The Faces of Mental Illness: Winston Churchill

[merrr]

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain who, as one of the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) to lead the world to the defeat of Hitler in WWII, told in his own writings of suffering from “black dog” Churchill’s term for severe and serious depression. Less often talked about are his writings of how he often self-medicated with alcohol to deal with these times. Like so many other famous people with a mental illness, he was able to make the great contribution he did through sheer personal determination. There was a nation, he said, and a world depending on his efforts to lead Britain and the world in the defeat of their common and formidable enemy of Nazism.

[bumblebee23]

I don't remember when my depression started but I was young and I didn't understand it. I didn't know why I always felt the way I did. I didn't feel I could talk to anyone or even describe it. The earliest I remember drinking is 14....could have started earlier then that. I drank because it dulled the pain I was alwasy feeling. It was to much to deal with reality 24/7. If I couldn't get alcohol I started smoking pot. I was pretty waisted from 14 on to about 17yo much of that time spand is pretty fuzzy and I came really close to getting into situations I couldn't get out of.