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Successful Bipolar People

Many famous and accomplished people have bipolar disorder. These people can be an inspiration to you when life looks bleak. Having bipolar disorder is not the end of the world. In fact you are in good company, just look at some of the people who have had bipolar disorder throughout history.

  • Michelangelo, Artist- The mental illness of one of the world's greatest artistic geniuses is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.


  • Isaac Newton, Scientist- The scientist's mental illness is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr and The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb.


  • Jimmy Piersall, Baseball Player - The baseball player for the Boston Red Sox who suffered from bipolar disorder detailed his experience in The Truth Hurts.


  • Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States


  • Robert Schumann, Composer- The "inspired poet of human suffering" experienced bipolar disorder, as discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.


  • Vincent Van Gogh, Painter- The celebrated artist's bipolar disorder is discussed in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb and Dear Theo, The Autobiography of Van Gogh.


  • Winston Churchill- "Had he been a stable and equable man, he could never have inspired the nation. In 1940, when all the odds were against Britain, a leader of sober judgment might well have concluded that we were finished," wrote Anthony Storr about Churchill's bipolar disorder in Churchill's Black Dog, Kafka's Mice, and Other Phenomena of the Human Mind.


  • Virginia Woolf- The British novelist who wrote To the Lighthouse and Orlando experienced the mood swings of bipolar disorder characterized by feverish periods of writing and weeks immersed in gloom. Her story is discussed in The Dynamics of Creation by Anthony Storr.


  • Honore de Balzac, Writer


  • Johann Goethe, Writer


  • George Fredrick Handel, Composer


  • Gustav Mahler, Composer


  • Ted Turner, Businessman


  • This is an extensive list compiled by www.mental-health-today.com. 

    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, playwright
    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, choreographer
    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, woman'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



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