Bipolar Disorder and Having Children (1)

Kay Jamison describes the shock of hearing her own diagnosis of manic depression (bipolar disorder) and her doctor's advice not to have children.

When I was teaching at UCLA, I went in to see a doctor, and the doctor took a family history and knew I had manic depression, and told me that I should never have children because I had manic depressive illness. And it was one of the more upsetting things I had been through, in terms of just an experience with another person. I couldn't believe first of all, I couldn't believe the cruelty, because it was said with such a level of certainty, there was not any question of, of being wrong. I mean he absolutely knew that what he was saying was correct from his point of view - that I had a very bad psychiatric illness and I should not let loose into the world any more people that had those genes, and that I basically had a responsibility not to do that.