Many MPs have mental disorders: Costa

Many politicians suffer mental health problems but are reluctant to seek help, NSW Treasurer Michael Costa says.

Mr Costa said a number of state parliamentary colleagues approached him about their mental health problems after he publicly revealed his battle with bipolar disorder in 2001.

Bipolar is defined as a mental condition involving extreme mood swings.

"Once the article (on his disorder) was written, I had people come up to me, independent politicians, and I won't name them, and they said: 'I read that article and I've got such and such a problem. What do you think?'," he told a Black Dog Institute function at Sydney's Prince of Wales Hospital on Wednesday.

Mr Costa, who manages his disorder with medication, said he gave them advice and told them to seek professional help about their problems.

He said many politicians with mental disorders were often unwilling to reveal them.

"People are very reluctant in political life to come forward with their issues relating to mood disorders," he said.

"The reason for that is politics is a contact sport where aggression and arguments are par for the course, and there is a temptation too great to use any weakness as part of an argument to deal with a policy issue."

Mr Costa said opponents to his stance on electricity privatisation in NSW had used his bipolar disorder, previously referred to as manic depression, against him.

"(They said) my views on this were characterised as being a function of my manic depression," he said.

"You talk about stigmatism ... we have a long way to go, particularly in the realms of politics."

He said he wished more high profile people would open up about their condition to help abolish the stigma attached to illnesses such as bipolar.

"There is a tendency for many people to misassociate mood disorder with intellectual impairment, and I find that incredibly frustrating," he said.

Mr Costa said he used to suffer badly from bipolar but had now found the right combination of medication to manage the condition.

"I sought treatment. Anyone that seeks treatment for depression clearly has a bad case of depression. But the good news is that there are medicines, there are strategies," he said.

Mr Costa said his family had a history of mental illness.

"My sister is a schizophrenic and my mother suffered from bipolar disorder," he told the audience.

Mr Costa was at the Black Dog Institute, a facility dedicated to mental health disorders, to launch the book Managing Bipolar Disorder.

Edited by psychologist Kerrie Eyers and University of NSW psychiatry professor Gordon Parker, the book is a collection of case studies and diary entries from people with bipolar who talk about their experiences in a light-hearted and non-clinical way.

Mr Costa said the book would be a welcome resource.

"If we are going to get on top of this issue, particularly for our younger people, we need people who have suffered from mood disorders to come forward and tell their story and say that there are good treatment regimes for these problems," he said.