Mental health is a typically seen as a taboo topic, and it can be for good reason. However, it does not mean that the best of us do not get struck with it too. Mental health is a serious topic nowadays, something that was often seen as pseudoscience before. Any kind of severe psychiatric disorder used to be seen as demonic possession. This supposedly leading to how we can understand films like The Exorcist. Anyone can become depressed, especially if they are dealing with “crazy” people all day. Mental illness also seems to be running rampant today with disorders being diagnosed left and right, at least from my point of view. You think the pros had all the answers? Even then, there are some mental professionals with mental problems.

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Every mental health professional agrees that even mental health experts can become ill, and it is why they may have gotten into the profession to begin with. I’m going to be focusing on some of the the mental health professionals who left a mark; it’s just a matter of seeing what made any one of them loony. Did all of them have a problem? Not necessarily, but you can find what may have made them tick, be it minor or serious. I will be choosing some of the ones with some mental issues. What are some of these interesting facts about these big names? I’m going to be listing here the top 10 mental health professionals with mental issues/psychological problems.

10 Mental Professionals With Mental Problems

1. Jordan Peterson

Jordan Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist and psychology professor who specializes in various social forms of psychology. Peterson is known for his books and self-help, considered a guru in many circles. He is a often considered misunderstood for stances he has taken against the transgender community. He’s also pretty popular among right-wingers because of his views on self-reliance and bootstrap bearing, adhering to Jungian psychology. Sounds a little like Nietzsche if you ask me.

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Peterson has said that he struggled with mental illness and has taken various medications. He did this to help his major depression after his wife was diagnosed with cancer. This collided into an anxiety and substance abuse addiction to anxiolytic drugs like benzodiazepines. This would have him dealing with withdrawal symptoms and falling into a coma. His daughter explained that it was a dependence disorder and not addiction. The all meat carnivore diet he was on did not seem to help. While it may have mostly been something that came after his profession, he had problems to begin with. It speaks to why he was prone to addiction and the profession from the start. Regardless, it seems to all tie together based on his overall philosophy.

2. Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst born in Moravia, Austrian Empire in 1856. Freud is known for being the founding father of psychoanalysis, and of course, this was not a Freudian slip. Freud is famous for his work on associate analysis, the ego, psycho-sexual interpretations, and the subconscious mind, among many others. He often found intrigue in hypnotism and disorders related to conversion syndrome and OCD. Freud also came to many conclusions related to repressed memories, religious psychology and defense mechanisms.

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It was said that Freud, at least later on, had been dealing with psychosomatic symptoms, with fears of death and other phobias involved. He had mentioned this when coming to some realizations about himself, including a disdain for his father and attraction for his mother.

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It seems like he dealt with some poor “black and white” projection issues, but at least there were not any demons. Did I analyze this correctly? Anyway, as you can see, he used his intellect and training well, to deduce about himself and why he may have become a neurologist. His esteemed legacy lies in his ubiquitously used euphemisms, developmental psychology, and a stark concern for deep understanding of the mind and brain (Link 2). It has not been stated or proven directly if he had dealt with any kind of somatic symptom disorder, but it seems, that with enough training, anyone can reach some conclusions.

10 Mental Professionals With Mental Problems

3. Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst born in Thurgau, Switzerland in 1875. He is the founder of analytical psychology, and came to many interesting conclusions in fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, and religious studies. Jung came to the attention of Sigmund Freud in 1906, but they diverged by 1913 because of academic differences in professional opinion.

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Jung was said to have had involuntary hallucinations, and may have been put at risk for “psychosis risk syndrome.” It was said that he was hallucination birds and believing in communion with demons and deities. The DSM-5 classifies those at risk for schizophrenia and is currently formulating delusions and hallucinations He had been treating Schizophrenia for years, and he was writing a book about his spiritual experiences. Was Jung mad or just a normal guy with kooky visions of birds and Satan?

4. Ivan Pavlov

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian physiologist born in Ryazan, Russia in 1849. Pavlov is famous for his work in classical conditioning and surgical experiments. He often worked on the bodies of animals such as dogs, and even earned a Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work on environmental stimuli. Pavlov even thought that since the inside mattered more than the outside, he would earn this noble honor in the animal digestive system. After surgically removing a dog’s esophagus, he would observe how digestion worked, measuring the digestive secretions of the pancreas and stomach.

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It was also mentioned that Pavlov had unpredictable bouts of anger and rage, i.e., poor anger management. Mental disorder or not, we can only speculate on what it could or could not be. This began in childhood and lasted throughout his life as he would violently hit dogs who were too aggressive. His sudden changes in mood were described as “morbid, spontaneous paroxysms.”

10 Mental Professionals With Mental Problems

5. Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson was a German-American psychologist and psychoanalyst who was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1902. Erikson is famous for his work and theories in human development, including his stage theory of psycho-social development. He also expanded psychoanalytic theory by exploring human development throughout life.

