James Le Bas

• Le Bas has publicly identified his diagnosis as bipolar I disorder. In a 2025 paper, he stated that he has “Cade’s disease (bipolar I disorder).” [1]
• Le Bas has described publicly revealing his illness as difficult. In 2024, he wrote that he had chosen to disclose it to colleagues and others and that doing so felt exposing, particularly because of concern about how disclosure might be received within his profession. [8]

• Le Bas has described four psychiatric hospitalizations involving psychosis, depression and mania. His first occurred in a locked ward in Manila, an experience he has said helped awaken his interest in psychiatry and eventually influenced the direction of his career. [6]
• He has also written in detail about later episodes. In one account, Le Bas described a brief psychosis involving a belief in the influence of the devil, followed by a period in which he felt increasingly numb and depressed. He wrote about low self-worth, tearfulness, difficulty getting up in the morning and brief recurrences of psychotic experiences as his mood changed. [7]

• Le Bas has described receiving psychiatric treatment across different periods of his life, including treatment with mood stabilisers. In one first-person account, he wrote that a change in medication to carbamazepine was followed by a period in which he felt unwell and experienced a brief psychosis; he considered several possible explanations, including medication interactions. [7]
• He has also described his psychiatrist as helping him gain perspective during a later depressive period. [7]

• Le Bas has said that he has not required psychiatric hospitalization for more than two decades. In 2024, he wrote that during the previous 23 years he had followed treatment advice and had experienced only brief periods away from work. [8]
• He has described treatment as effective for him while also acknowledging its limitations, writing that “Treatment works, if not without its side effects.” He was able to continue working as a psychiatrist for more than forty years before retiring from clinical practice. [8][9]

• Le Bas has used his experience as both a psychiatrist and a patient to argue for greater openness about mental illness within medicine. He has said that doctors and society can benefit when clinicians speak honestly about their own mental-health experiences, and has specifically called for the profession to address mental illness and burnout among doctors. [2]
• He has also emphasized the value of lived experience in psychiatric education and practice. Through Beyond Bipolar and public talks, Le Bas has tried to reduce fear surrounding bipolar disorder and to bridge the gap between clinical descriptions of illness and what it is actually like to experience it. [6][2]

“I am writing my truth in the hope that it contributes to a greater truth.”

— James Le Bas [2]