Mental Disorders and Drug Dependencies of Nina Simone, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Others

 

Famous jazz singer and musician Nina Simone had a reputation for volatility. In 1985, she fired a gun at a record company executive whom she accused of stealing royalties. Simone said she "tried to kill him" but "missed". In 1995, she shot and wounded her neighbor's son with a pneumatic pistol after the boy's laughter disturbed her concentration. According to a biographer, Simone took medication for a condition from the mid-1960s onward. This was known only to a small group of intimates and kept out of public view for many years. Simone's mental health challenges were revealed in the biography "Break Down and Let It All Out," written by Sylvia Hampton and David Nathan in 2004 after her death. (Wikipedia)

Bipolar Disorder? Schizophrenia? Manic Depression? Alzheimer's? Dementia? PTSD? Post Partum Depression? Autism? Drug/Alcohol Dependency? See who else has or had challenges:

Buzz Aldrin (astronaut) · Adam Ant (musician) · Ludwig van Beethoven (composer) · Napoleon Bonaparte (political leader) · Tim Burton (artist, director) · Lord Byron (poet) · Dick Cavett (television journalist) · Winston Churchill (politician) · Charles Dickens (author) · DMX, Dark Man X (Earl Simmons) (musician, actor) · Robert Downey Jr. (actor) · Richardy Dreyfuss (actor) · Patty Duke (actress) · Ralph Waldo Emerson (author) · Carrie Fisher (Actress, writer) · Larry Flynt (publisher, activist) · Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Writer) · Connie Francis (singer) · Stephen Fry (actor, comedian, writer) · Peter Gabriel (musician) · Alan Garner (novelist) · Matthew Good (musician) · Philip Graham (publisher, businessman) · Macy Gray (musician, actor) · Graham Greene (English Novelist) · Ivor Gurney (English composer, poet)· Sean LeVert (singer) · Patrick Kennedy (Congressman) · Elvis Presley (singer, actor) · Britney Speers (singer) · Michael Jackson (singer, dancer, actor) · Somebody you love

Nobody should be punished with long prison terms for behavior that arose out of a mental disability or drug/alcohol dependency, especially if no harm came to anyone other than the affected person. But mentally challenged people comprise over 50 percent of those who are injured or killed by police officers in America, and sick or addicted people are overly represented among prisoners, including many who would be our generation's geniuses. Below is an excerpt from a transcript of a Time.com interview with Vernon Chadwick, director of the Fourth Annual Conference on Elvis Presley, August 11, 1998:

A therapist from Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital in New Jersey advanced the thesis that Elvis suffered bipolar disorder, which is a more technical name for manic depression, and that Elvis' substance abuse, eating disorders, and chronic depression should be placed in the larger context of a personality disorder. We think that this will shed new light on the issue of Elvis' death and will take it out of the narrow context of suspected overdose and addiction to the larger and more fundamental issues of Elvis' childhood, family history, the cultural influences of the times in which he lived, and other factors which contributed to a possible personality disorder.

People should be able to seek assistance for mental health issues and drug/alcohol dependencies without fear of reprisal, and we all should be free to advocate for people with these issues without censorship by prison investors. Please sign my PETITION TO FREE MARY NEAL
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/free-mary-neal

With treatment, more acute mental patients would be able to live unrestrained by their illness or prison bars. Today, 1.25 million people with mental illness are incarcerated, and most nonviolent offenders have or had drug and alcohol dependencies. Nina Simone sings "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" http://youtu.be/7PT9PPfSkwQ at the embedded video below. We can help restore people to wholesome living by advocating to decriminalize mental illness and by supporting better access to treatment for mental disorders and drug and alcohol dependencies. More information is in articles in the "Dog Justice for Mentally Ill" blog and available during our Blogtalkradio weekly broadcasts of "Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill."

An important mental health bill is presently before the U.S. Congress called "H.R.3717 - Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act." Learn more about the bill at "AIMI HR3717 Broadcasts Feb. 12 and 19". We will continue to discuss H.R.3717 and other mental heath bills during every Wednesday night broadcast.
http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2014/02/aimi-hr3717-broadcasts-feb-12-and-19.html

Famous people who excelled in the arts, mathematics, politics, science and other fields had/have mental dysfunctions. Mental illness and drug/alcohol dependencies are common among people who are rich and poor of all races and ages. See photos of even more famous people who have or had mental health challenges: "Famous People With Bipolar Disorder"
http://famouspeoplewithbipolardisorder.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

You might enjoy reading another article by this writer about Elvis Presley at "Elvis Presley - Bipolar Genius" http://dogjusticeformentallyill.blogspot.com/2013/03/elvis-presley-bipolar-genius.html

Mary Neal, director

Website: Wrongful Death of Larry Neal.com

http://WrongfulDeathOfLarryNeal.com/main.html

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill

http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/aimi

Dog Justice for Mentally Ill

http://DogJusticeforMentallyIll.blogspot.com

(Eight(8) urls, one(1) photo, and one(1) embedded video - Please count due to censorship)