A number of well-known individuals have suffered from clinical depression or bipolar disorder.
In recent years, some individuals have discussed their depression openly. Earlier figures were often reluctant to discuss or seek treatment for depression due to social stigma about the condition, or due to ignorance of diagnosis or treatments. Some historical personalities are presumed to have suffered from depression based on analysis or interpretation of letters, journals, artwork, writings or statements of family and friends.
Many depression sufferers are encouraged by noted individuals who have succeeded in spite of depression.
Some studies have attempted to link depression or other mental disorders to artistic creativity, but not all have accepted such proposals.
- Ahab, ancient Israeli king
- Caroline Aherne, British comedy performer
- Buzz Aldrin, American astronaut, the second man to set foot on the moon
- Claus von Amsberg, German diplomat and husband of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
- Louie Anderson comedian, actor
- Hideaki Anno, Japanese anime director
- Adam Ant, British musician (Adam and the Ants) (Bipolar disorder)
- David Bohm, American physicist
- Kjell Magne Bondevik, Norwegian politician Prime Minister of Norway
- Terry Bradshaw, American Quarterback
- Frank Bruno, British boxer
- Robert Burton British academic author of The Anatomy of Melancholy
- George W. Bush, American politician, 43rd President of the United States
- Georg Cantor, Russian mathematician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Truman Capote American writer
- Capucine, French actor (Bipolar disorder)
- Jim Carrey, Canadian actor and Comedian
- Dick Cavett, American talk show host
- Iris Chang, Chinese American historian and journalist
- Winston Churchill, British politician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana)
- Ty Cobb, American pro baseball player
- Billy Corgan, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins)
- Sheryl Crow, American musician
- Rodney Dangerfield, American actor and comedian
- Roméo Dallaire, Canadian general, senator and humanitarian
- Ray Davies, British musician (possibly bipolar disorder)
- Kirk Douglas, Actor, father of Michael
- Nick Drake, British musician
- Thomas Eagleton, American politician and professor
- Kenny Everett, British entertainer
- Karla Homolka, Canadian serial killer
- Siobhan Fahey, British musician
- Paul Feyerabend, Austrian philosopher of science
- Carrie Fisher actress and writer (bipolar disorder)
- Harrison Ford, American actor
- Michel Foucault, French philosopher
- Romain Gary, French writer
- Boy George, British musician
- Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer, after murdering his wife, her lover, and his own son
- Paul Getty, British philanthropist
- Kit Gingrich Newt's mother
- Spalding Gray, American actor and writer
- Elizabeth Hartman, American actor
- Stephen Hawking, British physicist
- John Hinckley, Jr., American would-be assassin of Ronald Reagan
- William James, American philosopher and psychologist
- Kay Redfield Jamison, American professor of psychiatry (Bipolar disorder)
- Susanna Kaysen, American writer
- Kool Keith, American hip hop artist
- Rudyard Kipling, Anglo-Indian writer
- R. D. Laing, British psychiatrist and writer
- Hugh Laurie, British actor
- Abraham Lincoln, American politician, 16th President of the United States
- Oscar Lopez, Chilean-Canadian folk guitarist
- Charlotte Mew, British poet
- Spike Milligan, British comedian and writer (Bipolar disorder)
- Charles Mingus, American jazz musician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Octave Mirbeau, French art critic and writer
- Morrissey musician
- Isaac Newton, British physicist
- Bill Oddie, British comedy performer
- Eugene O'Neill Playwright
- Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist 'father of the atomic bomb'
- Donny Osmond, musician
- Sylvia Plath, American poet
- Charlotte Rampling, British actor
- Trent Reznor American musician (Nine Inch Nails)
- Anne Rice, American writer
- Henry Rollins, American musician (Black Flag), writer
- Mark Rothko, American painter
- Bertrand Russell, British philosopher
- Siegfried Sassoon, British poet and soldier
- Paul Schrader, American film writer
- Jean Seberg, American actor
- Anne Sexton, American poet
- Brooke Shields, American actress
- Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian Composer
- Sarah Silverman, American comedian
- Michael Slater, Australian cricketer (Bipolar disorder)
- Elliott Smith, American musician
- Robert Smith, British musician (The Cure)
- Vivian Stanshall, British humourist and musician (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)
- William Styron, writer
- Screaming Lord Sutch, British musician and eccentric
- Amy Tan, Chinese American writer
- James Taylor, American singer-songwriter
- Gene Tierney, American actor
- Georg Trakl, Austrian poet
- Diana, Princess of Wales
- Mike Wallace, American journalist on 60 Minutes
- Mika Waltari, Finnish writer (Bipolar disorder)
- Thomas J. Watson, Jr., American industrialist
- Dan White, American killer of Harvey Milk and George Moscone
- Tennessee Williams, American playwright
- Brian Wilson, American musician (Beach Boys)
- Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher
- Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer
- Ed Wood, Jr., American film director
- Elizabeth Wurtzel, American writer
- Thom Yorke, British musician (Radiohead)
- Emile Zola, writer
Debated or suspected cases (alphabetically)[]
- Pascin, Bulgarian painter
- Ryan Adams, American musician
- Chris Acland, British musician (Lush)
- Fatty Arbuckle, American silent film comedian
- Diane Arbus, American photographer
- Albert Ayler, American musician
- Charles Baudelaire, French poet (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Ludwig van Beethoven, German Composer
- Friedrich Eduard Beneke, German psychologist
- Linn Berggren, Swedish singer, (ace of base), this is still being debated among fans and countless of others.
