There\u2019s a fine line, it is said, between genius and insanity. But do the two always go hand in hand?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In her new book, \u201cAndy Warhol Was a Hoarder,\u201d Claudia Kalb examines 12 historic figures through the lens of today\u2019s knowledge of mental illnesses. While Warhol was considered eccentric in his time, for instance, a psychiatrist now might say his compulsive collecting of junk pointed to an underlying neurosis.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While Kalb concludes that \u201cin many ways, historical figures are no saner or zanier than the rest of us,\u201d she writes that these sorts of inquiries raise questions about how we o \u2014 or don\u2019t \u2014 treat problems. Would George Gershwin, who doctors today might say had ADHD, have written \u201cRhapsody in Blue\u201d on Ritalin? Would alleviation of depression have made Abraham Lincoln a different president? Consider these four luminares.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Howard Hughes<\/strong><\/p>\n Obesssive-compulsive disorder<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Howard Hughes was a shy, awkward child, \u201cexceedingly close\u201d to his mother, Allene, who \u201cworried about her son incessantly, rarely letting him out of her sight and creating what some remember as a wall of loneliness and alienation.\u201d She also had \u201can intense fear of germs and disease.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While her paranoia may have played on him, losing both his parents before he turned 20 \u2014 they died two years apart \u2014 affected him \u201cprofoundly.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The erratic behavior we\u2019ve long heard Hughes engaged in was, Kalb writes, a symptom of OCD, \u201ca debilitating condition that affects more than 2 million American adults.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, an OCD specialist at UCLA who coached Leonardo DiCaprio on the disease when he played Hughes in \u201cThe Aviator,\u201d is quoted saying that Hughes was \u201ca walking encyclopedia of severe OCD symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He repeated instructions to his employees, a \u201ccore feature\u201d of OCD because, in some cases, it\u2019s a \u201cstruggle with perfectionism: an action or word has to be repeated over and over again until it feels just right.\u201d (As an example, Kalb cites a memo where Hughes wrote, \u201ca good letter should be immediately understandable\u201d three times in a row.)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHughes\u2019 obsessions revolved around precision and routine,\u201d writes Kalb.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHis menu consisted of just a few items served repeatedly: whole milk, Hershey\u2019s bars with almonds, pecan nuts and Poland bottled water. Everything had to be delivered in a brown paper bag rolled back at the outer edges and held at a 45-degree angle from his aide\u2019s body. Hughes then used Kleenex to reach into the bag and pull out the goods.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He wrote a treatise for his employees on how they were never to go into his room, touch his things or open any of his doors, \u201ceven for one-thousandth of an inch, for one-thousandth of a second,\u201d as \u201cI don\u2019t want the possibility of dust or insects or anything of that nature entering.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hughes was so fearful that he wrote detailed instructions for his staff for even the simplest tasks: his guide on how to open a can of fruit was three pages long.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While he went untreated throughout his life, drugs and behavioral therapies that could have helped him have since evolved, and Schwartz notes that his strong engineer\u2019s mind would have made him \u201can ideal therapeutic candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But Hughes had another factor working against him \u2014 his immense wealth. Most people with OCD have to develop routines that keep their OCD in check so they can make a living and function within everyday society. The enormously wealthy Hughes, surrounded by yes men, had no such pressure, leaving him free to indulge an illness that thrives on allowing it free rein.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNot only did he not resist [his OCD urges], he indulged them,\u201d said Schwartz. \u201cThat is a prescription for getting disastrous OCD.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Andy Warhol<\/strong><\/p>\n Hoarder<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At a 2013 unveiling, it was discovered that the capsules \u201ccontained empty toothbrush boxes, silverware swiped from the Concorde, photographs, restaurant bills, Campbell\u2019s soup cans, worn underwear \u2014 and even a mummified human foot.\u201d One patron remarked, \u201cI heard there was a slice of Caroline Kennedy\u2019s 16th birthday cake in one of the boxes!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kalb notes that \u201cWarhol had a thing for multiplicity in almost every area of his life,\u201d from silk screens featuring \u201c100 Marilyn Monroes, 210 Coca-Cola bottles, [or] 14 orange images of a mangled vehicle,\u201d to the many people he surrounded himself with constantly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cMore was always better than less\u201d for Warhol, Kalb writes. \u201cIn a most simplistic way, Warhol\u2019s serial images flaunted the artist\u2019s preoccupation with abundance.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kalb also notes how this extended to people.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cLonely as a child, he amassed flocks of \u2018associates,\u2019 showing up at social events with many of them in tow.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hoarding was first categorized as a disorder in the latest edition of the DSM, the American Psychiatric Association\u2019s official guide to mental disorders.