NEED TO KNOW
In PEOPLE’s exclusive first look at the Dec. 21 episode of Maurice Benard’s State of Mind podcast, guest Chris McKenna reveals his bipolar diagnosis for the first timeMcKenna shares that the Covid lockdown triggered a mental health crisis for him, and he was hospitalizedIt was after treatment that doctors determined he had bipolar: “I finally got my diagnosis that I needed my whole life”
General Hospital star Chris McKenna shared that he’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and has required hospitalization for treatment, in the past.
In PEOPLE’s exclusive first look at McKenna’s Dec. 21 appearance on Maurice Benard’s State of Mind podcast, the soap star, 48, shared that his struggles hit a breaking point during the COVID shutdown.
“It just lingered on and on … the monotony and not, like, moving on with my life,” McKenna, who plays Jack Brennan on the long-running ABC hit, explained. “I was back at home and it really started to do a number on my mental health in particular.”
Maurice Benard and Chris McKenna on “State of Mind.”.
State of Mind
“Anything, like, specific for you that happened as far as you want to talk about or anything?” Benard, 62, asked.
“Well, I’ll talk about the fact that I have bipolar disorder,” McKenna said. “This is the first time I’m ever talking about it publicly.”
“So, from one bipolar to another bipolar,” Benard, who has been frank about his own mental health struggles and the challenges of living with bipolar disorder, began, “How you doing, brother?”
“I’m doing good right now. It hasn’t always been the case, but I’m good right now.”
McKenna went on to share that he’s struggled with alcohol and drugs, and that his first challenges came early in life. “I had my first breakdown when I was a teenager and then lived my whole life with this disorder undiagnosed, which is fascinating in retrospect.”
He shared that he experienced “heavy cyclothemia” — a rare mood disorder that causes extreme highs and lows, per the Mayo Clinic — during COVID; That’s what triggered “my first dangerous depression since [I was] a teenager, which was followed by a manic psychotic episode which required hospitalization.”
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As he shared later in the podcast, he was struggling with delusions, and believing that he could read minds. At first, he thought his symptoms were simply caused by marijuana use, but did eventually accept that he was bipolar.
The hospitalization, McKenna says, is how “I finally got my diagnosis that I needed my whole life and got on medication, and that’s where I am today.”
The full episode of State of Mind with Chris McKenna airs Sunday, December 21, on YouTube and other podcast providers.