It Is All So Common

Why are so many Americans suffering from mania, schizophrenia and bi-polar issues? Some of the greatest minds and creative minds also suffered from these conditions. There is a famous song called Stary Stary Night that is also a song called Vincent by Don Mclean that was all about the madness and state of mind of Vincent Van Gogh. His paintings are some of the most loved in the world yet it expressed some of the darkness in his soul. Mental breakdowns can express some awful experiences. Van Gogh painted a famous self-portrait while in a mental institution after he cut off a piece of his own ear. A lot of senseless mas shootings are happening in these times from the hands with weapons who have minds suffering from untreated mental illnesses.

Months later in his personal haunted state of mind it is believed that he committed suicide. He is just one of a long list of great artists, musicians and other creative people who suffered from mental illnesses. Beethoven, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, Irving Berlin, David Foster, T.S. Elliot, Virginia Woolf and  Hemingway to name a few. Studies have proven that there are mood disorders in highly creative people. So, if you feel like you are going crazy, are you a rare talented person?  People who are considered Manic are those who like to take risks, have more energy and drive. They also have despair brought on by depression. Analysis of the brain has proven a neurological explanation. The brain’s frontal lobe seems to be activated in a similar way in a person who has been diagnosed with mania, schizophrenia and creativity.

These creative people often express their feelings in their work. F. .Scott Fitzgerald wrote about depression in his famous   essay called The Crack-Up. Lately pop artists like Kurt Cobain commit   suicide from drug use and mental illness. Many artists don’t hide their conditions anymore. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Janet Jackson, Carrie Fisher, Demi-Lovato all have come forward and embraced their illnesses publicly. We need to know that we all can cope with mental illness but our government must know that it is serious, and a big problem in our society that can be treated before they harm others or themselves. Instead of so many prisons, we need more treatment centers and systems in place to make sure people take their medications so they can flourish into the beautiful creative, talented people they probably really are.