Many great men and woman had to live with this at times appalling mental disorder, I prefer to call it manic depression rather than the milder term bipolar disorder

Below is a list of remarkable people who suffer/ed from manic depression


     Famous People With Bipolar Disorder
There are many famous people that have/had bipolar/manic depression. These people were very talented, and live/lived very productive lives. Many of these people contributed so much to society that there is no doubt in my mind that without them the world would not be the same place. All these people have one thing in common and that is they all suffer from bipolar disorder.

It is said that there is a link between bipolar disorder and creativity, and after realizing that most people who are geniuses or are very creative have some type of mental illness, that statement is proven very accurate. Here is a list that I have put together, I'm sorry if I missed. It's hard to keep a complete list. If you know of anymore that aren't on my list, feel free to let me know, and I'll add them.
•      Kurt Cobain- composer (Nirvana)
•      Jimi Hendrex- musician
•      Axl Rose- musician (Guns 'n Roses)
•      Marvin Lee Aday- musician, actor (Meat Loaf)
•      Buzz Aldrin- astronaut
•      Hans Christian Anderson- writer
•      Louie Anderson- comedian, actor
•      Fiona Apple- musician
•      Roseanne Barr- comedian, actress
•      Ned Beatty- actor
•      Ludwig Van Beethoven- composer
•      Arthur Benson- writer
•      William Blake- poet
•      Napoleon Bonaparte- general
•      Robert Boorstin- writer, assistant to President Clinton
•      Marlon Brando- actor
•      Tim Burton- artist, movie director
•      Drew Carey- comedian, actor
•      Jim Carey- actor
•      Winston Churchill- British Prime Minister
•      John Clare- poet
•      Dick Clark- TV. personality
•      Paula Cole- musician
•      Calvin Coolidge- U.S. President
•      Sheryl Crow- musician
•      John Daly- athlete (golf)
•      Rodney Dangerfield- comedian, actor
•      John Davidson- poet
•      Ellen DeGeneres- comedian, actress
•      John Denver- musician
•      Charles Dickens- writer
•      Emily Dickens- poet
•      Patty Duke- actress, writer
•      T.S. Elliot- poet
•      Carrie Fisher- writer, actress
•      Robert Frost- poet
•      Sigmund Freud- physician
•      Judy Garland- singer, actress
•      Phil Graham- owner of Washington post
•      Ernest Hemingway- writer
•      Kay Redfield Jamison- psychologist, writer
•      Billy Joel- musician
•      Elton John- musician
•      Janis Joplin- musician
•      John Lennon- musician (Beatles)
•      Abraham Lincoln- U.S. President
•      Jack London- writer
•      Courtney Love- musician (Hole)
•      Robert Cowell- peot
•      Michelangelo- artist
•      Marilyn Monroe- actress
•      Adolpne Monticelli- artist
•      Alanis Morissette- musician
•      Mozart- composer
•      Isaac Newton- scientist
•      Sinead O' Conner- musician
•      Ozzy Ozbourne- musician
•      Edgar Allen Poe- poet
•      Joan Rivers- actress, TV. personality
•      Gordon Sumner- musician, composer (Sting)
•      Mark Twain- writer/author
•      Vincent Van Gogh- artist
•      Walt Whitman- poet

[COLOR="Navy"] excerpt of my struggle with manic depression

Please note that what I am describing is not the mild beneficial hypomania of high performing persons of history who also had this disorder. This mild form of mania existed in a large number of great and creative persons. It was there that one saw the enormous energy of Winston Churchill , Ludwig Van Beethoven, William Blake, Napoleon Bonaparte,, Charles Dickens, T.S. Elliot, Robert Frost, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemingway, Abraham Lincoln, Jack London, Robert Cow ell, Michelangelo,, Mozart, Isaac Newton, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain, Vincent Van Gogh, King David, King Saul. To name a very few of the countless great personalities that suffered in different degrees from a milder form of this disorder.

I become delusional, begin to hallucinate, sometimes-beautiful visions of other worlds, universes, heaven and see and perceive colors that do not exist on this earth. I feel I was in constant communication every being in existence as I was truly God incarnate. I was convinced I was god. I feel that I am the incarnation of the sublime, wanting to remain in this state forever.

