Famous People with Mental Illness Who Have Enriched Our Lives

Famous People

... That Have Enriched Our Lives

	Abraham Lincoln The revered 16th President suffered from severe, incapacitating and occasionally suicidal depressions, as documented in six biographical volumes by Carl Sandburg, and in numerous articles including "Dark Veil of Depression" by Judy Folkenberg, National Institute of Mental Health, published in The Consumer, HHS Pub. 3140, and in Your Health magazine, 3/28/90, pp.12-13.
	Virginia Woolf The British novelist who wrote To The Lighthouse and Orlando experienced bipolar depression characterized by feverish periods of writing and weeks immersed in gloom. Her story is discussed in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and in U.S. News & World Report, 3/5/90, p.50.
	Lionel Aldridge A defensive end for Vince Lombardi's legendary Green Bay Packers of the 1960s, Aldridge played in two Super Bowls. In the 1970s, he suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless for 2 1/2 years. He went on to give inspirational talks on his battle against paranoid schizophrenia. His story is the subject of numerous newspaper articles.
	Eugene O'Neill The famous playwright, author of Long Day's Journey Into Night and Ah, Wilderness, suffered from clinical depression, as documented in Eugene O'Neill by Olive Coolidge.
	Ludwig von Beethoven The brilliant composer Ludwig von Beethoven suffered throughout his adult life from what we now know as bipolar disorder.
	Gaetano Donizetti The opera singer suffered from bipolar depression, as documented in Donizetti by Herbert Weinstock.
	Robert Schumann The "inspired poet of human suffering" experienced bipolar depression, as discussed in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and Creative Malady by George Pickering.
	Leo Tolstoy Author of War and Peace, Tolstoy revealed the extent of his own mental illness in My Confession. His experience is also discussed in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and Inner World of Madness by Bert Kaplan.
	Vaslov Nijinsky The dancer's clinical depression is documented in his autobiography, The Diary of Vaslov Nijinsky, in Bert Kaplan's Inner World of Madness and in U.S. News & World Report, 11/21/88, p.16.
	John Keats The renowned poet's mental illness is documented in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Broken Brain by Nancy Andreasen.
	Edgar Allan Poe The author's severe bouts with paranoia and alcoholism originated from his bipolar depression as documented in The Haunted Palace: The Life of Edgar Allan Poe by Frances Winwar.
	Tennessee Williams The playwright gave a personal account of his struggle with clinical depression in his own Memoirs. His experience is also documented in Five O'Clock Angel by Marie St. Just, in Kindness of Strangers by Donald Spoto, in Tennessee: Cry of the Heart by Dotson Rader and in "Remembering Tennessee Williams," New York Times, 5/30/90, p.B3.
	Vincent Van Gogh The celebrated artist's bipolar depression is discussed in Key to Genius by Hershman and Lieb, Dear Theo: Autobiography of Van Gogh by Irving Stone and an article in Your Health magazine, 3/28/89, pp.12-13.
	Isaac Newton The scientist's mental illness is discussed in Creative Malady by George Pickering, in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and in Key to Genius by Hershman and Lieb.
	Ernest Hemingway The novelist's publicized suicidal depression is examined in The True Gen by Denis Brian.
	Sylvia Plath The poet and novelist ended her lifelong struggle with clinical depression by taking her own life, as reported in A Memory of Sylvia Plath by Nancy Hunter Steiner.
	Michelangelo The mental illness of one of the world's greatest artists is discussed in Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.
	Winston Churchill "Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished," wrote Anthony Storr in Churchill. Storr also discussed Churchill's bipolar depression in Dynamics of Creation. Statesman, scholar, author, and artist, Winston Churchill suffered from recurrent episodes of depression throughout his adult life.
	Vivien Leigh The "Gone with the Wind" star suffered from mental illness, as documented in Vivien Leigh by Anne Edwards.
	Emperor Joshua Norton Self-appointed "Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico," Joshua Norton won "a permanent place in the annals of San Francisco, as the wisest and shrewdest of madmen." His life is chronicled in Emperor Norton of San Francisco by William Kramer, Emperor Norton I by William Drury, Pioneer Jews by Drachman and Guide to San Francisco, pp.40-45.
	Jimmy Piersall The baseball player for the Boston Red Sox who suffered from bipolar depression detailed his experience in The Truth Hurts.
	Patty Duke The Academy Award-winning actress told of her bipolar depression in her autobiography and made-for-TV-movie, Call Me Anna and its sequel, A Brilliant Madness, co-authored by Gloria Hochman. Her story appears in U.S. News & World Report, 3/5/90, p.51 and in Your Health magazine, 3/28/89, pp.12-13.
	Charles Dickens Charles Dickens, author of the classica A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist, suffered from episodes of clinical depression. One of the greatest authors in English language suffered from clinical depression, as documented in Key to Genius by Hershman and Lieb and in Charles Dickens, Vols. I and II, by Edgar Johnson.
	Thelonious Monk Jazz great Thelonious Monk struggled with mental illness during much of his later career. This pianist and composer was at the forefront of the bebop movement in the 1940s and 50s. Though his highly individual style was at first unpopular, he contributed a long list of standards to the jazz repertoire, including Straight, No Chaser and 'Round Midnight. His recordings, which often coincided with erratic behavior, influenced a new generation of legends such as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins. And in the 1960s his work at last became popular with mainstream fans, earning him the cover of Time magazine in 1964.