One reason for this could have to do with thinning of the right cortex of the brain. This thinning could be one reason why certain people are able to adapt more easily to emotional events than others. It’s also one reason depression is hereditary.

Research has changed quite a bit since even the time when Sylvia Plath experienced depression (and wrote about it in her novel, The Bell Jar.)  . The increased knowledge we have today may mean that treatment for people more prone to depression can be targeted and therefore more effective.

Image: Barnes and Noble.com.

Post from: Blisstree

Suicide in the Family

Now her son Nicholas Hughes, just 47-years old, has also taken his own life. Hughes was single and had no children of his own. He had recently left his job as a marine biologist to open a pottery studio.

Hughes grew up with his father and sister, Frieda. Both of his famous parents have written about him in their poetry.

Frieda Hughes has struggled with depression in the past as well, and has said of Nicholas, “He was a loving brother, a loyal friend to those who knew him and, despite the vagaries that life threw at him, he maintained an almost childlike innocence and enthusiasm for the next project or plan.”

Image: Barnes and Noble.

Post from: Blisstree

Sylvia Plath’s Son Commits Suicide

This post is part of Celebrity Health Week at the b5media Health & Wellness Channel. For more information about Celebrity Health Week posts here at Mental Health Notes, visit Introducing Celebrity Health Week: Celebrities And Mental Illness.

In this Celebrity Health Week post, we’ll take a look at some celebrities who have either reportedly attempted suicide, or who have completed suicide.

Please note that I am not an authority on celebrities and mental illness, nor am I an authority on celebrities who have committed suicide. For a celebrity to be on this list, he or she or a spouse or reliable family member must have publicly discussed – verbally or otherwise – his or her suicide attempt or completion, or, in the case of the deceased, professionals must have addressed it later on.

Read on.

Halle Berry, actress, discussed her attempt at suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning with Parade.

Drew Carey, comedian, actor, and game show host, discussed his depression and two suicide attempts – one at the age of 18 and another in his 20s – with Nancy O’Dell of Access Hollywood.

Robert Van Winkle, aka Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby!), reportedly attempted suicide twice in 1994 after struggles with drug abuse, depression, and being dropped from his record label.

Drew Barrymore, former seriously troubled child star turned seriously successful actress and producer, attempted suicide during her early teenage years.

Gary Coleman, actor, disclosed two suicide attempts by sleeping pills in a 1993 Geraldo interview.

Brigitte Bardot, actress, reportedly attempted suicide twice.

Johnny Cash, country music singer, attempted suicide in 1967.

Walt Disney, Academy Award-winning film producer, screenwriter, director, animator, voice actor, and entrepreneur, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1930s.

Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, rapper, reportedly attempted suicide in the mid 1990s.

Kim Mathers, Eminem’s two-time ex, reportedly attempted suicide in 2000.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, author, reportedly attempted suicide.

Judy Garland, actress, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1950s. Some speculate her accidental death by overdose was actually suicide.

Billy Joel, musician, reportedly attempted suicide in the early 1970s.

John McCain, the potential next President of the United States, reportedly attempted suicide during Vietnam.

Mindy McCready, country music singer, reportedly attempted suicide twice.

Sinead O’Connor, musician, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1990s.

Yoko Ono, artist, musician, and John Lennon’s widow, reportedly attempted suicide in the 1960s.

Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of F@&*#%g Darkness!, reportedly attempted suicide several times as a teenager.

Jack Osbourne, the Prince’s son, frankly discusses his depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and suicide attempt in his book 21 Years Gone: The Autobiography.

Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy’s assassin, reportedly attempted suicide when he failed to gain Soviet citizenship.

Edgar Allan Poe, writer and poet, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1840s.

Lou Reed, musician whose parents confined to a mental hospital to “ward off” homosexual behavior, reportedly attempted suicide.

Donna Summer, singer, reportedly attempted suicide.

Elizabeth Taylor, actress, reportedly attempted suicide.

Tina Turner, singer, reportedly attempted suicide in the late 1960s.

Sid Vicious, former Sex Pistols bassist, reportedly attempted suicide in 1978. Vicious died of a drug overdose in 1979.

Hank Williams, Jr., singer and son of Hank Williams, Sr., reportedly attempted suicide in the 1970s.

Owen Wilson, actor, reportedly attempted suicide in 2007.