I continue to have vivid visions and dreams, so real that I still do not know if I was communicating with some higher intelligence. I can see the future flashing before my eyes in rapid non-stop visions. My eyes dart back and forth, back and forth, become red, and inflamed and terrifying to look into. I am in another reality beyond space and time an alarming altered state of consciousness. No loner feeling glorious,

I am becoming more and scared, terrified of this uncontrollable state and everything starts to go out of contra. My body begins to die from the unrelenting drain off energy on it by this completely abnormal state of affairs. I became paranoid fearful, horrified, terrified desperate to escape the horror that has become my tormented mind. Is there a hell? Yes! I have experienced it already on this earth.

Any comments people?[/COLOR]

Hi Alan,
my sympathies for your condition, and not having experienced anything like this I cannot even guess what you are experiencing.
My feeling is that somehow you may be open to everything that is going on on all levels -what Bob Monroe labelled 'M band noise'. You're aware of it (the uncontrolled thoughts -and psychic energy?- of the entire population) plus you've probably linked into everything that is, and possibly could be?
I would regard your visions as not necessarily delusions, but that you're tapping into other realities all at the same time, and it's this lack of filtering that's simply overloading you on every level.
So you get the direct link to your total self (hence the feeling that you are one with everything and the visions of heaven) and all the dodgy BSTs surrounding the planet AT THE SAME TIME.
I wonder how many other people regarded as mentally ill are nothing of the kind, but simply too open to function effectively in this ELS and are picking up dimensions that established medicine can't even guess at, let alone acknowledge the reality of.

Needless to say, all the above is speculation on my part as I don't really 'know' as such; but it seems reasonable to me.
Anyone else here have any ideas or information to help Alan?

Best wishes, and I hope you find a solution to bring your perceptions under conscious control.

David.
:)

detheridge wrote on Jul 27^th, 2010 at 9:24am:

Hi Alan, my sympathies for your condition, and not having experienced anything like this I cannot even guess what you are experiencing. My feeling is that somehow you may be open to everything that is going on on all levels -what Bob Monroe labelled 'M band noise'. You're aware of it (the uncontrolled thoughts -and psychic energy?- of the entire population) plus you've probably linked into everything that is, and possibly could be? I would regard your visions as not necessarily delusions, but that you're tapping into other realities all at the same time, and it's this lack of filtering that's simply overloading you on every level. So you get the direct link to your total self (hence the feeling that you are one with everything and the visions of heaven) and all the dodgy BSTs surrounding the planet AT THE SAME TIME. I wonder how many other people regarded as mentally ill are nothing of the kind, but simply too open to function effectively in this ELS and are picking up dimensions that established medicine can't even guess at, let alone acknowledge the reality of. Needless to say, all the above is speculation on my part as I don't really 'know' as such; but it seems reasonable to me. Anyone else here have any ideas or information to help Alan? Best wishes, and I hope you find a solution to bring your perceptions under conscious control. David. :)

You are absolutely right, in more fundamental cultures the so call crazy one is also the wise man of the tribe.My illness opened a doorway into the spiritual realms both good and bad. I became and still am very very psychic and I have used my pain in helping other people as far as I can

If you have followed some of my posts you will see that I am speaking the truth about myself

Alan

Greetings Alan.

   Back in the 1980's I experimented with many drugs, like LSD, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, etc. I never had a very bad experience while doing them, but eventually developed a paranoid mind where I thought every car behind me was following me, or space aliens were disguised as certain people planning on taking over the world.

   I kind of created a manic/depressive condition artificially so I can relate a little. I've had trips where I thought I accidentally destroyed the world with my mind and felt very sad for doing so. I found my consciousness somewhere in the total blackness of space where I was the only one left. When the delusions finally ended, I was greatly relieved that the world wasn't affected one little bit.

Ralph

Hello Alan,

if you suffer from this a lot and if you would like a "time-out" from visions etc., you can always take neuroleptic medication. I am told it helps a lot (I know a few people suffering from the issue). This is no long-term solution, though, since neuroleptics have bad long-term effects. But I believe it may be something for a little break :). Have you ever thought about it?

Btw, I have also thought at times that the people "suffering" from this just are not 100% connected to the physical world and that this is a problem for this physical life.