- Napoleon Bonaparte emperor
- Francesco Borromini, Swiss architect
- Marlon Brando, Actor
- Barbara Bush, former First Lady (US)
- Wallace Carothers, American organic chemist (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Jim Carrey, Canadian comedian and actor (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Charles, Prince of Wales
- Charles VII of France
- Leslie Cheung, Hong-Kong singer and actor
- Alex Chilton, American musician
- Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, British statesman
- Rosemary Clooney, American singer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Leonard Cohen, Canadian singer and writer
- William Cowper, British poet
- Ian Curtis, British musician (Joy Division)
- Dorothy Dandridge, American actor
- Charles Darwin, British naturalist
- Dorothea Dix, American activist
- Terence Donovan, British photographer
- Frederick Douglass, American reformer and writer
- Richey Edwards, Welsh musician
- Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet
- Romain Gary, French writer
- Paul Gauguin, French painter
- Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicisist
- Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American writer
- Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Wilfredo Gómez, Puerto Rican boxer
- Dwight Gooden baseball player
- Tipper Gore, wife of U.S. Vice-President
- Tony Hancock, British comedian
- Ernest Hemingway, American writer
- Doug Hopkins, American musician (Gin Blossoms)
- Helen Hunt Jackson, American writer
- William Stanley Jevons, British economist
- Daniel Johns, Australian musician
- Kim Jong-il, North Korean dictator
- Franz Kafka, Austrian writer
- Wassily Kandinsky Russian-French painter
- John Keats, British poet
- Lawrence Kohlberg, American psychologist
- Blackie Lawless, frontman of the band W.A.S.P.
- Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (probably bipolar)
- Richard Lewis, Comedian
- Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President 1861-1865
- Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright
- Jack London, Amerian writer (probably Bipolar disorder}
- Louis XVI of France
- Courtney Love, American actress and singer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Bela Lugosi, Transylvanian actor
- Martin Luther, German Protestant Reformer
- Gustav Mahler, Composer
- Joe Meek, British record producer
- Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter
- Brian Molko, British musician
- José Zorrilla y Moral, Spanish poet
- Eric Morecambe, British comedian
- Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer
- Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian composer
- Richard M. Nixon, US President
- Conor Oberst, American [musician|Bright Eyes
- Rosie O'Donnell, American television personality
- Ozzy Osbourne, British singer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist and philosopher
- Jaco Pastorius, American musician (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Floyd Patterson, American boxer
- Philip V of Spain
- Lisa Marie Presley, American singer
- Marie Prevost, Canadian actor
- Thomas de Quincey, British writer
- Christopher Reeve, American actor
- Theodore Roethke, American poet
- Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator
- Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
- Robert Schumann, composer
- Cindy Sherman, American photographer
- Elliott Smith, American musician
- Maria Klementyna Sobieska, Polish princess
- Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains)
- Gwen Stefani, American singer
- Margaret Sullavan, American actor
- P. Arthanari Swamy, Indian glass eater
- Pete Townshend, British musician (The Who)
- Jim Thorpe, Native American athlete
- Yoshiyuki Tomino, Japanese anime creator
- John Kennedy Toole, American writer
- J. M. W. Turner, British painter
- Jeff Tweedy, American musician (Wilco)
- Hervé Villechaize, French actor
- Kurt Vonnegut, - writer
- Paul Weller, British musician
- Virginia Woolf, British writer (probably Bipolar disorder)
- Yongle Emperor, third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China
- Robert Young, American actor
Fictional cases (alphabetically)[]
- Holden Caulfield, J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
- Eeyore, AA Milne Character, Possibly Unipolar
- Louis, Apres Vous
- Marvin the Paranoid Android, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Miles, Sideways
- Raven, a professional wrestler whose gimmick seemingly includes depression
- Ben Sanderson, Leaving Las Vegas
- Gregory House, House (TV series)
- Moe Szyslak, The Simpsons
- Bill Dauterive, King Of The Hill
- Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver
- Jean Valjean, Les Miserables, died from depression
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