10
King Charles VI of France
King Charles VI of France was also known as Charles the Mad. He reigned France from 1380 to 1422. About a dozen years after taking the throne, his descent into madness began. He suffered from multiple episodes of mental illness including a time when he could not remember his name or that he was the King. He often did not recognize his wife or children. For a five month period in 1405, he refused to bathe or change his clothes. According to writings by Pope Pius II, King Charles VI believed he was made of glass (a condition later labeled as “glass delusion” – sounds crazy I know – but it is real and has featured on Listverse before on our list of fascinating factlets) and had to take measures (such as refusing to allow anyone to touch his royal person and wearing reinforced clothing) to ensure he didn’t break.
9
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is well known as being the 16th President of the United States. Despite his accomplishments, President Lincoln was prone to what he called “a tendency to melancholy.” While everyone gets sad from time to time, Lincoln reportedly experienced severe, debilitating depression. Some biographers speculate that he may have contemplated suicide. According to a profile of Lincoln published by Ability Magazine, he often wept uncontrollably over the plight of the desperate and used humor to balance his sadness. He also reportedly relied on work and fatalistic, religious, and resignation feelings to cope with his bouts of melancholia.
8
Vincent Van Gogh
You’ve likely heard of Vincent Van Gogh, the famous crazy artist who cut off his own ear and later committed suicide. He is believed to have had epileptic seizures caused by a brain lesion brought on by the prolonged use of absinthe, a highly alcoholic drink. His great enthusiasm for art and religion coupled with his fast pace of painting followed by periods of deep depression lend credibility to the widely held idea that he also suffered from bipolar disorder. Vincent was also a prolific writer, having written hundreds of letters. Some believe he also had from hypergraphia, a condition linked to epilepsy and mania characterized by an overwhelming urge to write.
7
Ernest Hemingway
Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author, Ernest Hemingway, was the victim of depression and alcoholism. Like Van Gogh, he ultimately chose to end it all by suicide. Hemingway’s father, brother, sister, and granddaughter also chose the same fate. While a predilection to suicide may have resided in his DNA, Hemingway’s mental health in his final years was likely affected by a lifetime of heavy drinking, medication with mentally disruptive side effects which hospitalized him, and shock therapy which caused memory loss and may have intensified his depression.
6
Tennessee Williams
The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright who wrote A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams was burdened with depression even before two troubling events transpired that sent him into deeper, more serious bouts involving drug and alcohol abuse. Williams was born into a family that had a history of serious mental illness. In the mid-1940s, his sister, a schizophrenic, underwent a lobotomy. In 1961, his long-time lover died. Both events mentally affected Williams deeply, sending him into dark depressions and substance abuse. Despite detoxification attempts, Williams suffered from depression and substance abuse for the rest of his life.
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