Lionel Aldridge (2/14/1914- 2/12/1998)
Lionel was an American football player who served at the defense end in the NFL (National Football League) for 11 seasons. He played high school football at Pittsburg High School and college football at Utah State Aggies. He was co-captain of his college football team. After retiring from football, he worked as a sports analyst before manifesting paranoid schizophrenia in the late 1970s. Paranoid schizophrenia is a type of schizophrenia disorder characterized by false beliefs of persecution or conspiracy followed by hallucinations and delusions. He was homeless for some time due to a misdiagnosis. He did advocacy work as a member of the Mental Health Association in Milwaukee and as a speaker for the National Alliance of Mental Illness. He was an advocate for homelessness and the mentally ill until his death.
2. John Nash (6/13/1928- 5/23/2015)
John Forbs Nash was an American mathematician who contributed significantly to game theory, real algebraic geometry, differential geometry, and partial differential equations. John Nash, alongside John Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten, was awarded the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. He and Louis Nirenberg were awarded the Abel Prize for their contributions to partial differential equations in 2015. He majored in mathematics in undergraduate and master's at Carnegie Mellon University. He further got a Ph.D. in Mathematics at Princeton University. His battle with schizophrenia started in the late 1950s. He battled with paranoid schizophrenia and spent several years in psychiatric hospitals. His struggle with mental illness was depicted in the biography “A Beautiful Mind” by Sylia Nasar and was later adapted into a movie.
3. Vincent Van Gogh (3/30/1853- 7/29/1890)
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a Dutch painter and one of the most influential figures in the history of Western art. Over a decade, he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings. The themes of his art were landscapes, still lives, group portraits, and self-portraits. He suffered years of poverty. He experienced mental disorders throughout his life. From his letters, self-portraits, and documented behavior, experts have speculated he dealt with Schizophrenia. He experienced psychotic episodes and delusions. He also neglected his physical health, drank heavily, and did not eat properly. Other health professionals and historians speculate he may have dealt with bipolar disorder due to unstable moods and productivity and borderline personality disorder due to unstable moods, behavior, and relationships. He spent time in psychiatric hospitals. He died by suicide on 27th July 1890. Today, Vincent Willem van Gogh’s works are among the most expensive paintings ever sold.
4. Louis Wain (8/5/1860- 7/4/1939):
Louis William Wain was an English artist best known for his drawings of anthropomorphized cats and kittens. He created the first ever screen cartoon cat, “PussyFoot.” He suffered a severe head injury in an ominous accident and 10 years later was certified insane. He spent the remaining 15 years of his life in mental hospitals, where he continued to draw and paint. Some art historians and psychiatrists suggest that Louis Wain suffered from schizophrenia due to changes in behavior and progressively unusual and abstract art style. As time went on in his career, his drawing of cats became more abstract, vibrant, and psychedelic.
5. Bettie Page (4/22/1923- 12/11/2008)
Bettle Mae Page was an American model in the 1950s. She was known for her pin-up photos and was titled the “Queen of Pinups.” In the 1970s, Bettie Page dealt with acute schizophrenia. She experienced legal troubles (e.g., assault charges) and was later hospitalized. Specific details of her schizophrenia symptoms are not documented.
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