Is portraying a volitle Sonny too much for Maurice Benard to handle on General Hospital?

A fan was spot on regarding Maurice Benard's mental health

If you have been watching General Hospital for the past months, you have become concerned not only for Sonny Corinthos, who is off his meds but also for his portrayer, Maurice Benard. A few weeks ago, Gale P. of Southwest Virginia told me that Ava Jerome's (Maura West) tampering with Sonny's medication dosage was not a good idea and could be dangerous on and off the screen.

She was concerned that the character would flip out, and this would affect Benard, who has been dealing with bipolar disorder in real-time for more than three decades.

I had noticed that Sonny looked out of sorts lately but was unsure if it was just his portrayal of the character or Benard dealing with his demons. Gale P. said she had read that Benard acknowledged that sometimes it was difficult for him to shift out of Sonny mode after taping intense scenes.

Benard confirms portraying Sonny affects him

Soaps in Depth has just revealed that Benard acknowledged on his Podcast State of Mind (but downplayed) the role his character's condition played in a recent mental health crisis, saying it was "small."

The actor said he began feeling anxious after his wife and son traveled to Europe for a vacation. He went to several doctors who were unable to give him medication that worked, but he began feeling better once his loved ones returned home. During this time, he missed two weeks of taping episodes for General Hospital, which is very telling.

Previously, Bernard said that as long as he remained on Lithium, which he has taken for 30 years, he did not have mental health problems. The fact that he was seeking other medication suggests that something had seriously changed. Soap Hub reports that the actor said that when he returned to General Hospital, he taped eight episodes two days after a two-week absence.

At what point does Benard reconsider?

Benard admitted these episodes were intense and added that his character would have been recast if he missed a third week from work. Should General Hospital fans applaud Maurice Benard for being a professional, returning to work, and taping his scenes? Should they instead warn him to put his mental health over his role and not worry about his popular character?

Benard had been saying he wished he could do the State of Mind Podcast full-time, leading some to believe he wanted to retire from GH. Now it sounds like the actor is afraid of beign replaced due to his bipolar disorder.

What's really going on?

What do you think, General Hospital fans? Is Maurice Benard gambling with his mental health by remaining on the ABC soap? What about executive producer Frank Vanetini, whom Benard praises? Why are he and the writers putting the iconic actor in such an awkward position?

Could they be attempting to force Benard off the show to save money? This sounds cruel and unimaginable, but working with him for so long, they certainly know having Sonny flip out would affect the cast member.

Can Sonny and Maurice return from the darkness?

Ava has now demanded the doctor give Sonny a placebo so he will be 100% off his meds. Meanwhile, Benard is searching for new meds because his lithium is obviously no longer working. Is this a coincidence, or is Sonny's pace too much for the aging actor, who is now 61? This is a serious matter and should be taken seriously.

Hopefully, now that the intense scenes are over, the writers will take Sonny in a different direction. He beat Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) and Dex Heller (Evan Hofer) within an inch of their lives, and this had to be difficult for Maurice Benard to perform. Be on the lookout for updates from the actor about his mental health journey and spoilers about what is coming up next on General Hospital.