In most ordinary people, the term “schizophrenia” is associated with terrible scenes of extreme degree of psychosis in patients suffering from this severe chronic disease.
People with a similar diagnosis, in most cases, cause fear and exclusion among others. However, few people know that many legendary figures who made incredible discoveries suffered from this ailment.
No wonder they say that the line between genius and madness is very arbitrary. The people included in this collection are another confirmation of this theory.
10. Philip C. Dick - science fiction writer
This man of letters suffered from a mild form of schizophrenia. His famous novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” formed the basis of the equally famous painting “The Blade Runner”, and the product “Memories Wholesale and Retail” was embodied in the film “Remember Everything” with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role.
There is an opinion that the writer was able to write this kind of work largely thanks to hallucinations that sometimes visited him.
9. Vincent Van Gogh - artist
Around this genius of painting to this day there are many myths. Van Gogh was a true innovator, not fully appreciated by contemporaries. His understanding of true beauty came through an understanding of the inner essence of objects and phenomena.
There is an opinion that Van Gogh created his masterpieces just during the fits of schizophrenia. The artist could write several paintings in one day, and he could take huge breaks in work.
8. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche - philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche is a famous German philosopher and thinker. His neoclassical teaching has become widely popular not only in the scientific community, but also far beyond its borders.
He allowed himself to doubt the key principles of the norms of culture and morality, social and political relations that existed in the society of that time. This original philosophical concept and our time causes a lot of controversy and controversy.
However, few people know that the world famous philosopher suffered from nuclear mosaic schizophrenia. This form of this disease is characterized by the appearance in a person of an unhealthy megalomania, which can be fully compared with his idea of a superman.
7. Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol - writer
The great writer of the 19th century was often credited with a variety of mental pathologies. This is due to the fact that the author of The Examiner and Dead Souls was rather unusual and sometimes allowed himself some very extraordinary actions.
Probably the biggest mystery of his biography is the reason why the writer decided to give the fire a manuscript of the second volume of Dead Souls. There is a version that Gogol did this, being obsessed with schizophrenic delirium.
In addition, the writer has been harassed all his life by the fear of being buried alive. A similar unexplained phobia is also attributed to schizophrenia.
6. Isaac Newton - mathematician and physicist
Many historians and researchers of Newton's life believe that the great scientist suffered from two mental illnesses - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which is also called manic-depressive psychosis.
Isaac’s mood changed instantly, which prevented him from normal communication with people. However, this did not stop him from making a number of brilliant discoveries in mathematics and physics.
5. Parvin Babi - Indian actress
Parvin Babi was the first Bollywood actress to be honored to be on the cover of the famous Time edition. This woman was once considered one of the most beautiful actresses in Indian cinema, almost instantly becoming a trendsetter.
In the late 70s, Parvin first began to appear symptoms of a paranoid form of schizophrenia. For several years, the actress was undergoing therapy in the United States, but the disease prevailed.
Returning to her homeland, Parvin Babi immediately wrote a statement to the police against famous Indian women, accusing them of persecution. She tried to prove that they want to kill her. The entire Indian film industry turned its back on the actress, leaving her alone with her grave affliction.
A Bollywood star was found dead in her apartment on January 22, 2005. Her death was very tragic - the woman died of hunger. She lay for hours in her bed, experiencing terrible pains, having failed to get to the door of a huge apartment and turn to neighbors for help, because before she died she could no longer walk.
4. Alexander Nikolaevich Scriabin - composer
The works of Scriabin embodied the ideas of ecstatic aspiration for unknown worlds and the idea of the transforming power of art. Also a brilliant composer was one of the first to develop the idea of light music.
According to contemporaries, Alexander Nikolaevich was an extremely suspicious and mystically religious person. He was subject to sudden mood swings, which caused great concern among his loved ones.
According to doctors, Scriabin suffered from schizophrenia, which may explain his strange behavior.
3. Maya Myakila - Swedish artist
Maya Myakila is a Swedish artist who is officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. The woman is known throughout the world for her psychedelic and terrifying canvases. She currently lives and works in Stockholm.
According to the author of such terrible pictures, the main goal of her work is to search for the truth, even if it is scary to look at this truth.
2. John Nash - a mathematician
This is an extraordinary and strong personality. Nobel laureate John Nash has made many discoveries in the field of differential geometry and game theory. However, according to the scientist himself, in his scientific work he was helped ... by the schizophrenia that he suffered until his death.
The great mathematician was given this diagnosis when he was barely 30 years old, after the wedding with a student Alicia, who at that time was only 26.
At first, the new-made wife of Nash tried to hide a terrible disease from his colleagues and friends, hoping to save her husband's career. However, after several months of his strange behavior, Alicia had to forcibly hospitalize her husband in a private psychiatric hospital. It was there that he was given the disappointing diagnosis of “paranoid schizophrenia”.
In 1980, Nash’s disease, much to the surprise of psychiatrists, began to fade. This happened because the scientist again took up science and learned to simply ignore schizophrenia.
1. Betty Page - 1950s Sex Symbol
The name of this American fashion model thundered to the whole world in the 50s of the last century. It was then that she began to actively star in very frank images for the covers of leading erotic magazines. She was called the sex symbol of the era and even one of the progenitors of the sexual revolution that happened in the 1960s.
Betty has starred in several films over her career. It was rumored that she was in intimate relationship with another sex idol - Marilyn Monroe. Several biographical works have been written about her life, and two feature films have been shot - Betty Page: Dark Angel (2004) and Obscene Betty Page (2005).
In 1979, Betty suffered a nervous breakdown. It was then that she first heard a terrible verdict from doctors: “Paranoid schizophrenia.”
She spent 20 months in a state mental hospital. Until 1992, she was under the close supervision of physicians. After that, she was recognized as healthy and until her death did not need specific treatment.