List of people who have suffered from depression
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A number of well-known individuals have suffered from clinical depression or bipolar disorder.
In recent years, some individuals have discussed their depression openly. Earlier figures were often reluctant to discuss or seek treatment for depression due to social stigma about the condition, or due to ignorance of diagnosis or treatments. Some historical personalities are presumed to have suffered from depression based on analysis or interpretation of letters, journals, artwork, writings or statements of family and friends.
Many depression sufferers are encouraged by noted individuals who have succeeded in spite of depression.
Some studies have attempted to link depression or other mental disorders to artistic creativity, but not all have accepted such proposals.
Confirmed cases (alphabetically)
- Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut, the second man to set foot on the moon
- Claus von Amsberg, German diplomat and husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- Hideaki Anno, Japanese anime director
- Adam Ant, British musician (Adam and the Ants) (Bipolar disorder)
- David Bohm, American physicist
- Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian politician Prime Minister of Norway
- Terry Bradshaw, American Quarterback
- George W. Bush, politician President, 43rd President of the United States of America
- Frank Bruno, British boxer
- Robert Burton British academic author of The Anatomy of Melancholy
- Georg Cantor, Russian mathematician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Capucine, French actor (Bipolar disorder)
- Dick Cavett, American talk show host
- Winston Churchill, British politician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana)
- Billy Corgan, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)
- Sheryl Crow, American musician
- Diana, Princess of Wales
- Nick Drake, British musician
- Thomas Eagleton, American politician and professor
- Kenny Everett, British entertainer
- Siobhan Fahey, British musician
- Paul Feyerabend, Austrian philosopher of science
- Michel Foucault, French philosopher
- Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer, after murdering his wife, her lover, and his own son
- Paul Getty, British philanthropist
- Spalding Gray, American actor and writer
- Elizabeth Hartman, American actor
- Stephen Hawking, British physicist
- John Hinckley, Jr., American would-be assassin of Ronald Reagan
- William James, American philosopher and psychologist
- Kay Redfield Jamison, American professor of psychiatry (Bipolar disorder)
- Susanna Kaysen, American writer
- Kool Keith, American rap artist
- R. D. Laing, British psychiatrist and writer
- Charlotte Mew, British poet
- Spike Milligan, British comedian and writer (Bipolar disorder)
- Charles Mingus, American jazz musician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and writer
- Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist 'father of the atomic bomb'
- Sylvia Plath, American poet
- Charlotte Rampling, British actor
- Trent Reznor American musician (Nine Inch Nails)
- Anne Rice, American writer
- Henry Rollins, American musician (Black Flag), writer
- Mark Rothko, American painter
- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher
- Siegfried Sassoon, British poet and soldier
- Paul Schrader, American film writer
- Jean Seberg, American actor
- Anne Sexton, American poet
- Michael Slater, Australian cricketer (Bipolar disorder)
- Elliott Smith, American musician
- Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
- Vivian Stanshall, British humourist and musician (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
- William Styron, writer
- Screaming Lord Sutch, British musician and eccentric
- Amy Tan, Chinese American writer
- James Taylor, American singer-songwriter
- Gene Tierney, American actor
- Georg Trakl, Austrian poet
- Mike Wallace, American journalist on 60 Minutes
- Mika Waltari, Finnish writer
- Thomas J. Watson, Jr., American industrialist
- Dan White, American killer of Harvey Milk and George Moscone
- Tennessee Williams, American playwright
- Brian Wilson, American musician (Beach Boys)
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher
- Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer
- Ed Wood, Jr., American film director
- Elizabeth Wurtzel, American writer
- Thom Yorke, British musician (Radiohead)
Debated or suspected cases (alphabetically)
- Chris Acland, British musician (Lush)
- Fatty Arbuckle, American silent film comedian
- Albert Ayler, American musician
- Charles Baudelaire, French poet (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Friedrich Eduard Beneke, German psychologist
- Francesco Borromini, Swiss architect
- Wallace Carothers, American organic chemist (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Jim Carrey, Canadian comedian and actor (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Charles, Prince of Wales
- Charles VII of France
- Leslie Cheung, Hong-Kong singer and actor
- Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, British statesman
- Rosemary Clooney, American singer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and writer
- William Cowper, British poet
- Dorothy Dandridge, American actor
- Charles Darwin, British naturalist
- Dorothea Dix, American activist
- Terence Donovan, British photographer
- Frederick Douglass, American reformer and writer
- Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet
- Romain Gary, French writer
- Paul Gauguin, French painter
- Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicisist
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American writer
- Wilfredo Gómez, Puerto Rican boxer
- Ernest Hemingway, American writer
- Doug Hopkins, American musician (Gin Blossoms)
- Helen Hunt Jackson, American writer
- William Stanley Jevons, British economist
- Daniel Johns, Australian musician
- Kim Jong-il, North Korean dictator
- Franz Kafka, Austrian writer
- Lawrence Kohlberg, American psychologist
- Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President 1861-1865
- Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright
- Louis XVI of France
- Bela Lugosi, Transylvanian actor
- Martin Luther, German Protestant Reformer
- Aimee Semple McPherson, American evangelist
- Joe Meek, British record producer
- Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter
- Eric Morecambe, British comedian
- Ozzy Osbourne, British singer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist and philosopher
- Pascin, Bulgarian painter
- Jaco Pastorius, American musician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Floyd Patterson, American boxer
- Philip V of Spain
- Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
- Marie Prevost, Canadian actor
- Thomas de Quincey, British writer
- Christopher Reeve, American actor
- Theodore Roethke, American poet
- Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator
- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
- Robert Schumann, Composer
- Maria Klementyna Sobieska, Polish princess
- Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains)
- Gwen Stefani, American singer
- Margaret Sullavan, American actor
- P. Arthanari Swamy, Indian glass eater
- Jim Thorpe, Native American athlete
- Yoshiyuki Tomino, Japanese anime creator
- John Kennedy Toole, American writer
- J. M. W. Turner, British painter
- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Hervé Villechaize, French actor
- Virginia Woolf, British writer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Yongle Emperor, third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China
- Robert Young, American actor
- José Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish poet
Fictional cases (alphabetically)
- Louis, Apres Vous
- Miles, Sideways
- Ben Sanderson, Leaving Las Vegas
- Moe Szyslak, The Simpsons