Tai Babilonia, 1959- American figure skater, addiction, attempted suicide. Her hopes for Olympics success in 1980 are scuttled when her partner Gardner suffers a groin injury and is unable to compete. Tai responds to this disappointment by descending into drug abuse, culminating in an attempted suicide.
Oksana Baiul, 1977- Ukrainian figure skater, addiction. After the 1994 Olympics, Baiul moved to the United States, where she skated in professional tours while battling a drinking problem. Her addiction culminated in a car crash in 1997, after which she entered a rehab program and returned to professional skating.
Daniel Baldwin, 1960- American actor, addiction. Baldwin, who has been battling cocaine addiction since 1989, has reportedly quit Celebrity Rehab, a reality series that features several “has been” celebrities as they undergo treatment to get over their bad habits.
Zoe Ball, 1970- English television and radio personality, post-natal depression. Zoe has also been candid about the difficulties of becoming a mother and putting her glittering career on hold. She admitted suffering from post-natal depression, saying after the birth she went "a bit loopy". The TV and radio star once said: "I'm not a natural, brilliant mother."
Honore de Balzac, 1799-1850 French writer, depression. He devoted himself to his true vocation, with a furious energy beside which even Scott's, except in his sadder and later days, becomes leisurely. Balzac generally wrote (dining early and lightly, and sleeping for some hours immediately after dinner) from midnight until any hour in the following day -- stretches of sixteen hours being not unknown, and the process being often continued for days and weeks. He had frightful attacks of depression.
Samuel Barber, 1910-1981 American classical composer, addiction, depression. In the 70's he was going through a terrible time, battling depression, loneliness, alcoholism, creative difficulties. It was almost impossible for him to concentrate or be really interested in anything, or anybody. He was a man of the country and it was heart rending to see him standing on the small terrace of his apartment wistfully looking beyond the highrise across the street. He was very noise conscious and was physically pained by the bustle of the traffic. One of his few consolations was that he liked to hear Benny Goodman, who lived above him, play the clarinet. They became friends. How he managed to do anything at all during this time is a miracle; it indicates his basic inner strength and a steely refusal to capitulate to the demons within. With the help of his patient and Figaro-like housekeeper Valentin Herranz, he finally managed to be himself again.
Roseanne Barr, actress, comedian, incest survivor, addiction, Roseanne is one of those comedians whose rakish and raunchy humor is driven by the tragedies in her life. In 1994, Roseanne announced publicly she had been diagnosed with multiple personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and agoraphobia. In her autobiography, My Lives, she reveals a childhood marked by sexual, physical and verbal abuse allegedly committed by her parents. Specialists say Roseanne may have developed "multiple personalities" to cope with such trauma. She was hospitalized several times, including a yearlong stay in a state hospital at age 16. Roseanne is still in "heavy duty psychotherapy," as she puts it, and has taken antidepressants, including Prozac, but she has still managed to become a successful comedian, TV star, producer and writer, currently hosting a syndicated talk show, The Roseanne Show
Drew Barrymore, 1975- American actress and director, addiction, clinical depression, hospitalized, suicide attempt. Drew Barrymore had less than the ideal childhood, alcohol, drugs, suicide attempt and then rehab - all by the time Drew was thirteen. Let's take a peek at Drew Barrymore's next seven years; wrote her autobiography, Little Girl Lost left home, posed nude for magazines - twice, was married and divorced, all by the time Drew was twenty. Drew Barrymore lived more life in her first twenty years, if a little unconventional, than most people twice her age. Rona Barrett, 1936- American gossip columnist, depression. "The healthy and strong individual is the one who asks for help when he needs it. Whether he's got an abscess on his knee or in his soul". Rona Barrett
Syd Barrett, 1946-2006 English musician, member Pink Floyd, schizophrenia. Amid reports that he was suffering from schizophrenia, Barrett managed to release two solo albums in 1970, The Madcap Laughs and Barrett. The bulk of the material from these albums, which have gained a huge cult following over the years, was written during Barrett's brief productive period of 1967-68. An independent career proved impossible: His one live solo gig was aborted after five songs. In 1971, Barrett spoke to Rolling Stone about his absence from the music scene. "I'm disappearing, avoiding most things," he said. "Mostly I just waste my time . . . I've got a very irregular head." Around the time of this interview, he sold the rights to his solo music and moved into his mother's basement in Cambridge, where he lived out the rest of his life.
