We all have heard about schizophrenia up to this moment. But do we know what schizophrenia means? Schizophrenia is a brain disorder which strikes people between the ages 17 and 28. There aren’t as many famous people with schizophrenia because they were too young to be famous or they were just launching in the industry. Despite that, I realized top 10 outstanding individuals with schizophrenia, alive and dead.
10 Jeremy OxleyJeremy Oxley is an Australian songwriter, singer, and guitarist. He formed the band “Sunnyboys” When the group is dissolved, Oxley’s health was falling apart. It was revealed that he has schizophrenia. He was advised by the doctors to check himself into an asylum; his illness worsened because of alcohol binges. When he moved to the outer suburbs in Sydney, he was still drinking because he found that alcohol keeps the voices in his head quiet; he didn’t stop painting and making music. He later contributed to Harrison’s research about schizophrenia.
Jake Lloyd is an American actor who gained a lot of success even when he was ten years old with “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.” He was arrested in June 2015 for reckless driving. His mother stated that Lloyd has schizophrenia. In April 2016, he was transferred from the jail to a psychiatric facility after being diagnosed. Her mother claims several attacks and also the accident was caused by his inability to take his medications.
Roky Erickson is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Texas. Once, when he was performing, he started talking gibberish. He was sent to a psychiatric hospital diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia where he received, without his approval, electro convulsive therapy. He was earlier arrested for possession of Marijuana, but he pleaded not guilty because of being invalid. After several attempts of escapes in Austin State Hospital, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital where he got more electro convulsive therapy as well as Thorazine treatments. After being released from the state hospital, he formed a new band. He has gigs until this day.
Joanne Greenberg is an American author who wrote the bestselling novel “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.” Her books were mostly published under the pseudonym Hannah Green. The book is a fictionalized way to present Joanne’s treatment. She wrote the book as a way to describe mental illness; her primary goal being especially to show the difference between creativity and insanity. She said, “There is no creativity in madness; madness is the opposite of creativity, although people may be creative in spite of being mentally ill.”
Nobody knows what happened to Robert Walser. He is an outstanding but unfortunately unknown European writer. He had always been mysterious and liked being alone, at the margins of society. But when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he almost stopped writing, and he spent over three decades in hospitals. We can surely say that his illness made his writings indeed masterpieces.
Nathanial Ayers is an American musician. He is the subject on almost every social media platform. There exists a foundation wearing his name which aims to support people with mental illness but is artistically gifted. He suffered a mental breakdown when he was in middle school and was institutionalized. For some years he lived with his mother, receiving electroconvulsive therapy. After his mother had died, he moved to Los Angeles thinking that his father lived there. Being homeless and having schizophrenia isn’t easy but despite all of this, Nathanial Ayers continued to play music on the streets to entertain people.
John Forbes was an American mathematician who made crucial contributions different domains in mathematics. His first form of illness started as paranoia, his behavior being described as erratic. He thought that all men wearing red ties were part of a communist conspiracy against him. He was eventually admitted to McLean Hospital where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He did take sometimes prescribed medication; he stated that he did so because he was under pressure. It even encouraged people, through a film, that have the disorder to stop taking their medication.
In July 1910 Eduard, the son of Albert Einstein and MilevaMaric was born in Zurich. He was a sensitive child; often ill. Eduard performed extraordinarily in school, passing his A-levels as one of the best students. He wanted to study medicine and become a psychiatrist. Unfortunately, at the age of twenty, he started seeing symptoms of schizophrenia. After the dead of her mother, Eduard lived for about nine more years.
Brian Wilson is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Because of his unusual way of approaching songs, he is acknowledged as one of the most innovative forces in traditional music. He experiences auditory hallucinations and has been diagnosed as mildly manic-depressive with schizo affective disorder. His mental condition started to recover, having the hallucinations from time to time, which made him return to his music career. By abusing drugs, doctors diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenic finding evidence of brain damage.
Veronica Lake was disliked by a lot of people because she was an alcoholic, a schizophrenic and above all because she was famous. She began to show schizophrenia signs: gibberish, auditory hallucinations, paranoid tendencies, etc. She gained some fame from attending beauty pageants shown and then they moved to Beverly Hills. Her parents thought that if they enroll her in an acting school, it will be a treatment for her disease. Her physical condition worsened, and she was afflicted by bouts of paranoia. She died due to alcoholism when she was 50 years old. It is said that her ashes were scattered off a coast but is it said by someone that in 2004 some of her ashes were found in an antique store. Veronica can’t rest even when she is dead.