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kalb writes that hoarding disorder is marked by \u201ca persistent inability to part with belongings,\u201d and by \u201cliving spaces becom[ing] so deluged with possessions they cannot be used for their intended purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Kalb writes that Warhol\u2019s hoarding is differentiated from mere collecting because \u201che made no effort to display his items in any organized way \u2014 one of the hallmarks that differentiates collecting from hoarding.\u201d When Warhol was once asked how he decorated his home, he replied, \u201cJust with junk. Paper and boxes. Things I bring home and leave around and never pick up.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Another aspect of hoarding disorder is \u201cdistress\u201d about the hoarding, and Warhol certainly had that, writing in \u201cThe Andy Warhol Diaries,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m so sick of the way I live, of all this junk, and always dragging more home. Just white walls and a clean floor, that\u2019s all I want.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hoarders develop attachments to things because they\u2019re unable to forge meaningful attachments to people. While Warhol famously had an entourage, he had \u201cfew deep and lasting connections.\u201d He even documented this substitution, once writing, \u201cWhen I got my first TV set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Warhol died, Sotheby\u2019s appraisers found \u201ca Picasso stashed in a closet,\u201d and \u201cgems tucked away in the bed.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Warhol\u2019s things were eventually put up for auction, and almost 10,000 pieces raised $25 million. Newsweek called it \u201cthe biggest garage sale ever.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Frank Lloyd Wright<\/strong><\/p>\n Narcissist<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When you think of Frank Lloyd Wright, perhaps the Guggenheim Museum comes to mind, or the many gorgeous buildings he designed in Chicago. But if you had lived in one of Wright\u2019s buildings, a different image might occur \u2014 that of a leaky roof.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHis buildings were notorious for their physical defects,\u201d writes Kalb, \u201cincluding inadequately heated rooms and drooping beams. Leaky roofs, an unwelcome feature of his flat-topped buildings, were practically an architectural insignia.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The answer to why Wright\u2019s iconic creations were also notoriously defective can be found in the DSM.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWright\u2019s extraordinary talent was intertwined with a supreme narcissism that played out in myriad ways with his clients,\u201d Kalb writes. \u201cRooted in nonconformity, the maverick architect pursued his artistic convictions with little concern for the utilitarian matters of stability, practicality and cost.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Writing to Solomon Guggenheim about the design of his museum, Wright wanted to \u201cdo away with the stilted, pretentious grandomania of the old-fashioned \u2018art exhibit.\u2019 \u201d But his design was \u201cits own brand of grandomania,\u201d as Wright\u2019s plans \u201crequired that the paintings be displayed at an angle to accommodate his dramatic and predominant spiral walkway.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the museum-to-be became more of an ode to its creator, exhibiting artists grew concerned<\/p>\n In December 1956, shortly after construction began, 21 artists, including William Avery, Willem de Kooning, and Robert Motherwell signed a letter stating that Wright\u2019s design indicated \u201ca callous disregard\u2019 for adequate viewing of works of art.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wright considered their protestations \u201cworthless.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Raised in a home of six children, Wright was by far his mother\u2019s favorite. According to Wright\u2019s recollections, his mother determined that he would be a famous architect before he was born, as she \u201chung a series of framed wood engravings of old English cathedrals on Frank\u2019s nursery walls.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Some have disputed this account, and Kalb writes that \u201crewriting one\u2019s past is characteristic of narcissistic people.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While noting that narcissistic behavior doesn\u2019t necessarily indicate narcissistic personality disorder, Wright \u201cwould have made an exceptionally strong candidate\u201d for the latter.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c[His mother] clearly cherished her son,\u201d Kalb writes, \u201cbut too much adulation can backfire. A spoiled or \u2018golden\u2019 child may develop a sense of entitlement, believing that he is better than anyone else and deserving of special treatment \u2014 one of the core characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wright\u2019s self-absorption was clear throughout his career, as he would take whatever he could from business associates before discarding them. One boss he considered a mentor loaned him the money to build his house, but this didn\u2019t stop Wright from working for others behind the man\u2019s back.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His self-regard was too great even for him to care about his own kids.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cImpatient with the constant hubbub of children,\u201d Kalb writes, \u201cWright made it clear that any \u2018father-feeling\u2019 he had was for his work, not his offspring. \u2018The children were their mother\u2019s children,\u2019 he wrote. \u2018I hated the sound of the word papa.