Christiane

Ralph Buskey wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 12:14am:

Greetings Alan.    Back in the 1980's I experimented with many drugs, like LSD, methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, etc. I never had a very bad experience while doing them, but eventually developed a paranoid mind where I thought every car behind me was following me, or space aliens were disguised as certain people planning on taking over the world.    I kind of created a manic/depressive condition artificially so I can relate a little. I've had trips where I thought I accidentally destroyed the world with my mind and felt very sad for doing so. I found my consciousness somewhere in the total blackness of space where I was the only one left. When the delusions finally ended, I was greatly relieved that the world wasn't affected one little bit. Ralph

Some drugs mimic exactly the manic state of manic depression, because both cause a huge in certain neurotransmitters such a dopamine and serotonin

Alan

In a similar vein my wife works with people, usually diagnosed as schizophrenics, who hear voices and sometimes see people others don't. I wonder how many of those are simply untrained/uncontrolled natural mediums tuning into 'stuck' deceased people?

Dave   :-/

Thanks for the list Alan. You can probably add Declan McManus (Elvis Costello) to that list as well. It's interesting that when I am in a manic state I feel very strong connections to many of the people you list here. I've have never truly understood it, unless there is some kind of psychic connection that happens in that realm. I feel as though they are trying guide me to some kind of understanding. Well, it really defies description, but seeing some of those names made a lot sense to me.

I believe it is possible to be a person who has supernatural experiences and hallucinations.

The key is the conclusions a person comes to. For the most part is he (or she) able to categorize what he experiences in a rational way, or does he come up with conclusions that don't represent how things are?

The more balanced he becomes, the less likely he is to experience hallucinations.

I don't know what bipolar disorder is about, but I believe we need to be careful when it comes to what condition we have and how we define ourself. It seems as if some conditions came to be when drug companies tried to find a way to market a new drug. In many cases there has got to be a more holistic approach that doesn't involve the greed of a drug producing corporation.

Beau wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 9:49am:

Thanks for the list Alan. You can probably add Declan McManus (Elvis Costello) to that list as well. It's interesting that when I am in a manic state I feel very strong connections to many of the people you list here. I've have never truly understood it, unless there is some kind of psychic connection that happens in that realm. I feel as though they are trying guide me to some kind of understanding. Well, it really defies description, but seeing some of those names made a lot sense to me.

Beau how glad am I to see you back in the forum after a brief absence

I know your deep spirituality has come about, by your suffering as a bipolar disorder  person

Beau did you at times during a deep manic state feel your consciousness merged and became as one with the godhead?

Blessings and light

Alan

It  doesn't even have to be a DEEP manic state to feel that way for me, Alan, but left untreated it eventually leads to a rather extreme paranoia. I usually feel a connection except when I'm very depressed.

Beau wrote on Jul 31^st, 2010 at 9:09am:

It  doesn't even have to be a DEEP manic state to feel that way for me, Alan, but left untreated it eventually leads to a rather extreme paranoia. I usually feel a connection except when I'm very depressed.

Beau, I have gone into such an extreme state of mania that I felt I was a real part of the God head.


By the way Beau, did you get a chance to read my somewhat lengthy essay about my long struggle with bipolar disorder?

yes alan, I read it a few months ago and I sent you a response via PM. I guess it slipped through the cracks.

Hi Guys,

After a lifetime of reading self help books on mental illness related issues as well as other areas of interest, I discovered the Monroe and Moen material in the 90's and found it filled in a lot of gaps for me regarding altered consciousness, OBE's, non-physical existence and mental health.

2004 got degree in social work at 60 yrs. to practice as a case manager in the field of mental health treating dual dx clients with mental health and substance abuse issues. 

Meanwhile joined AK site in 2004 and became active January 2005. By May 2006 was placed in morphine coma and experienced hallucinations among other symptoms related to the coma during the experience and reentry onto this crazy plane once again.

Before and increasingly more so since the coma, I became obsessed with the notion that there is no such thing as mental illness per say except for the label to expedite insurance coverage of care and prescriptions without regard for the health issue being connected to spirituality crisis, belief systems crashes, early trauma, past life crisis, or generally stemming from none physical sources. 

In working with my clients, all beautiful people doing the best they can under the circumstances, I always theorized/suspected that it was a lack of filter issue as opposed to some mystical biological cause at the real source.