J M Barrie, 1860-1937 Scottish writer, depression. When Barrie was six years old, his brother David died in an accident and Barrie tried to console his mother by dressing up in his dead brother's clothes. It is generally believed that he suffered from manic depression, and this combined with his brother's death led to an obsessive relationship with his mother that would affect him throughout his life. He published a genuflecting biography of her in 1896.
Kim Basinger, 1953- American actress, panic disorder, agoraphobia. Basinger describes herself as a shy child. After her first panic attack, Basinger's fears left her homebound. "I stayed in my house and literally cried every day. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know how to define it," Basinger states in Panic, an HBO American Undercover documentary. Basinger became homebound for 4 months. She overcame this initial bout of panic on her own, by forcing herself to do things. When panic returned before her Oscar win, Basinger sought help from a specialist, she says in Panic. The treatment consisted of therapy without medication. "My therapy was about awareness and education," Basinger states.
Justine Bateman, 1966- American actress, anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating. She says teenage fame made her become a bulimic. The former Family Ties star made a lot of rules for herself: "I can have one more cookie if I go throw it all up later. Or I can have this now if I skip lunch later," "I'm talking mainly about doing stuff like not eating when I'm hungry. Or eating more than I really want to and then trying to get rid of it." Bateman said she was sure people knew. "In fact, when they'd say, 'You look anorexic,' I'd take it as a compliment."
Charles Baudelaire, 1821-1867 French poet, addiction, depression. Throughout his adult life Baudelaire suffered from severe bouts of depression and isolation - a condition which he referred to as 'spleen'.
Shelley Beattie, 1968- 2008 American athlete, professional body builder, bipolar disorder, suicide. Shelley Beattie was an inspiration to the deaf community, overcoming her disability to become a professional bodybuilder, a television personality and a competitive sailor. “The only thing I can’t do is hear,” she used to say. Last month she discovered one other thing she couldn’t do: live with bipolar disorder. The doctors said her bipolar disorder would get worse. And it did. By New Year's Day, she was so sick she had to be hospitalized. The cycles of the illness became more rapid. Eventually depression and mania crossed paths and became one. She had been in a care facility for six weeks when she hanged herself. She lived four days but never regained consciousness, and died Feb. 16, 2008. She was 40.
Ned Beatty, 1937- American actor, bipolar disorder. Ned Beatty spoke with reporter Luaine Lee regarding the fact that he has bipolar disorder (manic depression). “I’ve had this problem since I was in my 20s. They don’t call it manic depression anymore. They call it a bipolar disorder, and I’m a Type 2” (1998). He also discussed how it seems easier to perform when manic, but noted that even depression doesn’t really hinder his work. In referring to these episodes of mania or depression, Beatty says “Performing is such a second-nature thing that I can do it in the middle of one of these things” (Lee, 1998). With an extraordinarily successful career studded with stage performances, over a hundred movies, and innumerable television appearances, it is abundantly clear the bipolar disorder has not hindered this celebrated actor.
Samuel Becket, 1906-1989 Irish writer, depression, mental breakdowns. Samuel Beckett is known to have commented "I had little talent for happiness". This was evidenced by his frequent bouts of depression and mental breakdowns from which he suffered since his younger days. He often stayed in bed until late in the afternoon, received few visitors and hated long conversations. This sense of depression would show up in much of his writing especially in Waiting for Godot where it is a struggle to get through life.
