What condition did Vincent Van Gogh suffer from?

Answer 1

He was an epileptic but a temporal lobe epileptic to be exact.

This is actually a fairly common disorder among some of the great artists of the world. This is probably due to heightening of some senses while losing control of others. I know several other artists who suffered from TLE but can't recall all the names right now so I will just post a link to a few.

BTW- All of the other medical listings regarding Van Gogh are symptoms of TLE which is primarily diagnosed by symptoms and elimination of other diseases and disorders. For example a TLE might appear depressed but not have the other signs that are needed to make a clinical diagnosis of depression. A TLE will exibit symtoms of a dozen other illnesses but not meet the clinical diagnosis, so by process of eilmination TLE becomes the name of the unklnown disorder. Only about 5% of TLE seizure will show up on an EEG. A CT scan will rarely show a lesion that deep into the brain where an MRI can see. Even with the MRI only cases that are thought ot be caused by large lesions, tumor, or abnormal activity in the temporal lobe and limbic system can be detected. Alcohol can multiply the symptoms of TLE which are phsyica,l mental, and emotional. Still, alchohol is and was the drug of choice for those not really seeking to have a good time but drinking but to medicate themselves.

There are medicines that were developed for epilepsy. In Van Gogh's time Phenonarbital was used to treat seizures among other things and still is today. Dilantan is the most commonly prescibed anti-convulsant but is had little or no effect on TLE. Tegretol is the only medication that is now specifically approved to treat TLE. Results are sharpely divided though as this is a very powerful drug that can lead to a zombie like effect. Patients in that state are not in the best posistion to speak up for themselves about the effectiveness of the drug that was originally designed for hypertension (high blood pressure).

In summary, in the times of Van Gogh he probably had very little treatment available. He most likely was given some sort of tonic that was opiate based or natural barbituates. He would recluse into a safe space where he could paint out all of the things that were going on inside of his head. Notice the sharp strokes within the images of soft flowers. Shadows are deep producing a flash like glow on the faces that he painted. I think we are seeing things the way he saw them and that is one mark of a great artist.

I am a fan of Van Gogh's work and have felt that learning more about his condition reveals more about his work.

Answer 2

Van Gogh is often seen as the "mad" painter, particularly as he cut off part of his ear on one occasion. He had periods of mental problems, and did not paint (or sometimes was not allowed to) during them. Debate has raged over the years as to the source of Van Gogh's mental illness and its effect on his work. Over 150 psychiatrists have attempted to label his illness, and some 30 different diagnoses have been suggested.

Some of the theories which have been suggested include schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, temporal lobe epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria. Any of these could have been the culprit and been aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, a fondness for the alcoholic beverage absinthe, and insomnia. Some people have argued, in the case of temporal lobe epilepsy, that the disease may have led to his prolific body of work. (TLE cases tend to show symptoms of hypergraphia and hyperreligiosity and it has been suspected by some as being sources of religious visions and creativity.)

In the November of 2005 issue of Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Paul L. Wolf, M.D., presented his analysis of how disease, drugs, and chemicals might have influenced the retinal vision of Van Gogh. Wolf speculates that the Yellow Color Vision defect in Van Gogh developed as a side effect of his love of a type of liquor known as absinthe, containing a neurotoxin called thujone found in wormwood oil.

Another recently proposed illness is lead poisoning. The paints used at the time were lead-based, and one of the symptoms of lead poisoning is a swelling of the retinas which would have caused the halo effect seen in many of Van Gogh's works.

Source: Wikipedia

Answer 3

Severe depression. He wrote often about his sadness to his Parisian brother Theo, who was a big time art dealer. Also contrary to popular belief, Van Gogh did not cut off his ear and gave it to a lady of leisure. His ear was cut off in a barroom fight.

Answer 4

Van Gogh was clinically depressed which lead to many other problems, including drug abuse and addiction. he was heavily addicted to absinthe which in those days contained a high amount if wormwood which is really nothing more than poison.

Answer 5

The kind you get from drinking Absinthe and cleaning the paint off your brushes with your mouth.

Answer 6

Some have theorized that he suffered from, among other things, Epilipsy.

Answer 7

He had difficulty lending somebody an ear.

Answer 8

Art-ism. Hah! I think Meniere's...

Answer 9

dount know the exact name but he was made

Answer 10

I believe he was a manic-depressive.