I recently discovered a movement out of the UK broadening the field of hearing voices to all possible reasons beyond the old physically based one and labels of schizophrenia. I tracked down a support group in Madison WI that also working with those who hear voices. Refer to Intervoice: 
www.intervoiceonline.org/about  in the UK or Google: The Mental Health Center of Dane County, Inc. and print out their newsletter. Vol 2. Issue 4, March 2005

Then I came across Bruce's response to heisenberg69 on Dec 12th, 2009 at 5:57am regarding multiple personalities. He is using a method of retrieval of aspect of self by calling in a helper to access old unresolved issues for the individual with multiple personality issues.

I suspect that there is an overlapse between the dx of multiple personality issues, schizophrenia, manic depressive, and other such disorders. I find it interesting that we were not allowed, in the community mental health organization to treat individuals with the dx of multiple personality disorder and that many who suffered from schizophrenic sxs could not openly admit to hearing voice due to the stigma attached.   

I was really blow away by listening to Monroe on my most recent newsletter from the institute especially when he reported how many individuals he had in his disc group which would explain why the personalities of someone experiencing “delusions/hallucinations” seemed so developed and real. Catch it on the Wednesday night chats with Bob Monroe on U-tube, probably of the link for Monroe on the 2nd page of this site if you don't subscribe to the newsletter.

I'm also interested in art and the subconscious and found the paintings of Louis Wain, since I acquired a blue eyed Turkish Angora cat,  again and would like to tie his work in with fractals and drugs as opposed to schizophrenia coming out of nowhere.

Just my way of trying to figure, what is mental illness? And why do we stigmatize each other rather than say, “Wow, that's an interesting point of view!”

Thanks again for the opportunity, Alan, David, Beau, and the rest.

Jean  :-* 

Quote:

I feel I was in constant communication every being in existence as I was truly God incarnate.

I don't really know what people mean when they say things like that.

i don't think the ego can truly feel like God because by definition it is separate from God. i assume "god" is a different level of experience, one beyond human comprehension. Like, I don't think even a disc can feel like god.

of course, if this is an illusion, then I can move by reasoning to saying that the whole thing is an illusion, something nobody wants to do, whether they are the creative types or not. We don't want to admit that the whole thing (world) we have created is an illusion.

Hi Lucy,

I felt as if I were God, knowing all the time I was tiny mortal Alan

Blessings and light

Alan

Beau wrote on Aug 1^st, 2010 at 9:21am:

yes alan, I read it a few months ago and I sent you a response via PM. I guess it slipped through the cracks.

