Op-Ed: I am California’s acting surgeon general. And I have bipolar disorder [latimes.com]

Carey Sipp 8/30/221:14 PM

By Devika Bhushan, Illustration: Jim Cooke/Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2022

In 2011 I was a third-year medical student at Harvard Medical School. I was on my psychiatry rotation — and I had a secret.

My attending doctors remarked on how well I supported our patients. I was grateful but felt as though my familiarity with and deep empathy for their symptoms and medication side effects were like a neon sign that at any moment could out me.

Using the words “bipolar disorder” in reference to myself was brand-new to me then. The images I had of people with bipolar disorder just didn’t fit with my sense of who I was.

[Please click here to read more.]

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Gail KennedyMember

powerful story full of grace and self compassion and recognizing the importance of caring for herself.

8/30/224:12 PM

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