Read my essay at Disability Arts Online about the history of romanticising the mental illness, self harm, self medication, suffering and deaths of artists, which still co-exists with a distinct lack of regard or support for their struggles while they’re alive. Also an interesting slight diversion into the fact that nearly everybody in the Western world from the industrial revolution until the late 20th century was totally off their faces on alcohol, weird patent medicines, street drugs, or prescription drugs. Which actually explains a lot.
Alistair Gentry 