Does a diagnosis of mental illness mean you are stupid?...

Talking about 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.”----Anthony Storr

In my experience, nothing brings out condescension and ignorance more than a discussion about mental illness. There seems to be this belief that mental illness means that you are somehow less intelligent.  Or less capable. Or that you are mistaking regular sadness for a disorder. From the kinds of reactions I have gotten, even from loved ones, you would think that mental illness is evidence of stupidity. Because of that, I went looking for information on famous people who have suffered from mental illness.  I ran across interesting information from NAMI.  Because I think that this is absolutely fascinating and I can’t discuss all the people that I found in my research, I am going to enclose a link to some of the information. Here’s the link:  http://bit.ly/119jFO4. 

The first surprise, at least to me, was that Winston Churchill had bipolar disorder.  (See quote above)  The second surprise was that Theodore Roosevelt also had bipolar disorder.  As both of the above politicians were very risk-taking kinds of people, it really isn’t all that surprising after you think about it for a few minutes. (Bipolar disorder does lead to risk-taking behaviors.)

In addition, I found out that Michelangelo suffered from mental illness.  As did Virginia Woolf, Eugene O’Neill, and Leo Tolstoy.  Charles Dickens, a favorite of mine from childhood, suffered from clinical depression. Lionel Aldridge, who played for Vince Lombardi, was schizophrenic!  Lionel Aldridge played in two Super Bowls, but ended up homeless in the 1970’s due to his mental illness.  Eventually, Lionel became an inspirational speaker.  He talked about his schizophrenia.  Mike Wallace and Jane Pauley had struggles with mental illness.  Gaetano Donizetti (opera singer) and Thelonius Monk (jazz) suffered. 

Finally, I would like to note that scientists/mathemeticians are not immune.  John Nash, who won a Nobel Prize in Mathematics, was schizophrenic.  (Remember the book and movie called “A Beautiful Mind” ---author Sylvia Nasar?)  It also turns out that Isaac Newton was bipolar. Finally, even medical professionals are sometimes mentally ill.  For example, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison suffered from bipolar illness. She wrote many books on mental illness, including one that talks more completely about the many famous people who have had mental illness.  (Dr. Jamison was a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins.)

I could go on with this for quite some time.  I encourage you to look at the link if you are curious about other famous people with mental illness.  Or Google the topic.  But for the purposes of my article, here is the point: 1. Mental illness is more common than you think. 2. Mentally ill people have contributed to society in some pretty significant ways. 3. Mental illness does not mean stupidity.  How many people are out there today and YOU DON’T KNOW that they struggle with a mental illness?  Compassion is so important. Think about how you talk with and about the mentally ill.  How would Michelango have been impacted by your attitude?  And by the way, who are you to judge?