Stories of well-known people who have lived with schizophrenia or psychosis — and what we can learn from their lives.
Jack Kerouac received a Navy discharge in 1943 with a diagnosis of 'dementia praecox' — an older term for schizophrenia. Whether that label, assigned in eight days of observation, accurately describes him is one of the most contested questions in literary biography.
ProfileJohn Charles Martin Nash, the son of Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash Jr., was diagnosed with schizophrenia in his twenties. The family's experience illustrates the genetic dimension of the illness.
ProfileMary Todd Lincoln was committed to an Illinois asylum by her son Robert in 1875 in a public trial. Modern historians have re-examined her case, the diagnostic standards of her era, and the gendered assumptions that shaped both.
ProfileFriedrich Nietzsche collapsed on a Turin street in January 1889 and lived the next eleven years in profound mental disability. The diagnosis is one of the longest-running debates in clinical history.
MediaA curated reading list for patients, families, clinicians, and curious readers — with notes on what each book offers and where to start depending on what you are looking for.