ABC
The actor opened up about his bipolar diagnosis for the first time while speaking with costar Maurice Benard, sharing that he had his first breakdown as a teen "and then lived my whole life" undiagnosed until a more recent incident.
General Hospital star Chris McKenna is opening up about his recent bipolar diagnosis.
The actor, who joined the soap earlier this year after previously appearing on The Young and the Restless and State of Affairs, got candid about mental health while appearing on costar Maurice Benard's State of Mind podcast. Benard has also been very open in the past about his own bipolar disorder diagnosis.
McKenna shared that his diagnosis came during lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic, something the actor -- like most of us -- initially thought would only last a short amount of time.
"It just lingered on and on ... the monotony and not, like, moving on with my life. I was back at home and it really started to do a number on my mental health in particular," he began, as Benard asked if there was anything "specific" that happened during that time.
“Well, I'll talk about the fact that I have bipolar disorder. This is the first time I'm ever talking about it publicly," he continued, as Benard then asked, "from one bipolar to another" how he was doing now.
"I'm doing good right now. It hasn't always been the case, but I'm good right now," McKenna explained. "From my first breakdown when I was a teenager, not hospitalized -- our journey is different, my journey is different than yours -- 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."
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View StoryExplaining that he's experienced periods of "heavy cyclothymia" -- which Mayo Clinic describers as "periods when your mood noticeably shifts up and down from your baseline" -- he added that that during COVID he had his "first dangerous depression" since he was a teen.
"Which was followed by a manic psychotic episode which required hospitalization. And that's when I finally got the diagnosis, that I needed my whole life and got on medication," he shared, confirming that he's currently on lithium. "And that's where I am today."
The full interview between McKenna and Benard will drop Sunday.