HI Dear Beau,


It seems the two of us is in good company look at the list below

http://www.mental-health-today.com/bp/famous_people.htm

Famous People with Bipolar Disorder
 
Much of this list was obtained from the Internet.
Actors & Actresses
Ned Beatty
Maurice Bernard, soap opera
Jeremy Brett
Jim Carey
Lisa Nicole Carson
Rosemary Clooney, singer
Lindsay Crosby
Eric Douglas
Robert Downey Jr.
Patty Duke
Carrie Fisher
Connie Francis, singer and actress
Shecky Greene, comedian
Linda Hamilton
Moss Hart, actor, director, playright
Mariette Hartley
Margot Kidder
Vivien Leigh
Kevin McDonald, comedian
Kristy McNichols
Burgess Meredith, actor, director
Spike Milligan, actor, writer
Spike Mulligan, comic actor and writer
Nicola Pagett
Ben Stiller, actor, director, writer
David Strickland
Lili Taylor
Tracy Ullman
Jean-Claude Van Damme
Robin Williams
Jonathon Winters, comedian
Artists
Alvin Alley, dancer, choreogapher
Ludwig Von Beethoven
Tim Burton, artist, director
Francis Ford Coppola, director
George Fredrick Handel, composer
Bill Lichtenstein, producer
Joshua Logan, broadway director, producer
Vincent Van Gogh, painter
Gustav Mahier, composer
Francesco Scavullo, artist, photographer
Robert Schumann, composer
Don Simpson, movie producer
Norman Wexler, screenwriter, playwright
Entrepreneurs
Robert Campeau
Pierre Peladeau
Heinz C. Prechter
Ted Turner, media giant
Financiers
John Mulheren
Murray Pezim
Miscellaneous
Buzz Aldrin, astronaut
Clifford Beers, humanitarian
Garnet Coleman, legislator (Texas)
Larry Flynt, publisher and activist
Kit Gingrich, Newt's mom
Phil Graham, owner of Washington Post
Peter Gregg, team owner and manager, race car driver
Susan Panico (Susan Dime-Meenan), business executive
Sol Wachtier, former New York State Chief Judge
Musicians
Ludwig van Beethoven, composer
Alohe Jean Burke, musician, vocalist
Rosemary Clooney, singer
DMX Earl Simmons, rapper and actor
Ray Davies
Lenny Dee
Gaetano Donizetti, opera singer
Peter Gabriel
Jimi Hendrix
Kristen Hersh (Throwing Muses)
Phyllis Hyman
Jack Irons
Daniel Johnston
Otto Klemperer, musician, conductor
Oscar Levant, pianist, composer, television
Phil Ochs, musician, political activist, poet
John Ogden, composer, musician
Jaco Pastorius
Charley Pride
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John)
Jeannie C. Riley
Alys Robi, vocalist in Canada
Axl Rose
Nick Traina
Del Shannon
Phil Spector, musician and producer
Sting, Gordon Sumner, musician, composer
Tom Waits, musician, composer
Brian Wilson, musician, composer, arranger
Townes Van Zandt, musician, composer
Poets
John Berryman
C.E. Chaffin, writer, poet
Hart Crane
Randall Jarrell
Jane Kenyon
Robert Lowell
Sylvia Plath
Robert Schumann
Delmore Schwartz
Political
Robert Boorstin, special assistant to President Clinton
L. Brent Bozell, political scientist, attorney, writer
Bob Bullock, ex secretary of state, state comptroller and lieutenant governer
Winston Churchill
Kitty Dukasis, former First Lady of Massachusetts
Thomas Eagleton, lawyer, former U.S. Senator
Lynne Rivers, U.S. Congress
Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States
Scholars
John Strugnell, biblical scholar
Scientists
Karl Paul Link, chemist
Dimitri Mihalas
Sports
Shelley Beattie, bodybuilding, sailing
John Daly, golf
Muffin Spencer-Devlin, pro golf
Ilie Nastase, tennis
Jimmy Piersail, baseball player, Boston Red Sox, sports announcer
Barret Robbins, football
Wyatt Sexton, football
Alonzo Spellman, football
Darryl Strawberry, baseball
Dimitrius Underwood, football
Luther Wright, basketball
Bert Yancey, athlete
TV & Radio
Dick Cavett
Jay Marvin, radio, writer
Jane Pauley
Writers
Louis Althusser, philosopher, writer
Honors de Balzac
Art Buchwald, writer, humorist
Neal Cassady
Patricia Cornwell
Margot  Early
Kaye Gibbons
Johann Goethe
Graham Greene
Abbie Hoffman, writer, political activist
Kay Redfield Jamison, writer, psychologist
Peter Nolan Lawrence
Frances Lear, writer, editor, women's rights activist
Rika Lesser, writer, translator
Kate Millet
Robert Munsch
Margo Orum
Edgar Allen Poe
Theodore Roethke
Lori Schiller, writer, educator
Frances Sherwood
Scott Simmie, writer, journalist
August Strindberg
Mark Twain
Joseph Vasquez, writer, movie director
Mark Vonnegut, doctor, writer
Sol Wachtler, writer, judge
Mary Jane Ward
Virginia Woolf

yes, many of these are the lucky ones who have managed to do something substantial in spite of their affliction. I, however, never have enough time in my "brilliant" state to really get anywhere and when I'm depressed I can't see the good in anything I ever did, but it is encouraging to see that some people are able to work past bipolar and contribute.

Beau wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2010 at 11:22am:

yes, many of these are the lucky ones who have managed to do something substantial in spite of their affliction. I, however, never have enough time in my "brilliant" state to really get anywhere and when I'm depressed I can't see the good in anything I ever did, but it is encouraging to see that some people are able to work past bipolar and contribute.

Hi Beau,

I Went to the PM and read your nice response to my testimony of my struggle with manic depression

Alan