Famous People
Panic
Anxiety Education
Management Services
Famous People who have experienced an Anxiety
Disorder
Alfred
Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
Poet
of the highest distinction. He was a Poet Laureate and an
inspiration to others. The years 1840-5 were in many ways the most
challenging in his life. He was separated from his wife; he had lost
his money; he felt more nervously ill than ever, and he could not
write. So severe was his  nervous
illness that his friends despaired of his life.
"I have", he wrote, "drunk
one of the most bitter draughts out of the cup of life, which go
near to make men hate the world they move in."
In 1843 he wrote to a friend
" ... the perpetual panic and horror
of the last two years had steeped my nerves in poison: now I am
left a beggar but am or shall be shortly somewhat better off in
nerves."
He was undertaking Hydropaths treatment
which included: no reading, no going near a fire, no coffee,
perpetual wet sheet and cold bath and alternation from hot to cold.
It didn't work. In 1848 he went to a new doctor who gave him iron
pills. It was commented "..this really great man thinks more
about his bowels and nerves than about the laureate wreath he was
born to inherit..". Many of his friends thought him a
hypochondriac. He never received appropriate treatment for his
condition and so experienced nervous illness through his life. He
was also a brilliant poet and writer of the first order.
Top of Page
Charlotte
Bronte (1816-1855)
Gifted
poet and writer of the Victorian era. One of the infamous Bronte
sisters. Author of, amongst others, Jane Eyre, Villette and Shirley.
In 1852 developed a state of anxiety with depression. Charlotte was
given a mercury treatment which provoked a violent reaction. She
said  she
was not writing but instead was swallowing drugs
"for the purpose of chasing away a
low nervous fever which after long annoying threats - at last
established a somewhat unfair tyranny over spirit - sleep and
appetite".
She portrayed her condition in the
character of Lucy in Villette. She suggests a connection between
mental and physical illness
"my mind has suffered somewhat too
much; a malady is growing upon it - what shall I do? How shall I
keep well?" She also says "Sleepless, I lay awake night
after night, weak and unable to occupy myself".
She would say the breakdown was a result of
writing a book in isolation (Jane Eyre). But, she also said
"It would take a great deal to crush
me!"
Top of Page
Sigmund
Freud
Developed
and taught psychoanalysis which is a form of psychotherapy.
Psychoanalysis is  associated
with the couch, the note pad and the silent listener. Contrary to
popular belief, Freud was not the father of psychiatry. Sigmund
Freud suffered from Panic Disorder at the time when he wrote his
famous papers on anxiety neurosis. He had symptoms of an Anxiety
Disorder and worried a great deal about his 'spells'. He had many
medical evaluations for them. Nothing of a serious medical nature
could be found wrong with him. He was told that his symptoms were
'nervous' in origin. Freud was not satisfied with what he was told.
In his quest for a fuller explanation, he searched for a
psychological cause. He built an elaborate model based on psychology
of the mind and the role of internal conflicts in causing and
maintaining anxiety. This model has preoccupied everyone studying
anxiety for most of the century*. * The Anxiety Disease: David
Sheehan MD
Top of Page
Nikola
Tesla (1856-1943)
Genius
& greatest inventor the world has ever known. Invented device to
harness alternating electrical current, invented radio , fluorescent
lighting and bladeless turbine, fundamentals of robotry,
computers and missile science. Many of the 'modern conveniences of
life' are a result of Tesla's inventions. At 5 years of age,
following death of his older brother, he developed many phobias and
compulsions and in general became a 'perfectionist' - subjecting
himself to iron discipline in order to excel. He was also 'plagued'
by panic attack - like symptoms. Strong flashes of light that marred
sight of real objects and 'shooting flames' through the body. Their
intensity increased as he got older.
'This caused me great discomfort and
anxiety ..' said Tesla, 'None of the students of psychology or
physiology whom I have consulted could ever explain satisfactorily
these phenomena ..'
No surprise here, most people still can't
get a satisfactory explanation about what is happening ......
top of page | continued
about us | panic-anxiety
info | treatment | paems
program | articles | q
& a
newsletter | research
| stories | famous
anxiety sufferers | top 10 | email
us
|