Sadly, the following celebrities completed their suicides:

• Kurt Cobain, musician and lead singer of Nirvana.
• Ernest Hemingway, writer.
• Margaux Hemingway, actress and Ernest’s granddaughter.
• Terry L. Long, Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman.
• Marilyn Monroe, actress. (Though this is speculated.)
• Sylvia Plath, poet.
• Freddie Prinze, actor and father of Freddie Prinze, Jr.
• Anne Sexton, poet.
• Hunter S. Thompson, journalist and author.
• Vincent van Gogh, artist.
• Virginia Woolf, writer.

For more detailed lists, check out the NNDB’s lists of suicide attempts and suicide as causes of deaths.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more information about suicide, as well as my letters to a few of the people discussed during Celebrity Health Week.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Celebrities And Suicide

This post is part of Celebrity Health Week at the b5media Health & Wellness Channel. For more information about Celebrity Health Week posts here at Mental Health Notes, visit Introducing Celebrity Health Week: Celebrities And Mental Illness.

In this Celebrity Health Week post, we’ll take a look at some famous writers and artists who have a mental illness – or had, in the case of the deceased. I’ve covered several music artists throughout the series, so I think I’ll keep this post to writers and artists who were painters, sculptors, etc.

Unless I find one that interests me – say, a historical musician or someone like that.

Please note that I am not an authority on anyone who may have a mental illness. For an person to be on this list, he or she or a spouse or reliable family member must have publicly discussed – verbally or otherwise – his or her mental illness, or, in the case of the deceased, professionals must have addressed it later on.

Read on!

The following writers and artists have either reportedly spoken about their mental illnesses, or professionals have talked about the possibility of mental illness after their deaths.

Art Buchwald, deceased American humorist and well known for his column in The Washington Post, reportedly had bipolar disorder.

Patricia Cornwell, author, was quoted in The Times as admitting to taking a mood stabilizer because she was “wired differently” and that even though her “diagonosis goes back and forth” she’s “pretty sure” she has it. “It” being bipolar disorder. She also mentioned that it’s “not unusual for great artistic people to have bipolar disorder.” Hmm.

Hart Crane, deceased American poet, reportedly experienced episodes of both manic euphoria and deep depression, as well as struggled with alcohol abuse.

Dorothy Day, deceased American journalist and founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, reportedly experienced depression.

Theodore Dreiser, deceased American author, reportedly dealt with clinical depression.

George Eliot, deceased British author who was really Mary Anne Evans, reportedly had clinical depression.

Jules Feiffer, New York cartoonist, novelist, and playwright, has spoken of his depression.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, deceased American author, reportedly had clinical depression.

John Gibson, Irish pianist-composers, reportedly has bipolar disorder.

Amy Heckerling, writer, director, and genius behind Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Clueless, has spoken about her struggles with eating disorders.

Ernest Hemingway, deceased American writer, reportedly suffered from either clinical depression or bipolar disorder (probably bipolar disorder, as Patricia Cornwell’s so sure it’s not unusual for great artistic people to have it), and committed suicide in 1961.

Hermann Hesse, deceased German-Swiss writer and painter who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946, reportedly had clinical depression.

Jack Kerouac, deceased American writer and artist of the Beat Generation who became widely influential after his death, reportedly suffered from clinical depression and struggled with alcohol and substance abuse.

Norman Mailer, deceased American writer, reportedly dealt with clinical depression.

Kate Millett, American feminist writer and activist, discusses her bipolar disorder in The Loony-Bin Trip.

Spike Milligan, deceased British writer, reportedly had bipolar disorder.

Robert Munsch, American-born Canadian children’s writer, reportedly has obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder.

Georgia O’Keeffe, deceased American artist, reportedly suffered from clinical depression.

Eugene O’Neill, deceased American playwright who looked a whole lot like a younger version of the actor who played Barty Crouch in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, struggled with depression and alcoholism.

Walker Percy, deceased American writer, reportedly had clinical depression.

Pablo Picasso, deceased Spanish painter and sculptor, reportedly had clinical depression.

Sylvia Plath, deceased American poet, suffered from bipolar disorder and committed suicide in 1963. (Lively Women’s Kristen King contributed Sylvia Plath: Glimpse Into The Writer’s Mind to Mental Health Notes back in November.)

Edgar Allan Poe, deceased American writer, reportedly suffered from clinical depression and alcoholism.

Jackson Pollock, deceased American painter, reportedly dealt with clinical depression and substance abuse.

Cole Porter, deceased American lyricist and composer, reportedly had clinical depression, paranoid delusions, OCD, and alcoholism.

Mark Rothko, Latvian-born Jewish American painter, reportedly suffered from clinical depression.

