# Stars with mental disorders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2016, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571 "2016-02-19T18:55:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/61 "2016-02-24T19:37:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > One of my relatives, who’s a huge XTC fan and also has a child on the autistic spectrum, says that their song “Senses Working Overtime” is Asperger Syndrome defined, and I’ve seen speculation elsewhere that he quite likely has it. While autism is not a mental illness, it can be a co-morbid condition with any of them, especially anxiety disorders which was why Partridge was unable to perform onstage. That is very interesting and surprising. Could you expand on what you mean by ‘Asperger Syndrome defined’? Do you mean the lyrics are as though a definition of AS, or that the song is elsewhere been defined as related to AS? As a lifelong XTC fan (did I mention I saw their last ever completed gig?) and with a 30 year career in psychiatry so far, I’ve never got that vibe from him. I’ve watched and read many interviews and known people who have worked with him. His anxiety issues are well documented as well as being addicted to valium from being prescribed it as a child, but not a whiff of autism - nor have I ever seen it speculated until now. I always wondered if he might have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder (through hearing about working with him in books and through friends, through such songs as Another Satellite, Ship Trapped in the Ice, The Art Song and Your Dictionary) but now I’ve read what you wrote it is very interesting to look at it through that lens. It will be interesting to read the new book of interviews with him about the songs that comes out next month. The description for which includes this; _Filled with anecdotes about Partridge, his XTC bandmates, and the band’s adventures around the world (all told with AP’s legendary humour),_ - a characteristic not frequently associated with AS but not a deal breaker. link to the book - [https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/product/351/7076/](https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/product/351/7076/) The cover photo does little to discourage the notion he’s …eccentric? Thanks for your post - very thought provoking for me as you can see! MiM ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2016, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/62 "2016-02-24T21:05:32Z")
2 pages, and no mention of Lindsay Lohan yet? Surely she’s got more going on than mere drug addiction? ---
**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/63 "2016-02-27T18:39:31Z")
There’s a story in today’s _Washington Post_ that’ll break your heart. It’s about Debi Thomas, a beautiful, gifted woman who won Olympic gold as an ice skater in the '80s and who subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon. She was diagnosed bipolar and now her life is in ruins. She’s penniless and living in a trailer. The article is at > **[The best African American figure skater in history is now bankrupt and living...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_olympianfall-830a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory)** > > Debi Thomas graduated Stanford and became a surgeon before her downward spiral began I warn you, it’s not an easy story to read. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/64 "2016-02-27T19:13:25Z")
Folksinger Phil Ochs, who ultimately killed himself, was probably an undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Jennifer Lein has been acting pretty bizarro lately. ---
**Author:** ![Majestic\_Lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Majestic\_Lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Majestic_Lee)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/65 "2016-02-28T23:32:33Z")
Ian Curtis of Joy Division ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/66 "2016-02-28T23:37:10Z")
I don’t see Joan Crawford anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2016, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/67 "2016-02-28T23:53:09Z")
> [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](#): > > There’s been speculation in the press that Keanu Reeves is on the autism spectrum because he avoids eye contact. That’s a myth. I know close on 200 autistic people, and they don’t avoid eye contact, with the exception of people who avoid it in certain circumstances, because they are trying to communicate something they can’t communicate in words. Personally, I think that the “avoids eye contact,” along with “avoids physical contact” are institutional behaviors that you will see even in perfectly normal people after situations like being POWs, and these behaviors were observed decades ago in autistic people who had been in institutions. We need fresh data on the current generation of young adults, who have never been institutionalized. People who avoid eye contact either have something wrong with their vision, or they are just shy. There are actors who are pathologically ahy when they are not acting, believe it or not. I’m not saying Keanu Reeves is one-- I know nothing about him, but it’s possible. Imogene Coca apparently could barely talk to people, and sat in the corner by herself any time she wasn’t “on,” but when she was, when she was working, she was entirely different. > [@Majestic\_Lee](#): > > Ian Curtis of Joy Division That’s such a horrible name. I know it’s fictional, but the brothels really did exist, and I knew someone who had been forced into one when she was 17. It makes me shudder every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/68 "2016-02-29T00:16:44Z")
> [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](#): > > There’s been speculation in the press that Keanu Reeves is on the autism spectrum because he avoids eye contact. People with ADHD are more-often-than-is-easy-to-believe mistaken for autistic because we don’t do eye contact very well either. There are a lot more actors/actresses with that than autism. > [@Sampiro](#): > > What’s weird about his case is that his wife is not only just as crazy as he is but their craziness and delusions are apparently in perfect sync. Not too weird: that’s what [Folie à deux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folie_%C3%A0_deux) is. Typically the pair/family is pretty isolated and one person becomes delusional, and the other (weaker willed) person comes to believe too. Does anyone know if Amanda Bynes has been officially diagnosed as schizophrenic or bipolar yet? (she has been in mental hospitals) Clearly she’s delusional at least some of the time. Britney Spears has mentioned both anxiety and bipolar disorder, and fortunately got help with that. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/69 "2016-02-29T05:04:29Z")
