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Hello and welcome to BBC Xtra English!

Today we talk about mental health problems and how society deals with them.

Last Tuesday, the famous Hollywood star Catherine Zeta Jones admitted undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, a mental health illness that is thought to affect around 1 percent of adults.

Bipolar disorder begins with depression and leads to severe mood swings.

Since then online social networking sites like Twitter have been awash with messages and comments of support and sympathy for her from all around the world.

The news as also provoked much off-line discussion about bipolar disorder.

Mark Davies from the British mental health charity Rethink told the BBC that Catherine Zeta Jones talking publicly about what she is suffering from gives great comfort to other people who are suffering from the same kind of disorder.

According to Mark, Catherine has also shown that being rich and famous doesn’t mean that a person is immune from this sort of illness either.

And Alistair Campbell, who used to be the top media advisor for Tony Blair when he was the British prime minister also suffered from a mental health illness.

He told the BBC that it is good for people who are in the public eye and suffer from mental illness to come out and talk about it.

Doctors in the UK and the United States have reported an increase in the number of patients actively seeking treatment for bipolar disorder in recent years.

Some experts believe that this is already - in part - down to celebrities becoming more open the illness. But critics argue that it should be up to health professionals and politicians to raise public awareness and that famous people can trivialise the issues.

Catherine Zeta Jones' publicist says the star is now 'feeling great' and looking forward to working on new film projects.

How are people with mental health illnesses treated in your country? Write to us in English!
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Mental health problems
أمراض نفسية
Undergoing treatment
يخضع للعلاج
Bipolar disorder
اضطراب ثنائي القطبين
Mood swings
تقلب المزاج
Awash with
يفيض
Comfort
راحة
Immune
محصّن
In the public eye
أمام أعين الجمهور