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Both the magnificence of Wright\u2019s creations and their sometimes gross deficiencies were likely the result of his disorder. So, too, was the wreckage of his life.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n His biographer, Ada Louise Huxtable, put it best when she said, \u201cHe simply created his own moral code.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Albert Einstein<\/strong><\/p>\n Autistic<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When he worked at Princeton\u2019s Institute for Advanced Study, Albert Einstein once called the study with an urgent, and embarrassing, query.<\/p>\n He needed the home address for one Albert Einstein.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201c \u2018Please don\u2019t tell anybody,\u2019 he whispered, \u2018but I am Dr. Einstein. I\u2019m on my way home, and I\u2019ve forgotten where my house is.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If Einstein\u2019s parents had taken him for a checkup today, his late talking, intense focus, and social detachment would have raised red flags\u2026<\/p>\n For all his considerable genius, Einstein had blind spots and deficiencies that seem to place him clearly on the autism spectrum.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cHad Einstein been born in the 21st century, it is almost certain that he would have been assessed for autism spectrum disorder as a very young child,\u201d Kalb writes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIf Einstein\u2019s parents had taken him for a checkup today, his late talking, intense focus, and social detachment would have raised red flags, prompted an autism screening, and possibly warranted a diagnosis.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a boy, Einstein didn\u2019t begin speaking until past the age of 2, almost 3 years old. Once he did, his speech was marked by the \u201cstrange habit\u201d of \u201crepeating sentences to himself,\u201d a \u201ccommon feature of autism.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Autistic children can also have problems controlling their anger. As a child, Einstein would throw tantrums so severe that his \u201cface would go pale and the tip of his nose [would] turn white.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While he clearly found success in time, his autistic traits affected his ability to launch his career in surprising ways. \u201cBecause they have difficulty detecting nonverbal cues and perceiving the feelings of others, people on the autism spectrum often speak bluntly and forcefully and may come off as tactless,\u201d Kalb writes. Einstein \u201cstruck many as cocky and impertinent, a problem that torpedoed his academic career early on.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But for all the problems he had due to his likely autistic qualities, they also played a role in his success. When he graduated college, he was \u201cthe only one in his division who had not landed a job offer.\u201d This, however, became a gift. Forced to take an intellectually undemanding job with the patent office, the lack of rigor allowed him \u201ctime to come up with his special theory of relativity.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: New York post\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s a fine line, it is said, between genius and insanity. But do the two always go hand in hand? In her new book, \u201cAndy Warhol Was a Hoarder,\u201d Claudia Kalb examines 12 historic figures through the lens of today\u2019s knowledge of mental illnesses….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1","rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg",900,609,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg",900,609,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=300%2C203&ssl=1",300,203,true],"large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"portfolio-square":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=570%2C570&ssl=1",570,570,true],"portfolio-portrait":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=600%2C609&ssl=1",600,609,true],"portfolio-landscape":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1",800,600,true],"menu-featured-post":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=345%2C198&ssl=1",345,198,true],"qode-carousel_slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=400%2C260&ssl=1",400,260,true],"portfolio_slider":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=500%2C380&ssl=1",500,380,true],"portfolio_masonry_regular":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1",500,500,true],"portfolio_masonry_wide":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=900%2C500&ssl=1",900,500,true],"portfolio_masonry_tall":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=500%2C609&ssl=1",500,609,true],"portfolio_masonry_large":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=900%2C609&ssl=1",900,609,true],"portfolio_masonry_with_space":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=700%2C474&ssl=1",700,474,true],"latest_post_boxes":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=539%2C303&ssl=1",539,303,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1",300,300,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?fit=600%2C406&ssl=1",600,406,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/post-3002-1.jpg?resize=100%2C100&ssl=1",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/author\/admin\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Philosophy<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"There\u2019s a fine line, it is said, between genius and insanity. But do the two always go hand in hand? In her new book, \u201cAndy Warhol Was a Hoarder,\u201d Claudia Kalb examines 12 historic figures through the lens of today\u2019s knowledge of mental illnesses....","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44792,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44791\/revisions\/44792"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lecturesbureau.gr\/1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}