MENTAL HEALTH CHECKUPS AS IMPORTANT AS PHYSICALS,
SAYS MARGARET TRUDEAU

Denying the despair of depression, the highs of mania and
self-medicating a mood disorder through illicit drug use are pitfalls
Margaret Trudeau knows all too well.

The chance to forget your problems and be happy is often tempting for
someone who is too depressed to resist, and too many alcohol and drug
addictions mask underlying mental health problems.

People too often neglect their mental health, Trudeau, 59, said at the
launch of a campaign in Ontario to urge people to "Check Up from the
Neck Up."

The campaign is organized by the Mood Disorders Association of Ontario
and has the support of a number of medical groups.

"Our mental health is as important as our physical health," said the
ex-wife of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

"We take such efforts to be physically well. . . . Why aren't we
checking on our mental health?"

The deaths of her son Michel and her ex-husband plunged her into
depths of sorrow she was unaware existed, even after living with
bipolar disorder for decades.

She lost her will to live and ability to function. She couldn't even
muster enough energy to go to the grocery store.

It was then that she finally realized, with her family's help, that
she wasn't well.

"Six years ago I had to make big life changes," she said. "I had to
give up my wicked, wicked ways. I had to get really honest with
myself. I had to accept that I had a mental illness that needed to be
treated."

Those wicked ways -- which included drug use and hard partying at
glamorous nightclubs -- are one aspect of her life that was
well-documented when she was thrust into the spotlight as a
22-year-old flower child and bride of Pierre Trudeau in 1971. The
couple, who had three sons, separated in 1977 and divorced in 1984.

"One of the problems often with having a mood disorder untreated is
that you self-medicate," she said.

"I was a hippie in the late '60s and took to marijuana like a duck to
water. . . . It caused me difficulties in my life that I can't even
mention."

Smoking pot would drive her mania to dangerous highs, and even
hospitalization.

"For those with a mood disorder, and particularly those with bipolar,
(drug use) is like a diabetic living on a steady diet of Black Forest
cake," she said.

Trudeau said she looks back on her younger self and wishes she knew
then what she knows now. All the bridges she burned, mistakes she made
and family and friends she hurt -- perhaps all that could have been
avoided, she said.