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Bradley Cooper talks mental illness, takes 'Silver Linings Playbook' to veterans

"Silver Linings Playbook" is both a funny and a serious film, focusing on Bradley Cooper's portrayal of a bipolar man with "mood swings and weird thinking brought on by severe stress," as the actor explained on "Hardball" Thursday.Cooper has been making the rounds supporting the film, for which he's nominated for a best actor Oscar. On Thursday, a Weinstein Co. rep confirms, he visited Walter Ree

"Silver Linings Playbook" is both a funny and a serious film, focusing on Bradley Cooper's portrayal of a bipolar man with "mood swings and weird thinking brought on by severe stress," as the actor explained on "Hardball" Thursday.

Cooper has been making the rounds supporting the film, for which he's nominated for a best actor Oscar. On Thursday, a Weinstein Co. rep confirms, he visited Walter Reed National Military Center in Bethesda, Md. While there, "Silver Linings" screened for approximately 200 people (a larger audience than the "50 guys" Cooper thought would be there initially), and stayed around for three hours as part of a Q&A session.

"That's the best part about this thing is that it's able to reach out and make people feel included," he said.

"I've gone around to many cities around the country and people are talking about, how, 'I actually feel like this film sees who I am,'" the actor continued, referring to how the film shows that there is help for mental illlness and it doesn't have to be life-destroying.

Continued Cooper, "It's heavily stigmatized. It's not a very treatable disease. It's a condition, if we liken it to cancer, diagnosed at stage four, well ... that's way too late. So hopefully, a movie like this will help it become, you know, (more treatable) in the onset."

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