If you are bipolar like me, we are in some pretty interesting company!

@kbkbooks (7022)
Canada
November 27, 2006 11:55am CST
I recently went to a lecture about bipolar disorder. The speaker gave a slide show of artistic works that have been done by famous artists who are bipolar. I was surprised to learn that it is commonly thought that Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night was painted in a depressive, suicidal state, but some researchers believe he was manic at the time. So many fine artists were apparently bipolar including Handel who wrote the Messiah, and some well known authors. According to research the following people were/are most likely bipolar. Alexander the Great Abraham Lincoln Handel who wrote The Messiah Vincent van Gogh Leonardo da Vinci Kristi McNicol Tony Orlando (Mark Twain?) Danny Bonaduce
2 responses
@nymphy (139)
30 Nov 06
I think all the geniuses in the world had a strange personality. May be it was due to their greatness. No one knows wht causes what. But who knows may be you have a big talent?
1 person likes this
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
1 Dec 06
I have intense creative talents and I spend hours trying to transpose them from the old ways onto the computer. I don't want to boast but I have a high IQ also. However, I think what you were trying to point out is what we express as, "There is a fine line between genius and insanity." Book learning isn't everything you know, natural intelligence and life experience have so much to do with how we react to what happens to us. I don't think it's greatness that causes strange personalities. I think it is the way that personality interacts with the world.
@sekhmetgb (462)
27 Nov 06
And probably many more. Bipolar is one of those labels that psychiatrists like to stick on people, but there are also unipolar bipolars (which has always struck me as being slightly silly in terms of terminology) who only get depressed and seldom move into the hypomanic phase. I think the prevalence of diagnosed bipolar has now risen because doctors are more aware of it, but I think it is probably still greatly underdiagnosed. My best friend has a daughter who is bipolar, and when she was undiagnosed she did indeed show all the signs of bipolar. She is now on treatment (which has its own problems and could start a completely new discussion) and is very level at present. The only problem for her is that when she is upset at something that all of us would be upset at, a lot of people put that down to her bipolar when in fact she is merely reacting to a situation as any other human being would. As you say, a lot of famous artists were bipolar (are are thought to have been bipolar) and certainly painters and novellists seem to be over-represented in that. I await your book or painting :))
@kbkbooks (7022)
• Canada
30 Nov 06
My diagnosis is actually Bipolar II, which means I tend more often to swing to the depression side. In all my time since my onset, I have had only a very few, maybe three at most, manic episodes. Lithium helps me along with a few other things to balance out stuff.