Treatment Online

Celebrities Battle Mental Health Problems
> 2/2/2006 8:54:55 AM

Although often times we don't hear about it, individuals in the public eye experience mental health problems like everyone else. Recently, two former child stars spoke out separately about the private struggles they have faced and helped family members face.

For eight years, Stephanie Tanner was the face of innocence and good natured disobedience on Full House. But when the show ended in 1995, actress Jodie Sweetin, then 13, hoped to return to a more normal life. She went back and finished school, and at 20 married a Los Angeles police officer. Things were going well until 2004, when Sweetin realized that she had become addicted to methamphetamine. She spoke on ABC's Good Morning America on Wednesday, detailing how she started to use the drug casually, but gradually fell victim to its powerful addiction. Her story is one of survival, however, as Sweetin checked herself into a drug clinic and has cleaned her life up.

Child star turned Hollywood everyman, Sean Astin has helped his famous mother deal with bipolar disorder since he was young. The son of actors John Astin and Patty Duke, Astin grew up acting. He also grew up watching his mother suffer from the violent highs and debilitating lows of bipolar disorder. He spoke with AM New York about his experience and what he and his mother are now doing to increase awareness of the disease that she has been able to conquer. Astin has created a website that provides some information about the disease, visit it here.

Comments

No comments yet.