> [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](#): > > There’s a story in today’s _Washington Post_ that’ll break your heart. It’s about Debi Thomas, a beautiful, gifted woman who won Olympic gold as an ice skater in the '80s and who subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon. She was diagnosed bipolar and now her life is in ruins. She’s penniless and living in a trailer. The article is at > > [www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561\_story.html?hpid=hp\_hp-top-table-main\_olympianfall-830a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_olympianfall-830a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory) > > I warn you, it’s not an easy story to read. Even if she hadn’t been prescribing drugs for her boyfriend, which is what she did to put her license in jeopardy, she would at the very least been censured for boundary violations. You DO NOT socialize with your patients, or their guardians, if you know them only through your practice. The story said their only income is Social Security death benefits he gets because his kids’ mom is deceased. I’m surprised she isn’t on some kind of disability herself. She definitely had grandiose delusions of some kind. BTW, there was a big story about her a few months ago, saying pretty much the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/70 "2016-02-29T15:26:37Z")
> [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](#): > > There’s a story in today’s _Washington Post_ that’ll break your heart. It’s about Debi Thomas, a beautiful, gifted woman who won Olympic gold as an ice skater in the '80s and who subsequently became an orthopedic surgeon. She was diagnosed bipolar and now her life is in ruins. She’s penniless and living in a trailer. The article is at > > [www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561\_story.html?hpid=hp\_hp-top-table-main\_olympianfall-830a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory](http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/the-mystery-of-why-the-best-african-american-figure-skater-in-history-went-bankrupt-and-lives-in-a-trailer/2016/02/25/a191972c-ce99-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_olympianfall-830a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory) > > I warn you, it’s not an easy story to read. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Even if she hadn’t been prescribing drugs for her boyfriend, which is what she did to put her license in jeopardy, she would at the very least been censured for boundary violations. You DO NOT socialize with your patients, or their guardians, if you know them only through your practice. > > The story said their only income is Social Security death benefits he gets because his kids’ mom is deceased. I’m surprised she isn’t on some kind of disability herself. She definitely had grandiose delusions of some kind. > > BTW, there was a big story about her a few months ago, saying pretty much the same thing. I read the _Post_ story a couple of days ago and was going to mention her. From the story: > [@](#): > > She wanted it all. And for a time, she had it. After Stanford came medical school at Northwestern University, then marriage to a handsome lawyer who gave her a son — who in turn became one of the country’s best high school football players. Higher and higher she went. > > Now, she’s here. Thomas, a former orthopedic surgeon who doesn’t have health insurance, declared bankruptcy in 2014 and hasn’t brought in a steady paycheck in years. She’s twice divorced, and her medical license, which she was in danger of losing anyhow, expired around the time she went broke. She hasn’t seen her family in years. She instead inveighs against shadowy authorities in the nomenclature of conspiracy theorists — “the powers that be”; “corporate media”; “brainwashing” — and composes opinion pieces for the local newspaper that carry headlines such as “Pain, No Gain” and “Driven to Insanity.” She thinks that hoarding gold will insulate us from a looming financial meltdown, and recruits people to sell bits of gold bullion called “Karatbars.” ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/71 "2016-02-29T15:53:13Z")
Dana Plato (from _Diff’rent Strokes_) had a lot of substance abuse issues; she died from an overdose of prescription drugs. Freddie Prinze (from _Chico and the Man_) had depression and ultimately killed himself. As far as Prince, I don’t think he has a psychiatric disorder: He’s just an extremely creative person with an individual view of the world who isn’t afraid to be different from the “norm.” ETA: I do think Miley Cyrus has something going on. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571/72 "2016-02-29T22:10:42Z")
Kristy McNichol > **[Kristy McNichol](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristy_McNichol)** > > Christina Ann McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is an American former actress. She is known for such film roles as Angel in Little Darlings, Polly in Only When I Laugh, and Barbara Weston in the TV sitcom Empty Nest. She won two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of teenage daughter Letitia "Buddy" Lawrence in the TV drama Family. McNichol retired from acting in 2001. > McNichol was born on September 11, 1962, in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of James and Carolyn McNichol. Her father was a car... “In 1988, McNichol played Barbara Weston on the NBC sitcom Empty Nest, a spin-off of The Golden Girls, alongside Richard Mulligan and Dinah Manoff. Kristy left the series in 1992 when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[5] She returned to the series for its final episode in 1995, her last screen appearance as an actress to date, though she went on to voice characters in the animated TV series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and Invasion America (1998).” She spoke about being bullied because of her sexuality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stars-with-mental-disorders/746571.md?page=3)