“A Burden to be Well: Sisters and Brothers of the Mentally Ill” is a 30-minute radio documentary that delves into the often unexamined experience of “well” siblings who grow up in a family coping with mental illness. It profiles two sets of siblings in particular: a New Hampshire family dealing with their middle daughter’s bipolar diagnosis while trying to raise two other children; and a pair of twin sisters, one with schizophrenia, and the other – a psychiatrist – without. This documentary, which aired in 2006 on WFCR and NPR (in shortened form) won a PRNDI award, among others.

Written and Produced by Karen Brown
Edited by Mary Beth Kirchner, American Radion Works