# Latest missing celebrity: Sinéad O'Connor \[Update: Found safe\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2016, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919 "2016-05-16T16:49:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/21 "2016-05-17T19:38:57Z")
I was reading about her past episodes- I knew she was erratic but didn’t realize how full blown mental she is. Apparently she’s publicly accused her kids- including the little ones- of driving her to suicide and haranguing her various baby daddies is something of a hobby. OTOH, she was absolutely delighted when her oldest son made her a grandmother last year. Does anybody know if she’s broke? If she manages her money herself then I’ve no doubt she is, but I’m hoping she’s at least provided for the education of her younger kids. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/22 "2016-05-19T01:43:15Z")
Looks like she’s at least providing legal education for her kids by [suing them](https://www.yahoo.com/celebrity/sinead-oconnor-threatens-suicide-as-she-announces-095929000.html). She totally laid out the heavy guilt trip on her kids. She had to run to another continent just to stay alive. Nothing compares 2 UR paranoia. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/23 "2016-05-19T09:40:18Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > As a result, I think this belief is counter-productive at best, and damaging at worst. This is true for both the artists and the viewers. [Here’s](https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creativity-explorations-in-art-literature-science-and-the-everyday/201503/creativity-and-mental) the clearest article I can find on the subject. > Yeah, yeah. I’m fucking delightful at parties, believe me. I’d be happy to keep plying you with little sausages on a stick. A lot of my favorite artists do not seem to have had any special amount of mental health problems, and for those which did it tends to be of the exogenous type (Goya’s depression for example). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/24 "2016-05-20T12:09:30Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I’d be happy to keep plying you with little sausages on a stick. A lot of my favorite artists do not seem to have had any special amount of mental health problems, and for those which did it tends to be of the exogenous type (Goya’s depression for example). Eww, umm, I’m sorry for being American to a hilt, but I’m picturing not very nice sausages (think Armour or Libby’s Vienna, little smokies at best ) in this scenario. Either way, as long as some sort of bar (even self-provided) is a possibility, and we’re gonna talk sanely about artists such as Goya, let me know when the party starts! If I can convince the wife to come, I’ll more than double the artistic knowledge provided by my entourage! But yeah, even though neither of us are I dunno, “normal” psychologically, we both work at and think about varying types of art most any moment we aren’t working at the rest of our lives. We both have acquaintances and friends who are commercially successful in their forms, but they’re generally no more crazy or sane than we are. The fundamental idea of art is that you communicate _something, anything_, To believe you have to be dysfunctional to communicate is pretty silly when you think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/25 "2016-05-20T12:17:43Z")
Not saying you have to be mentally ill to be good at art. Just saying that some artists see sanity as a barrier. In Sinead’s case, if she got top-notch counseling and all the meds she needed to keep her from going batshit crazy, I don’t think she’d be quite as good an artist. She channels her anger issues and passions into her singing and conveys sincere emotional impact. If she were all calm and level-headed, she’d sound like elevator music. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/26 "2016-05-20T12:23:59Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Not saying you have to be mentally ill to be good at art. Just saying that some artists see sanity as a barrier. > > In Sinead’s case, if she got top-notch counseling and all the meds she needed to keep her from going batshit crazy, I don’t think she’d be quite as good an artist. She channels her anger issues and passions into her singing and conveys sincere emotional impact. If she were all calm and level-headed, she’d sound like elevator music. Well, I’m not saying calm and level headed is conducive to making great art, but there’s a difference between being passionate and being mentally ill. It may be easier for mentally ill people to communicate their passion in the short term, but their illness is not conducive or necessary to continuing to produce relevant art over a career. Our known treatments may blunt the creative drives of the mentally ill, but that does not seem to imply that the drives we associate with the illness are always associated with illness. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/27 "2016-05-20T13:48:04Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > I concur. She is a very troubled individual with serious mental health problems. I fear there is no way she will live to a ripe old age. She’s already almost 50. She doesn’t need to dodge that many bullets to make it to retirement age, at least. Lots of people have mental health issues that make Sinead O’Connor look positively boring by comparison and manage to live long lives. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/28 "2016-05-20T16:48:51Z")
Can someone tell me what sorts of mental issues Sinead has? I admit to being fully ignorant of the matter. Is she schizophrenic? Bipolar? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/29 "2016-05-20T20:00:51Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > I know there are aspects of creativity that aren’t in the conscious control of the person who is considered creative. I have been engaged in creative endeavors for most of my life and would probably be a megalomaniac if I thought I could pull genuinely creative and useful ideas at will. I also know that there are aspects of a normal person’s mind that aren’t in their conscious control, either. Also, you can be eccentric without being mentally ill. > > There’s no known part of the brain that creates mental illness or creativity. I’m creative, but I’m also very technical. The technical ability is more lucrative than the creative, so I didn’t end up an artist. I’m also not crazy. Possibly the reason why there’s such a correlation between mental illness and creativity, in the professional world, is because one can’t be nutballs and hold down a regular job, whereas you can be and be an artist, singer, writer, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919/30 "2016-05-20T20:34:13Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Possibly the reason why there’s such a correlation between mental illness and creativity, in the professional world, is because one can’t be nutballs and hold down a regular job, whereas you can be and be an artist, singer, writer, etc. There is a point at which being nutballs will take you out of any business. Sinead O’Connor is normal and stable 97% of the time. I think you will find that even in professions such as acting, singing, and writing, the ability to show up on time, be industrious, work hard and work well with people is remarkably strongly correlated with success. You don’t see Randy Quaid - who, I hasten to add, is an Oscar-nominated actor - getting a lot of top drawer roles, but they keep giving jobs to the likes of Tom Hanks, Kate Winslet, Ryan Gosling and Charlize Theron, because those people show up on time, treat others with decency, know their lines and bust their asses. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-missing-celebrity-sinead-oconnor-update-found-safe/754919.md?page=1)