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<\/p>\n\u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d alum and \u201cSupergirl\u201d actress Chyler Leigh was candid this week when discussing her struggle with bipolar disorder, a condition she was diagnosed with a decade ago but only recently decided to talk about publicly.<\/p>\n
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Leigh said she had a lot of anxiety following her initial diagnosis, exacerbated by the fact that she saw her mother live with bipolar disorder as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was diagnosed with \u2014 at the time they were calling it manic depression \u2014 and I saw such an extreme version,\u201d she told People. \u201cBecause I saw what happens when you aren\u2019t advocating for yourself or taking care of yourself, when I first got the bipolar diagnosis it was sort of like, \u2018Oh my gosh, if that was me, how on Earth am I going to deal with this?\u2019 Am I in the same place? Am I equipped? Do I have what it takes to actually really genuinely take care of myself?’\u201d<\/p>\n
Leigh, 37, said she felt like she was \u201cdrowning\u201d before receiving the diagnosis, which she noted came after a particularly \u201cintense\u201d time for her and her family.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have three kids that are also living with either a mental health condition \u2014 we have ADHD, we have Asperger\u2019s, high-functioning autism \u2014 that\u2019s all of my three kids,\u201d she said of her children Noah, 16, Taelyn, 13, and Anniston, 10. Leigh is married to the actor Nathan West.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that, [and my] career, trying to make [our] marriage work, dealing with all these symptoms and not knowing what to do with it, that\u2019s where I kinda hit my breaking point and I shut down completely,\u201d Leigh said.<\/p>\n
In 2011, Leigh said she was briefly hospitalized due to the illness. Around that time, she was taking multiple different medications to manage the condition, but none of them were working for her. Eventually, she found a good fit and noted she still takes the same medication today.<\/p>\n
It \u201ckeeps me very leveled, much more even,\u201d she told the publication. \u201cThere are not really big peaks and valleys. It makes me function as a human being where I feel like, \u2018OK, I can manage when things are really hard and I can also really celebrate victories.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Leigh said she chose to open up her \u201cvery, very difficult journey\u201d with bipolar disorder in light of the Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health campaign. Prior to the initiative, the actress said she was hesitant to share her diagnosis with others, partly because she’s always been “a very kind of private person.\u201d She said she was worried she would be subject to judgment from others because of the \u201cnegative stigma\u201d around mental illness.<\/p>\n
But having a \u201cfantastic platform\u201d to share her story encouraged Leigh to speak out, she said, adding that knowing that her story could meet a \u201ctremendous amount of people\u201d also motivated her to speak out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s OK to not be OK,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d alum and \u201cSupergirl\u201d actress Chyler Leigh was candid this week when discussing her struggle with bipolar disorder, a condition she was diagnosed with a decade ago but only recently decided to talk about publicly. Leigh said she had a lot of anxiety following her initial diagnosis, exacerbated by the fact that she saw …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":51080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5951],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n