Charles Schulz, deceased American cartoonist and mastermind behind Peanuts, reportedly suffered from clinical depression.

Anne Sexton, deceased American poet and writer, reportedly had clinical depression and committed suicide in 1974.

Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter, reportedly has clinical depression.

Paul Simon, Grammy-winning musician and composer and the man I can thank for the chills every time I hear “Hello darkness, my old friend…,” reportedly has clinical depression.

Joey Slinger, Canadian journalist and author, reportedly has clinical depression.

William Styron, deceased American novelist and essayist, reportedly had clinical depression.

Tracy Thompson, American journalist, talks about her depression and aims to bust stigma with her book The Beast: A Journey Through Depression.

Leo Tolstoy, deceased Russian writer, reportedly had clinical depression as well as struggled with alcohol and substance abuse.

Vincent van Gogh, deceased Dutch Post-Impressionist artist, reportedly had both clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

Kurt Vonnegut, deceased American author, reportedly had clinical depression.

Tennessee Williams, deceased American playwright, reportedly suffered from depression and alcohol abuse.

Note that this is not a comprehensive list of famous writers and artists who have or had mental illnesses; it’s merely a list of the ones for whom I’ve found information. As a matter of fact, you can check out the Home Based Family Services Network article on Famous People with Mental Illness, which undoubtedly includes writers and artists I haven’t mentioned here.

And, if you know of any others – and can provide credible sources – feel free to leave them in the comments.

In the meantime, stay tuned for information on celebrities and suicide as well as letters from me to a few famous folks!

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Famous Writers And Artists And Mental Illness

Not only is April Cancer Control Month, but it’s also National Poetry Month!

As a writer, I can’t pass up the opportunity to share with you a list of poets with mental illness. These are just a few of the men and women who lived with mental illness and still managed to do what they loved – write poetry! (Of course, some would argue their mental health is what made the writers so talented, or that their careers as writers helped lead to their mental illness, but, that’s a completely different conversation altogether.)

Recognize any of these names?

*~*

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art -
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite
- John Keats, Bright Star

Anthony Storr and Nancy Andreasen, M.D. wrote about John Keats and his mental illness in The Dynamics of Creation and The Broken Brain: The Biological Revolution in Psychiatry, respectively.

*~*

This is the fluid in which we meet each other,
This haloey radiance that seems to breathe
And lets our shadows wither
Only to blow
Them huge again, violent giants on the wall.
One match scratch makes you real.
- Sylvia Plath, By Candlelight

Also well known for her novel The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath struggled with severe depression for most of her life until she completed suicide at the age of 30. b5media’s own Kristen King wrote about Sylvia Plath here at Mental Health Notes: Sylvia Plath: Glimpse Into The Writer’s Mind.

*~*

I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more.
- John Clare, First Love

After he continued to increase his alcohol consumption and his mental health seemed to be waning, John Clare was placed in High Beach Asylum where he rewrote works by Lord Byron and at times took credit for William Shakespeare’s works. Roger Sales wrote about it all in John Clare: A Literary Life.

*~*

Too many, Lord, abuse Thy grace
In this licentious day,
And while they boast they see Thy face,
They turn their own away.
- William Cowper, Abuse of the Gospel

Also a hymnodist, William Cowper focused a great deal on religious themes in his poetry. Cowper suffered periods of severe depression and tried to commit suicide several times before being placed in an asylum. He wrote Hatred and vengeance, my eternal portion after the suicide attempts.

*~*

I myself spent nine years in an insane asylum and I never had the obsession of suicide, but I know that each conversation with a psychiatrist, every morning at the time of his visit, made me want to hang myself, realizing that I would not be able to cut his throat.
- Antonin Artaud, French playwright, poet, actor and director

I can’t find any complete poems by Antonin Artaud online (though you can read The Reinvention Of The Human Face, his poem-like introduction to a 1947 exhibition of his portraits and drawings), but this man is interesting enough without having any of his poems to peruse. Especially brow-raising is his Theatre of Cruelty. Check out this Web site dedicated to Antonin Artaud to learn more.

*~*

Have anymore poets with mental illness to add to the list? Share ‘em in the comments! In the meantime – and unrelated to mental health – check out Astronomy Buff blogger Tony Darnell’s haiku about his beloved blog!

Image source and credit.

Are you a mental health consumer also doing what you love? Check out This Is Why I ROCK! for details on how to strut your stuff!

Post from: Blisstree

Meet Famous Poets Who Lived With Mental Illness