10 famous people with schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that in various ways affects the ability to behave, think and feel. To diagnose this condition, symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and catatonic behavior, among other things, must be present, or the individual in question must have exhibited at least one of the aforementioned symptoms for at least a period of six months, before one can be called a schizophrenic.

According to various medical reports, around 1.Schizophrenia accounts for 1% of the world’s population and around 3.5 million people in the United States alone have been diagnosed with the disease which affects people of all ages. Join us as we introduce you to the 10 most famous people to have battled the disease.

10 famous people with schizophrenia

1. Roky Erickson

First on the list is Roky Erickson, who is famous for being a member and one of the founders of The 13th Floor Elevators, as well as a pioneer of the psychedelic rock music genre.

The musician and composer was born as RogerKynard Erickson on July 15, 1947 in Austin, Texas. He plays guitar, harmonica and piano. During his 55 years active in music, he has worked with labels such as Columbia, CBS, Restless and many more.

During his performance at Hemis Fairback in 1968, Erickson started talking gibberish. He was then taken to hospital and diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, the most common type of schizophrenia. He was then sent to a psychiatric hospital, where he had to undergo electroshock treatment.

2. Kat Bjelland

Katherine Lynne Bjelland is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known as the lead singer of Babes in Toyland, an alternative rock band she formed in 1987. She was born December 9, 1963 in Salem, Oregon.

Bjelland’s musical style is very unusual from the usual rock performance we’ve grown accustomed to, leading many people to think she was crazy. She was known to scream, whisper and also speak in tongues. After staying away from the public eye for several years, Bjelland came out in 2007 to announce that she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. She has since received treatment and reunited with her Toyland band mates after more than a decade apart.

3. Jim Gordon

Popular American drummer, musician and singer-songwriter James Beck Gordon, better known as Jim Gordon, was born on July 14, 1945. Gordon enjoyed the best times of his musical career between the 1960s and 1970s and was mostly known for the drummer of Derek and Dominos, a blues-rock band.

Drummer began showing behavioral signs of schizophrenia in the early 1970s, but never went to the hospital to confirm the diagnosis. After repeatedly complaining about hearing his mother’s voice, among some voices in his head, his attending physician treated him for alcohol abuse instead of sending him to a mental institution. Once while on tour, Gordon beat up his then-girlfriend, Rita Coolidge, in a hotel hallway. But it wasn’t until he stabbed his then 72-year-old mother to death with a butcher’s knife that he was arrested and able to get a proper diagnosis of what was wrong with it. him. This, however, did not help his case as he was sentenced to 16 years to life for the murder of his mother.

Gordon has been denied parole ten times since he first became eligible in 1991. During one of his parole hearings in 2005, he told the court that his mother was still alive and he could still hear her voice in his head. His last parole hearing was on March 7, 2018, and his next hearing will not be until March 2021. He is currently serving his sentence at California Medical Center, a psychiatric medicine prison located in California.

4. Darrell Hammond

Famous American actor, comedian, and impressionist, Darrell Hammond was born on October 8, 1955 in Melbourne, Florida, United States. As a child, Hammond suffered so much bullying from his mother that led to various psychiatric problems and almost regular hospitalization. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder. The abuse he suffered as a child still affects his adult life today. He revealed that sometimes, before going on stage or on set, he would cut himself off to relax and help stay relaxed.

Nonetheless, Hammond went on to achieve great things in his career. After his departure from Saturday Night Live, he was known to be the oldest cast member in the show’s history. He also held the record for the most impersonations of an SNL cast member, with 107, before being surpassed by Kenan Thompson on May 3, 2014.

5. Daniel Johnston

Daniel Johnston is an American entertainer, singer-songwriter, and musician who plays keyboard, guitar, and organ. He was born on January 22, 1961 in Sacramento, California.

The musician, who made progress in his career in the 1980s, released tapes of his music as a McDonald’s worker. He has long suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He is the subject of the documentary The Devil and Daniel Johnston which describes his battles with the disease and takes a look at all the years of his life spent in mental institutions.

6. Jack Lloyd

Jack Lloyd was an actor best known for playing young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. He was born on March 5, 1989 in Fort Collins, Colorado.

Lloyd started playing in 1996 but quit in 2001. He said he made the decision to quit playing at a young age because he was regularly bullied at his school. He was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2015. This diagnosis was made after he was arrested for reckless driving, driving without a license and resisting arrest. His behavior prompted police to assess his mental state, which determined that he suffered from schizophrenia. He was then transferred from a prison to a mental institution.

7. Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and founding member of The Beach Boys. The rock and pop musician, who plays keyboard and bass, was born on June 20, 1942 in Inglewood, California.

Wilson, who worked with top notch record labels such as Walt Disney, Capitol, EMI, Warner Bros., CBS, Reprise and many more is widely recognized as one of the finest songwriters of the late 20th century. century and are called “genius” by many. Despite his remarkable musical spirit, he has struggled with mental illness for a very long time and has used a lot of drugs and alcohol. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1975. Once he attempted to drive his car off a cliff and on another occasion he dug a grave in his garden and demanded that he be thrown and buried in it. -this.

8. John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley is not the usual celebrity come every day. He became famous for his failed attempt to assassinate Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States. His attempt to assassinate the President was fueled by his obsession with Jodie Foster, an actress who starred in the film Taxi Driver. After several failed attempts to get the actress to notice him, he then tried to impress her by assassinating the president.

On March 30, 1981, Hinckley fired six shots at Reagan, but luckily for the President, he escaped with a minor injury. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy and police officer Thomas Delahanty also escaped. One of the six shots was unfortunately injured by the press secretary, James Brady, and Hinckley’s gunshot was responsible for Brady’s resulting death 33 years later.

After the failed assassination attempt, Hinckley did not flee the crime scene and was arrested on the spot. When he was tried on 13 counts, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was treated by a psychiatrist. On September 10, 2016, he was released from residential psychiatric care and now lives with his mother.

9. Rufus May

Rufus May is a British clinical psychologist born in 1968 in London, England. He uses his experience as a psychiatric patient to help others suffering from a similar illness to recover.

At the age of 18, Mayla was diagnosed with schizophrenia and had to be repeatedly detained in a psychiatric hospital. He now works as a clinical psychologist with an outreach team in Bradford, England, and participates in recovery groups for patients with mental illness, such as Evolving Minds and Hearing Voices Network. He also helped support the course by publishing books.

10. Nick Blinko

Nick Blinko is a British artist and musician Known for being the singer and guitarist of the London band Rudimentaire Peni. Punk rock, maker of anarcho-punk and deathrock music, was born on September 4, 1961 in England.

The brilliant artist whose pen drawings and paintings have been shown in galleries all over the world, has long been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. But even mental illness hasn’t stopped him from reaching great heights, as he is coping well with his illness.