Mood Swings

A Psychiatrist Surveys the Mind and the Wider World

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH is director of the mood disorders and psychopharmacology programs in the department of psychiatry at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. See full bio

May 21, 2008, Politics

Comments on "The torch is passing, but to whom?"

The torch is passing, but to whom?

By Dr. Nassir Ghaemi on May 21, 2008 in Mood Swings

In my late twenties, when I was a psychiatry resident with little time to spare, I volunteered to canvass my Cambridge, Massachusetts neighborhood for Ted Kennedy's 1994 re-election campaign. He had no primary opposition, but he needed enough signatures to be put on the ballot. I thought I could make a small contribution, and an easy one: after all, who in Cambridge would refuse to sign a form so Kennedy's name could be on the ballot? A lot of folks, to my surprise - Read More

"The Torch is Passed"

Submitted by Vilda Brannen on May 26, 2008 - 6:28pm.

Hopefully,Patrick Kennedy will prove his worth in the political arena despite his diagnosis with bipolar disorder. I was moved by this "young" man who already won his own battle with cancer at an early age when he stepped outside the norm for his powerful family with admission of a mental disorder. He is a role model I often point to for my clients diagnosed with a mental illness that is often devastating and also holds so much stigma in our society today. I hope Patrick will arise to the occasion where other Kennedy's of his generation have failed. Maybe it was his close encounter with death by cancer rather than on a foreign battle field than has given him the courage to lead.