What are the backstories of history's tortured geniuses?

As a former student of philosophy, Friedrich Nietzsche was the most prominent tortured genius in the field.

The most basic people may be familiar with: he was always a bit unconventional related to the perspective, and developed a very profound philosophy of the main point of departure, which Sigmund Freud considered psychological, but then he suffered a mental breakdown that was not for the last decade of his life fully functional.

Nietzsche suffered from depression and a range of health problems, and it is widely believed that certain undiagnosed mental disorders must have been related to his unusual abilities and other influences, including suffering a stroke later in his life. It was also suspected that syphilis may have been a cause of his mental condition. When I researched his philosophy at the beginning of the 21st century, the real causes and connections were unclear.

In the midst of a new outbreak of illness, and living in near isolation after quarreling with his mother and sister over Salome, Nietzsche fled to Rapallo, where he wrote the first part of The Prayer of Zarathustra in just 10 days.

By 1882, Nietzsche was taking large quantities of opium, but he still had trouble sleeping, and in 1883, while still in Nice, he wrote himself a prescription for the sedative chloral hydrate, signing it "Dr. Nietzsche".

He wasn't close to a final breakthrough, but his writing style became less conventional and marked by hubris. In fact, he was a uniquely important philosopher who developed important writings, so perhaps it is correct for him to see himself as an extreme creative and visual genius. Generally, such themes would be seen as a sign of detachment from reality.

The description of his breakdown in that article is as follows:On January 3, 1889, Nietzsche had a nervous breakdown. After he caused a public disturbance in the streets of Turin, two police officers approached him. What happened remains unknown, but one of the many times stories from shortly after his death is that Nietzsche witnessed the whipping of a horse at the other end of the piazza Carlo? Alberto ran to the horse, put his arm out around its neck to protect it, and fell to the ground.

Over the next few days, Nietzsche sent a number of short essays known as Wahnzettel ("crazy letters") to a number of friends ......

He was never able to regain his ability to produce philosophical works or to work properly, and was initially able to interact with others in an institutional setting, but towards the end of his life he became less sensitive. A refereed research paper links these health problems and summarizes them as follows:

Nietzsche's Neurological Disorders - PubMed

Nietzsche suffered from migraines without aura from an early age. For the latter part of his life, he suffered from the mental illness of depression. In the last years of his life, he suffered a gradual decline in cognitive abilities that eventually progressed to severe dementia and stroke. He died of pneumonia in 1900. His family history includes a possible vascular-related mental illness in his father, who died of a stroke at age 36.

The final breakdown, a horse-related event, was at best a trigger for underlying problems related to his other health problems, and this breakdown, it seems, was the cause of something related to his genius. The study suggests a diagnosis that links these disorders: despite the popular belief that neurosyphilis caused Nietzsche's disease, there is a lack of evidence to support this diagnosis. Autosomal dominant encephalopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) are all signs and symptoms of Nietzsche's disease.

Nietzsche and Freud seem to share **** the same positive view of the impact the disease can sometimes have on a person's work and life. Recent research reporting how people with mood disorders view their illnesses supports this initially surprising view. In a sample of 335 people with mood disorders, 62.2% of those with bipolar disorder and 22.4% of those with monoaffective disorder reported that their mental state led to increased empathy, self-awareness, introspection, and appreciation of life.

This chaotic life, with its painful endings, unique insights and productivity, is what made Nietzsche the most famous tortured genius in philosophy.