Celebrity Depression, Spiritual Lessons

Lesson #9: In Good Company

In her book "Touched with Fire," Kay Redfield Jamison writes, "Biographies of eminent poets, artists, and composers attest to the strikingly high rate of mood disorders and suicide--as well as institutionalization in asylums and psychiatric hospitals--in these individuals, and recent psychiatric and psychological studies of living artists and writers have further documented the link."

Voila! Proof that madness does, in fact, come with being a creative genius. There's consolation for me in knowing that some of the most talented singers, actors, artists, writers, composers, and other creative folk struggle to stay well, too, and that sometimes their grin is only for the cameras. Call me crazy, but I find many lessons and lots of hope tucked away in their stories.

Text by Therese J. Borchard