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1770-1827 composer, bipolar disorder, A brilliant composer experienced bipolar disorder, as documented in The Key to Genius: Manic Depression and the Creative Life by D. Jablow Hershman and Julian Lieb. His mania also had its flip side, as he destroyed relationships with raging quarrels and psychotic delusions. On one occasion, he flung a gravy-laden platter of food at a waiter's head. His friends called him "half crazy," and when enraged, "he became like a wild animal." Ultimately, Beethoven medicated himself with the only available drug besides opium - alcohol. He literally drank himself to death. And as deafness closed in around him, he withdrew from the world, into himself. He wrote his Eighth Symphony in 1812. Then his creative output dried up. In 1824, he would premier his Choral Symphony. It was as if a piece of this magnitude required a tortuous 12-year gestation. He would also compose his transcendent string quartets. But soon his liver would give out on him, and in early 1827 he died at the age of 56, leaving behind sketches of a tenth symphony the world would never hear.
Menachem Begin, 1913-1992 Prime Minister of Israel, depression. September, 1983 Begin resigned the premiership in deep depression over the death of his wife, and also, Mr. Silver leads us to suspect, over the consequences of the war he waged in Lebanon, and because of a deeply ingrained tendency to manic-depressiveness
Brendan Behan, 1923-1964 poet, addiction. Behan found fame difficult. He had long been a heavy drinker (describing himself, on one occasion, as "a drinker with a writing problem" and claiming "I only drink on two occasions-when I'm thirsty and when I'm not") and developed diabetes in the early 1960s. As his fame grew, so too did his alcohol consumption. This combination resulted in a series of notoriously drunken public appearances, on both stage and television. Brendan saw that it paid him to be drunk, as the public wanted the witty, iconoclastic, genial "broth of a boy" and he gave it to them in abundance. He staggered through the drunken hoops held out to him exclaiming: "There's no bad publicity except an obituary." His health suffered terribly, with diabetic comas and seizures occurring with frightening regularity. Towards the end he became the caricature of the drunken Irishman. He died, aged 41.
Irving Berlin, 1888-1989 Russian born musician, "White Christmas" and "God Bless America", clinical depression. Berlin had a bout of depression at 40, Barrett said, when his infant son died and he was writing songs he thought were terrible. Two of them, "How Deep Is the Ocean" and "Say It Isn't So," proved better than he first thought. Another depression hit him at 60; he came out of that by writing "Call Me Madam" for Broadway.
Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869 French composer, Symphonic Fantastique, depression. Berlioz was a very introverted, rather neurotic young man; later in life he was to become mentally unstable. His last few years became increasingly dull and miserable, he felt very lonely and fed up, amounting at times to a state of depression, increased by more frequent bouts of abdominal pain. A dark spot was the death of Louis his son in Havana from yellow fever at the age of only 33. After increasing weakness and depression, he finally died on the 8th March 1869 in Paris aged 66.
Leonard Bernstein, 1918-1989 American composer, conductor, "West Side Story" clinical depression. Bernstein's private demons--anguish over the trade off between a conductor's glory and a composer's productivity, the ridicule invited by his impassioned political activism, the conflict between his devotion to his family and his bisexuality, bouts of depression suffered in his later years
John Berryman, 1914-1972 American poet, addiction, depression, suicide. His personal life, long shaken by marital turmoil, had been calmed considerably by a successful third marriage. An alcoholic of many years' standing, Berryman claimed to have at least arrested the addiction. But naturally the happy appearance was yoked to unhappy realities. The most damaging of these was certainly Berryman's incurable grief and horror over his father's suicide, which occurred when the poet was eleven, Despite the solidity of his marriage, he continued to experience a fever of extra-marital lusts; this chronic affliction was accompanied by lacerating guilt,
Robert Blake, 1933- American actor, addiction, depression. Blake suffered bouts of depression and alcohol abuse, however, and in 1983 he divorced his first wife Sondra Blake, with whom he had two children. After walking out of TV series Hell Town in 1985, Blake put his career on hold for eight years.
William Blake, 1757-1827 English pose, depression. Alongside his ecstatic visions, Blake was prone to fits of severe depression. In 1800, he recounted a descent into “a deep pit of Melancholy” These episodes were often followed by periods of “illumination” and intense creativity.
Steve Blass, 1942- American former baseball player, Pittsburgh Pirates, social phobia.
David Bohm, 1917-1992 American physicist, depression, suicidal. Throughout his life, Bohm suffered from bouts of depression, which seemingly worsened with age. He underwent psychoanalysis with Patrick de Mare. In May 1991 he was admitted to the "old age psychiatry" - de Mare declared Bohm "suicidal". Bohm stayed in the hospital until the end of august 1991. He remained on "medication" (sertralin).
