For 16 years, Patrick Kennedy served as a Democratic congressman from Rhode Island. But in 2011, he stepped down to start a new career as a mental health advocate. He was at UIC on Tuesday to launch the new University of Illinois Center on Depression and Resilience, part of a consortium of 21 leading academic centers nationwide dedicated to the treatment and research of mood disorders.
In an interview with the Tribune, he reflected on his father, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who succumbed to brain cancer in 2009, life as a 47-year-old private citizen and his own struggles with mental illness.
Q. Why is this new Center on Depression and Resilience important?
A. With cancer, you have the National Cancer Institute, which coordinates research, so everyone benefits. We need that same thing with mental health, so we can coordinate what’s going on … across the country … science is so siloed. We need to look at how research in one area might benefit what is happening somewhere else. This consortium is like a big water cooler, where everyone can gather … so we can expedite research that shows promise.
Q. Do you think you can be a better advocate for mental health in Congress or out?
A. I can only be effective now because of the 16 years I spent in Congress and the success I had in getting the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act signed into law in 2008. Now as a private citizen, I can work with singular focus to getting that law implemented and enforced with the help of all the stakeholders because they know that I hold the unique position of having written it. I can still play a constructive role in making sure we establish a health care system that treats the person, not just their disease … that includes mental health as part of overall health. We will have better outcomes with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and hypertension if we do a better job of treating behavioral health, because it’s all interrelated.
Q. You’ve been very candid about your own struggles with addiction and bipolar disorder. How are you doing?
A.. I’ve had my longest period of uninterrupted sobriety — three years and eight months …And I have that sobriety in of all places, Atlantic City, N.J., where I live with my wife and three children. I go to a 12-step meeting every chance I get. It’s a great way to start the day.
Q. How has fatherhood changed you?
A. In working to stay healthy and sober one day at a time, I not only give myself a chance to live a contented, useful life but I have the opportunity to break the cycle of alcoholism in my family for my children’s sake. That thought adds to my motivation … because I know it will make me a better father and husband.
Q. Do you think you could have maintained your sobriety and stayed in Congress?
A. In Congress, I was always trying to be everything to everybody. Now, I’m focusing on being somebody to someone — namely my wife and children. That is more grounding emotionally and therefore gives me a better chance of remaining sober than if I were still in public office.
Q. How did you know when it was time to leave?
A. During the last year of my father’s life, I had a moment of clarity that made me realize that succeeding in politics would not repair the hole in my soul. I saw that a lifetime of honors and accolades could not keep my father company the way that friends and family could. I realized that if I wanted a truly fulfilling life, I needed to have a personal life, not just a public life.
Q. What are you proudest of?
A. I consider the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act not only the legislative highlight of my service in Congress but a personal one as well since I got to work on it with my father who was the primary sponsor on the Senate side. It was his last bill signed into law and President Bush signed it on the same desk that President Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act almost 50 years earlier.
Q. What’s next?
A. I’ll be back in Chicago on Nov. 13 for the launch of the Kennedy Forum Illinois, featuring many speakers, including (Bears wide receiver) Brandon Marshall and (actress) Mariel Hemingway, both of whom have been touched by mental illness. To learn more or request an invitation, visit thekennedyforumillinois.org.
Twitter @bmrubin
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