case is lithium.  It worked," Duke said."

From Mississippi's ABC Channel 11 website:

"In the U.S. alone, more than two million people have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder while millions more don't know they have it. Bipolar disorder is one of the many mental illnesses that healthcare officials are calling attention to as part of National Mental Health Awareness Week.

"Mental illness is just like any other illness. It's treatable and it's not something that someone brings on themselves, and unless they're getting treatment, they really can't control it," said Marsha McElroy, Weems Mental Health Center therapist.

"This is a chemical imbalance. It's actually a form of depression but it's extreme mood swings that last for periods of time, but this can be treated," McElroy said.

Actress Patty Duke knows first-hand about this. She spent hours on Friday talking to media all over the country about how she suffered before her diagnosis was made.

"When I began treatment, I have been so blessed so that as I got so much support and that's when I decided that it's wrong to keep this secret. You have to tell," said Duke, who suffers from bipolar disorder."