Charles "Buddy" Bolden, 1877-1931 African American cornetist "Father of American Jazz", schizophrenia, acute alcoholic
psychosis. As his fame and fortune grew, so did Buddy's obsession for wine, whiskey and women. He lived every aspect of his life to excess. He spent money as fast as he made it. His appetite for life raged out of control. And all of his passion funneled into his music. He became ever more inventive in his style of playing. One person who spoke openly of the effect that Buddy Bolden had on his playing was Louis Armstrong. When he was just a boy, Armstrong used to sneak into the clubs and sit at the back listening to Buddy play. For Satchmo, no one else would ever compare. In 1907, Buddy's world came crashing down. While marching in a New Orleans parade, Bolden fell to the ground. He writhed and foamed at the mouth. Doctors diagnosed mental collapse and sent him to the state hospital in Jackson, Louisiana. Bolden never left the hospital again. He never again played the cornet. He lived for twenty-four years just a shell of the man he had once been. Many people have speculated that Buddy had inherited his mother's unstable mental condition. Others attribute his illness to the side-effects of syphilus. But it is all just conjecture and we will probably never know. Buddy died in 1931 and his tremendous talent died with him. He left no recorded music for us to listen to. Of the many original compositions he wrote only one remains--Buddy Bolden's Blues.
Ludwig Boltzmann, 1844-1906 Austrian physicist, depression, attempted suicide, suicide. Boltzmann, whose work was based on the concept of atoms, found himself cast as their chief defender and the debates became increasingly bitter. Always prone to bouts of depression, Boltzmann came to believe that his life's work had been rejected by the scientific community, although this was far from being true. In 1906, he committed suicide. If despair over rejection, or frustration over being unable to prove his point, were contributing factors the irony would be great indeed. Soon after Boltzmann's death, clinching evidence was found for atoms, and few would ever doubt their existence again.
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821 French military and political leader, depression. Napoleon sunk into further depression. Although he had numerous ailments by 1821, it seems likely that Napoleon's actual cause of death was stomach cancer. (Indeed, Napoleon's stomach may have been bothering him for years; some speculate that persistent stomach pains may have been at the root of his habit of placing a hand between his vest or shirt buttons, a gesture made famous in many portraits.) Yet the defeated conqueror, who had once had nearly all of Europe in his hands, now suffering a tedious and pathetic exile, had also lost his will to live.
Graham Bond, 1937-1994 English musician, addiction, depression, suicide. Bond’s personal life included much substance abuse, and he was known for continually fighting depression. Near the end of his life, Bond’s friends say he was getting even deeper into the occult. He died under the wheels of a train in London in 1974, and his death was ruled a suicide.
Kjell Magne Bondevik, 1947- Prime Minister of Norway, depression. Nearly ten years ago, Kjell Magne Bondevik got sick - sick with clinical depression. He was so depressed that he couldn't get out of bed - much less go to work. The problem was he had an important job - he was the prime minister of Norway. He ended up taking a very public sick leave. Eventually he was able to return to work, and was elected to a second term, serving until 2005. In recent years he's been speaking publicly about the need to eliminate the stigma of mental illness. He addressed the British parliament in January 2008.
Robert Boorstin, American special assistant to former US president Bill Clinton, bipolar disorder, hospitalization. In July of 1987, Robert Boorstin was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depression) when his first manic episode, which followed a long struggle with depression, resulted in hospitalization. In a presentation entitled Smooth Sailing at a symposium held by the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association (DRADA) and Johns Hopkins, Mr. Boorstin openly shared his experiences with this disorder. He describes his first hospitalization as "ego shattering. One day you are a writer for the New York Times and the next you are in a mental hospital." He developed a pattern of castigating himself for being mentally ill; then he said, "I would get mad at myself for getting mad at myself!" He humorously described the antipsychotic medication given early in his hospitalization as "steel wool to the brain." He does well on lithium, which he says keeps him from going too far up or too far down. He has a few side effects from lithium, such as a slight tremor, some slowing of his thinking, and some daytime sleepiness. He handles the sleepiness with daily half-hour naps, which he is entitled to as a "reasonable accommodation" under the Americans with Disabilities Act (DRADA, 1994).
