2009-12-25 @ 7:50 PM
Famous People...and Mental Illness
I was walking down the 2nd Floor of CLA building when I came across this article posted in the bulletin board of the Behavioral Sciences Department. It caught my attention, since I, myself, is even wondering about my condition at that time...
An interesting list of famous people...most of them we thought we know well...who suffered mental illnesses in their time.
(1) Isaac Newton= a famous mathematician who made a lot of contribution in physics, particularly in astronomy (gravitation and centrifugal force)
= suffered from several `nervous breakdowns` and is diagnosed to have Bipolar Disorder
(2) Ludwig Van Beethoven= a genius composer whose compositions broke the mold for classical music forever
= had bipolar disorder and `manic` episodes, both of which fueled his creativity in creating music
(3) Abraham Lincoln= the 16th President of the United States who reigned the country during the times of tumultous internal conflicts
= suffered from occasional suicidal depressions...``a tendency to melancholy``, as he dubbed it in one of his letters
(4) Vincent Van Gogh= a renowned painter and artist known for his magnificent masterpieces such as the 12 sunflowers
= labeled as having a paculiar personality with unstable moods, and said to have suffered epileptic seizures from taking too much absinthe, a liquor said to inspire artists
(5) Winston Churchill= Prime Minister of Great Britain and one of the `Big Three` who joined forces to bring an end to Hitler`s reign in World War 2
= suffered from `black dog`: Churchill`s term for severe and serious depression
(6) Virginia Woolf= a famous British novelist
= she wrote to make sense out of her mental chaos and gain control of madness; both giving her recognition for her creative insight into human nature
(7) Linda Hamilton= an actress, famous for her part in Arnold Schwarzenegger`s movie `The Terminator`
= opened to the public her diagnosis of bipolar disorder at a young age
(8) Judy Collins= a singer and songwriter whose son died of suicide in 1993
= the experience led her to write a book entitled `Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength``, chronicling her own journey to overcome depression over the loss of a loved one
(9) William Styron= an author, and one of the first people who wrote about other persons who sturggled with mental illness
= he wrote the book, `Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness`, where he wrote about his own depression and his decision to seek help
(10) Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison= professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD and author of many books on mental illness
= she, herself, suffered from bipolar disorder and even attempted suicide
(11) John Nash= A Nobel Prize winner in mathematics, whose ghosts was said to hunt the Fine Hall of Princeton University as he wrote his mathematical equations on the boards of classrooms
= he was said to had faced a lifelong battle with schizophrenia
(12) Lionel Aldridge= a football player for the Green Bay Packers during the 1960`s
= he developed paranoid schizophrenia when he was homeless for 2 1/2 years...something that inspired him to start his battle against the illness as he speaks to groups to help them better understand mental illness
(13) Eugene O`Neill= a famous playwright, and the only American playwright to have received the Nobel Prize award for Literature
= he came from a deeply trouble family background, suffering from clinical depression the greater portion of his life
There`s actually a lot more, but I wont be bothered to write them anymore.
These people lived their lives with the best that they have, despite their mental illnesses. All of them are great names in their own right, but what makes them more worthy of respect is that they all made a difference by showing the world that mentally-afflicted people still have the ability to dream, and reach for it.
I want to become a psychologist because I myself have a battle to fight - a battle to find the mysteries of my dark, melancholic and anxious self, and what would I do in order to help myself from it.
Whether I will become famous in my endeavor is something that I cannot be sure of, but one thing is for sure...I, too, will make a difference.
I just know it.
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