It would be easy to form the impression that the lives of artists are unavoidably tumultuous and that, for some, the pressures of success bring demands too great to be borne. It would also be easy to believe that to be a successful artist you must be neurotic or some sort of tragic figure. None of this is true.

In each of the cases below, hidden influences worked to ensure the outcome. Each of these great artists and many of the others who have left us were offered “help.” Instead, they were betrayed. This betrayal came through the direct or indirect influence of psychiatrists or psychologists, who claimed they would help, but were, in effect, a destructive influence that left these artists dreadfully damaged or dead.

For more information on psychiatry destroying the arts, get Harming Artists Psychiatry Ruins Creativity.