Clara Bow, 1905-1965 American actress, american silent films of 1920's, depression, schizophrenia, ECT, After being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1949, Bow entered a treatment regimen that included shock treatments. Later, her husband sent her to one of the top mental institutions in the nation. Doctors found out that Bow had been raped by her father at a young age.
Steven Bowditch, 1983- Australian golfer, depression. Bowditch isn't sure what caused his depression, although he says his family has a history of it. All he knows is it began a couple of years ago and worsened at the start of this year. It's hard enough to compete on the world's toughest tour at the best of times, let alone when it's a struggle merely to stay focused on the job at hand.
Tommy Boyce, 1939-1994 American musician, composer, depression, suicide. Tommy Boyce had struggled with depression since suffering a brain aneurysm in 1993 from which he never fully recovered. He shot himself to death in November 1994.
Lorraine Bracco, 1954- American actress, Bracco says she now recognizes that she was fighting depression through much of her marriage to Harvey Keitel. She has made public statements for mental health counseling, seeking to dispel the stigma that sometimes surrounds mental illness. "If you break your leg, you have it fixed," she says. "If you have a toothache, you go to the dentist. When it comes to mental health, people tend to think they can just get over it." She writes about her tumultuous life in her new book, "On the Couch."
Terry Bradshaw, American quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, In May 2003 Terry Bradshaw embarked on a multi-city campaign to discuss his own lifelong depression and urge sufferers to get help. "Taking the first step toward a diagnosis and treatment was one of the bravest thing I've ever had to do," said Bradshaw.
Zach Braff, 1975- American actor, director, Braff says he empathizes with the character he played in his U.S. film "Garden State" because he suffers from mild depression in real life. "So to have millions of people go, 'I watched your movie and related' was the ultimate affirmation that I'm not a freak."
Melvyn Bragg, 1939- British author and broadcaster, Depression. Bragg has himself suffered from depression and as president of the mental health charity Mind has spoken movingly about the suicide of his first wife in 1971. Lord Bragg is far from the first person most would associate with having a history of mental health problems. The phenomenally accomplished author and TV broadcaster suffered bouts of severe depression in his teens and 20s, but stands as testament to the fact that issues with mental health don’t have to stand in the way of success in life. “I had a fairly severe bout of depression when I was in my mid-teens,” says Melvyn. “I didn’t acknowledge it. I didn’t know what it was, because you didn’t in Wigton in the early fifties, and I don’t think you do now, really.” Born into an “ordinary family” in 1939, shortly after the outbreak of World War Two, Melvyn explains: “Looking back on it, it seems clear that I had serious depression and some kind of breakdown. “In those days you just got on with it. You couldn’t talk to people; you were ashamed of it and that was one of the biggest problems. “This sounds strange, but nobody knew about my problem – least of all me. I just knew that something very strange was happening and did what I could to battle through.”
Russell Brand, 1975- English radio and television personality, comedian, actor, eating disorder, depression, addiction Russell was diagnosed with depression and developed the eating disorder bulimia, saying he suffered from the illness for three years. new magazine reports he said: "I was a fat little kid. I wanted to lose weight, and I would make myself sick on a daily basis. I remember my stepdad asking me to stop puking up in the sink because it was blocking the drain."The super-skinny and super talented Russell continued: "I stopped by the time I was 17 as by then I was a drug addict so I had other self-destructive behaviour to be getting on with."
Cheyenne Brando, 1970-1995 American actress, Cheyenne tried to take her own life by overdosing on sleeping pills, she was formally diagnosed with schizophrenia, became isolated from her former friends, and lost custody of her son to her mother (who raised him in Tahiti). In 1995, at the age of twenty-five, Cheyenne committed suicide at her mother's house by hanging herself
Marlon Brando, 1924-2004 American actor, addiction, depression. Marlon Brando was a deeply troubled man struggling with depression, anger, and loneliness. While the 'Godfather' solidified his place in Hollywood's Hall of Fame, watching this hopeless figure testify in front of a judge on behalf of his son for the murder of his daughter's boyfriend was a chilling reminder of how Brando's screen life was often inextricable from his personal life. Shortly after his son was convicted of murder, his daughter committed suicide. Brando went through many relationships and fathered many children, but on the day of his death, he died a lonely man, failing at husbandry, fatherhood, and personhood. It was suggested that Brando had suffered from senile dementia.
