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Famous Psychotics/Schizophrenics

Creative Forces

Mrs. Dalloway (by Woolf, Virginia)
Tender Is the Night: A Romance. (by Scott F. Fitzgerald)
The yellow wallpaper (by Gilman, Charlotte Perkins)
The Letters of a Post-Impressionist; Bei... (by Ludovici, Anthony Mario)

When we explore the personalities of prominent artists or authors such as Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch, Virginia Woolf, and Sylvia Plath, we uncover that they have commonalities beyond their immense talents.

It’s widely known that a lot of creative visionaries have links with mental disease. The Stanford Journal of Neuroscience cites, “A possible link between mental illness and creative output has been documented throughout history. As far back as the 4th century BC, the connection between ‘divine’ inspiration and altered mental state had already been made.”

The American Psychological Association defines schizophrenia as a serious mental illness characterized by incoherent or illogical thoughts, bizarre behavior and speech, and delusions or hallucinations, such as hearing voices. Schizophrenia typically begins in early adulthood.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, genes and environment play a role in the development of the disease. “Scientists have long known that schizophrenia sometimes runs in families. However, there are many people who have schizophrenia who don’t have a family member with the disorder and conversely, many people with one or more family members with the disorder who do not develop it themselves.”

Scientists believe many different genes may increase the risk, but that no single gene causes the disorder. They also believe that interactions between genes and aspects of the individual’s environment are necessary for schizophrenia to develop. Environmental factors may involve exposure to viruses, malnutrition before birth, problems during birth, and psychosocial factors.

Long misunderstood and stigmatized, mental illness commands a long history of barbaric treatment. From trephination to bloodletting and purging to isolation in so-called asylums to frontal lobotomy, the methods by which societies attempted to control or cure madness usually resulted in either death or miserable lives for those afflicted. Although modern society has improved upon the treatment of mental illness, primarily with pharmaceuticals, we still isolate the insane from others. Such isolation occurs either through deliberate incarceration in psychiatric facilities or in social exclusion due to a lingering stigma.

“The contradiction of the genius who creates great artwork despite (or because of) mental illness has been part of Western legend for thousands of years. The image is durable, but science has not yet been able to conclusively verify or disprove it,” says the Stanford Journal of Neuroscience.

It cites that many recent studies support a link between creativity and mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia and manic depressive disorder. Although the support is tentative, it forces people to reexamine our attitudes towards the mental states that we call “diseased” and when (and if) treatment is appropriate.

An association between mental illness and creativity appears in many literary works, including Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. More recent books with a link to mental disease include She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman gives an intimate account of a woman’s descent into madness in the late 1800s.

In April 1930, Zelda Fitzgerald, the wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, was admitted to a sanatorium in France and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic.While spending time in mental hospitals, the novelist and painter engaged in creative projects such as the literary work Caesar’s Things.

It’s well known that artist Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear after an intense dispute with Paul Gauguin. He later admitted himself into a psychiatric hospital and eventually took his own life. Read more about the Van Gogh’s struggle in The Letters of a Post-Impressionist by Vincent van Gogh (translated by Anthony M. Ludovici).

By Regina Molaro