GLMX #209: Robin Williams and "Divine Madness"

The ancient philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, pondered this question: Why do so many creative people -- those considered to be great artists and geniuses -- seem to struggle with some form of mental instability or mental illness. The Greeks called it "divine madness," and it was brought to the fore this week by the shocking suicide of actor and comedian Robin Williams.
 
A USA Today article noted that other famous "painters, poets, writers, musicians, and designers" including "Vincent van Gogh, Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Kurt Cobain, [and] Alexander McQueen" suffered from feelings of intense depression and also committed suicide. Sadly, 63-year-old Robin Williams, who had long battled substance abuse and had recently sought treatment for depression, joined that number this week.
 
Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says that her studies seem to back up the popular idea of the "tortured genius." She examined nearly 50 writers and artists in Britain and found that more than 38% had been treated for a mood disorder. However, other researchers say that creative people are no more susceptible to depression and suicide than others. Jeffrey Borenstein, president of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, said, "Over 100 people a day in the U.S. die by suicide. The vast majority aren't famous celebrities. Anyone can be affected by mental illness. It's not particularly prevalent in people with very high intelligence or lower."
  
Whether there is some truth to the idea of "divine madness" or whether such sad occurrences in the lives of creative people are simply coincidences, one thing is clear: no one can make it through life on their own.

MUSICAL SELECTION: "It Is Well: by Kristene DiMarco and Bethel Music