Richard Brautigan, 1935-1985 American writer, addiction, depression, suicide ECT, In 1955 he was arrested for throwing a rock through a police station window, supposedly in order to be sent to prison and fed. Instead he was sent to Oregon State Hospital and treated there with electroconvulsive therapy. Due to years of depression and heavy alcoholism he committed suicide in his home in Bolinas, California
Rory Bremner, 1961- British impressionist and comedian, eating disorder, depression. Rory Bremner has opened up about his depression, and the lowest days when he wanted to end it all. "I can remember about four or five years ago when I was having a particularly bad day," he said. "I was doing a charity show and it was great, the audience were falling about laughing. But I walked out and wanted to walk under a bus." Even by the tortured standards of great comic figures, his existence was not always easy. Divorce from his first wife, Susie Davies, a teacher and artist; brief love affairs; an eating disorder so severe that even opening the fridge made him feel nauseous; anxiety and therapy. All those are part of his past.
Jeremy Brett, 1933-1995 English actor, bipolar, hospitalized, Brett experienced some personal hardships during his days as Sherlock Holmes. His second wife, producer Joan Wilson, died in 1985, and Brett was deeply hurt by this loss. He became very depressed and later learned he had bipolar disorder, which is a mental illness usually marked by manic and depressive episodes.
Van Wyck Brooks, 1886-1963 American writer, Beset by bouts of clinical depression that required institutionalization, Brooks overcame his demons, finding solace and purpose in his writings. Van Wyck Brooks an autobiography reveals to us the illusive heart of the "lost generation" of early twentieth century American writers.
Anton Bruckner, 1824-1896 Austrian composer, depression, hospitalization, suicidal. Always liable to mood swing he had a severe attack of depression, alternating between mania and depression, sometimes with suicidal thoughts, spending three months in hospital. He also had a phobia, amounting at times to an obsession, about counting things. One of his fellow patients was unable to wear a certain dress, lest Bruckner should start counting the pearls with which the dress was decorated.
Art Buchwald, American political humorist, bipolar disorder Kicks Off The Open-Door Policy With A Tale Of His Own Travails. I had two depressions, one in 1963 and the other in 1987—the first clinical depression, the second manic depression. One of my major fears during my depression was that I would lose my sense of humor and wind up in advertising. I was hospitalized because I was suicidal, but I wouldn't have followed through anyway because I was afraid I wouldn't make the New York Times obituary page. I was fearful that Gen. De Gaulle would die on the same day, and no one would recognize my passing. But I still thought about it constantly. My wife knew I was in this state, and on a visit to my hospital bed, she surreptitiously placed a photograph of my three children on the nightstand. When I saw it, I realized I would be hurting them more than myself. In the early '90s, I went on Larry King Live with Mike Wallace and Kay Jamison to discuss depression. I wasn't sure I should do it because I didn't want to become a poster boy for mental health. But I did. As it turned out, the show had the most viewer reaction of any Larry King show. There were more depressed people in America than anyone guessed. Celebrities can play a role in helping depressed people: When Bill Styron or Mike Wallace admit they struggled with depression, sufferers say, "If they can have one, then I guess so can I." Styron, for one, is a role model for me. Mike, Bill and I suffered from depression at the same time; the only difference among the three of us being that Mike and I suffered—and Bill made a million dollars. All kidding aside, the message is simple. You do get over depressions. More important, you are a better person for having had one. I seemed to wipe out many of my skeletons in a short period of time and discard many fears that had bugged me before. You become more sensitive and kind. In my case it was so. I agreed to write this introduction because talking about depression seems to help me as much as the people I am talking to. I wouldn't want another depression in a million years but I have made peace with the two I have had.
