Journalist overcame bipolar disorder to host talk show

Cox News Service PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Former longtime "Today" show host Jane Pauley is cheerful and downright charming during a recent conversation from her home in New York.

And that's as it should be.

Since 2001, the former "Dateline" co-anchor has taken lithium to control bipolar disorder. The condition, also known as manic-depressive disorder, can cause intense mood swings and is marked by episodes of unusually high energy and severe depression.

Pauley detailed the discovery of her illness and her road to recovery in her book, "Skywriting: A Life out of the Blue" in 2004, and last year on "The Jane Pauley Show," which aired from late 2004 to late 2005.

The broadcast journalist will relate her story in a lecture, "Talking About Talking About Mental Illness," at a by-invitation event for supporters of the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Wednesday at the Flagler Museum.

While taking steroids for four months to control a come-and-go case of hives in 2001, Pauley slipped into depression. The antidepressant prescribed for the journalist, then 49, triggered bipolar disorder.

"After another four months or so on antidepressants, bringing me to a total of 10 months between the steroids and antidepressants, I was suddenly flipped into this hypomania," Pauley said. Her doctors had no way of knowing she was genetically predisposed to the mental illness, she said.

The mild form of mania gave an uncomfortable intensity to Pauley's thought process.

"There was a brief surge of creativity and energy, stamina, which in combination was pretty fabulous, but that lasted about three weeks. And after that it was just this intensity, irritability that wasn't in any way pleasant. So I probably tend more to the depressive side of the equation," she said.

Pauley was diagnosed with the condition the same day she started a sabbatical from her duties at NBC. Her doctor admitted her in late May 2001 to the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Her doctor advised her to tell her bosses at NBC that she was admitted for a thyroid condition. Pauley refused.

"I thought of myself as someone with my feet on the ground, my head screwed on straight. So, to be told I had a mental illness was certainly a shock, but to imply it was so shocking, that I shouldn't tell -- I should make up a cover story -- made it a lot worse, a whole lot worse," Pauley said. "The secret seemed worse than the diagnosis. For a lot of people, they still have to go through that."

After less than three weeks, Pauley left the hospital. The lithium Pauley has been prescribed since her diagnosis stabilizes her mood.

"I find myself on most days, probably a little more aware of mood than you do, but not a lot. Am I having a good hair day or bad hair day might be more prominent," she laughs. "[But it] might not."

She went back to work on Sept. 10, 2001. She considers the Emmy she won for a story on the terrorist attacks a validation of her ability to function.

And though "The Jane Pauley Show" had a short run, the journalist considers that experience another victory.

"It was the hardest thing I ever did. If there was any doubt that I could work that hard and under that much stress and remain stable -- well, I did."

Though she can laugh now at being "famously bipolar," Pauley said she never considered keeping her illness a secret.

"It's only when we talk to each other that we find it is possible to live a life with mental illness, that there are people who are doing it. But unless we talk to each other about it, there's no way we can share those 'best practices.'?"

Almost every day someone pulls her aside to ask her about bipolar disorder. It's more difficult to find a family that has not been affected by mental illness than to find one that is, she said.

David Rogers writes for the Palm Beach Daily News. E-mail: drogers AT pbdailynews.com