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Erikson grew up with parents, a Jewish mother and physician father, but there was a twist, the father he thought was his was not actually his. He grew up thinking with great confusion once he found out that he did not have a “real dad.” Erikson grew up being picked on for his tall and Nordic appearance and being confused as to whom he was as a person, including heritage and fitting into a community, because of his upbringing. This lead him to his career in understanding human identity formation.

6. Alfred Adler

Alfred Adler was an Austrian psychiatrist who was born in what is now part of Vienna, Austria in 1870. Adler is well known for his studies and theories on the inferiority complex and it’s effect on the human psyche. The reason for his curiosity towards inferiority and how it affects people comes from his childhood and the feelings of inferiority he often felt in comparison.

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He would feel inferior to others around him, period. A particular example of this is frail nature as a kid and sibling rivalry he had with his brother. Adler was often sick too, being struck with a serious bout of pneumonia when he was just 5 years old. All of this compounded him to a serious insecurity, but made him the great physician he then became.

10 Mental Professionals With Mental Problems

7. William James

William James was an American philosopher, physiologist, and psychologist born in New York City in 1842. James is well known for his establishment of the first demonstration lab in 1875 and psychology course in the United States. The same year as Wundt, although he had accomplished his goals at an earlier age. Considered the greatest American philosopher and “father of American psychology,” James also founded functional psychology and was interested in pragmatism.

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Beginning in the 1865, William was often sick and plagued with health problems while going to school in Germany. He was struggling with insomnia, back pain, and dyspepsia, and this made an impact on his mental health, too. This would often lead him to severe bouts of depression and suicidal ideation, and when back in America, he continued to struggle with these symptoms. This serious depression and medical frailness would later go on to help influence his take on psychology.

8. John Watson

John B. Watson was an American psychologist who was born in 1878 in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. Watson is known for his contributions to behaviorism, writing his article “Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It,” commonly known as “The Behaviorist Manifesto” in 1913. His focus on the scientific side of behaviorism led him to theories on inner and outer behavioral tendencies. It was also believed that Watson openly opposed religion in spite of being raised religious.

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Watson’s mother was hoping for him to join the clergy and even named John after a Baptist minister in hopes of it happening. His mother also disavowed smoking, drinking and various other vices. As a child and adolescent, Watson had problems with various forms of disorderly conduct, acting out and getting arrested twice. He would get into fights too and performed poorly in school, but his behavioral outbursts would later on influence his ideas.

10 Mental Professionals With Mental Problems

9. Marsha M. Linehan

Marsha Linehan is an American psychologist born in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1943. Linehan is famously known for her work in treating borderline personality disorder. She is also the creator of dialectical behavioral therapy. You know, one of the amazing ways to treat someone dealing with extremely negative emotions.

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Linehan was driven to help others because of the help she needed, and so her mental illness drove her to create something new and interesting. Linehan had mental illness herself, and from what I can tell, it was BPD. After her hospitalization, she dedicated her life to helping others dealing with the same illness as her. Her method has likely helped millions of people, mentioning that talking about having a mental disorder openly is stigmatized because it may tarnish one’s reputation.

10. Alfred Kinsey

Alfred Kinsey was an American biologist, entomologist and sexologist. He is and was well known for his Kinsey scale on the sexual gradation of sexuality. Kinsey was a small and intelligent boy who often had some physiological problems growing up. These problems included rickets, rheumatic fever, and typhoid fever, leading to a curvature of the spine; low vitamin D was also blamed. This was because his parents couldn’t afford medical care, living in unsanitary conditions for a portion of his childhood. Later on, especially for the time, Kinsey became known for his controversial views on sexuality.

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His interest in sex began early on because of his strict upbringing. It was also because of him being closed off, and later he became an atheist to his father’s chagrin. Kinsey’s household restricted even the thought of masturbation, along with many other things. His sickness and upbringing, coming to realize the real world, had an impact on young Kinsey’s mind. Kinsey isn’t necessarily a mental health professional; however, his concerns and expertise do relate to the mind and brain as much as Freud’s neurological studies do. While these may not necessarily be considered “mental issues” for a variety of reasons, he was close. His interest in sex and how he conducted some of his studies could have possibly been from his insular upbringing. This could all have been related to some sort of sexual perversion.

Final Thoughts: The 10 Mental Health Professionals With Mental Problems

Even when it comes to psychology, those who try to save us may have similar issues. Although, it does make sense, considering it may be why they are so interested to begin with. If you have a problem, it may in fact make you better at understanding it, even at a cost. This is to say that if you do not let it get the best of you, it can actually lend you a hand in helping. If others are struggling, why not have the madman help run the madhouse?

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Godspeed