Mutya Buena, 1985- English Singer, post natal depression. Buena recently admitted that she left English girl group Sugababes in December 2005 because she was suffering from post-natal depression. "I suffered from post-natal depression after my daughter Tahlia was born. "That was part of me wanting to leave the group. Everything became a downer and I just couldn't be bothered. "But it did get to the point where I couldn't take any more and it was horrible. All you know is that you feel down and you want to cry."
John Bunyan, 1628-1688 English writer, Pilgrim's Progress, depression. He was greatly troubled by thoughts of God’s judgment and of his danger of ending up in hell. He began having terrible dreams. ‘These things so distressed my soul that, even in the midst of my many sports and other childish activities and among my thoughtless play fellows, I was often very much depressed and afflicted in my mind with these thoughts; yet I could not let go of my sins.’ Gradually the dreams passed and he soon forgot all thoughts of God and of hell and of judgment. Instead he plunged more and more into a life of ungodliness. But as on previous occasions, it was not long before Bunyan had sunk back into depression and despair as guilt flooded his conscience once more. No amount of effort on the part of his pastor or friends was able to bring comfort to his anguished heart. For some two and a half years these terrible battles had raged in Bunyan’s soul. He fluctuated between times of great joy and comfort in the Word to times of deep, deep torment.
Delta Burke, 1956- American actress, depression, hospitalization. Delta Burke spoke candidly about her depression and her psychiatric hospitalization in January 2008. Burke said she needed "an adjustment under a physician's care" after the five medications she was taking no longer worked. She is now on two medications. At times breaking into tears, she said one of her lowest moments came while she was starring in the hit series "Designing Women". "I was parked in the car in the hills with a gun and a bottle of Xanax beside me, trying to recover from harsh words said in the tabloids," she said. "I just wanted the pain to go away." The actress also confessed that she struggles with hoarding. "At one time I had 27 storage units. I don't have a big enough house," she said. "My mom had it, it's my mother's fault. She saved the diaper I came home from the hospital in." By coming forward, Burke said she hopes to remove the stigma of mental illness so that people will get the help they need.
Brendon Burns, Australian Comedian, psychosis, ‘I was totally bonkers. I had a full-blown psychotic episode. I was stone-cold sober looking in the mirror and I could see Satan looking back at me.’ He’s able to laugh at the memory. ‘I even heard the voice of God. Madness is strange. It’s not any one thing that causes it, it’s thousands of things and it’s not any one thing that makes you better, it’s a thousand. There’s no magic button.’
Robert Burns, 1759-1796 Scottish poet, depression. Several times during his life Burns suffered from depression (‘bitter hours of blue-devilism’, as he called it.)
Robert Burton, 1577-1640 English writer, depression. Subject to depression of spirits, he wrote as an antidote the singular book which has given him fame. The Anatomy of Melancholy, in which he appears under the name of Democritus Junior, was published in 1621, and had great popularity. When not under depression he was an amusing companion, “very merry, facete, and juvenile,” and a person of “great honesty, plain dealing, and charity.”
Tim Burton, American movie director, depression. "Throughout my life, there is some form and level of depression that has always hung over me. And I don't think it's bad necessarily, but sometimes when it gets bad - and there have been a few points - it keeps you kind of stuck." taken from the Rolling Stone Interview.
Willie Burton, 1968- American basketball player, depression, Miami Heat forward WILLIE BURTON, who missed the final eight games of the 1991-92 National Basketball Association season to undergo treatment for depression, says he is smiling again and eager to fulfill his potential in the league. "My play is going to be something to watch; let me put it that way," Burton said yesterday in a news conference in Miami. Burton was making his first public comments since he left the Heat on April 8, with the team's support, for counseling sessions at a center in Houston. "I can deal with life now," the 24-year-old Burton said. "I'm a better person. I'm a more eager player. I'm now officially more or less an adult." Burton said he would continue to receive treatment "as needed," but he declined to discuss details of his therapy.
Barbara Bush, 1925- American former First Lady, depression. Barbara Bush was unable to participate in any conversations with her husband about his work, since he was dealing with top secret