Troubled Genius: 7 Biographies Of Tortured, Game Changing Souls (PHOTOS)

They did brilliant work, they changed our lives, but how difficult was it to live theirs? Not a moment's peace for the writers, painters, scientists and computer geniuses whose troubled minds made living their own lives impossible. Is emotional torture, insanity and suicide always the price of genius?

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"Out of Tune: David Helfgott and the Myth of Shine" by Margaret Helfgott and Tom Gross

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Margaret Helfgott, piano virtuoso David Helfgott's sister, shares the story of her brother's troubled life.

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Margaret Helfgott, piano virtuoso David Helfgott's sister, shares the story of her brother's troubled life.

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This Troubled Genius

Rank #2  |  Average: 4

Not so troubled Ooh that's bad

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Comments

[bwoods]

09:22 AM on 04/14/2011

How is Basquiat not on this list!?

[GeeBee]

01:08 PM on 04/13/2011

Of course there is a thin line between genius and madness. (I tell that to you slow people all the time and it seems to console you.)

[ULTRAVIOLET24]

12:30 PM on 04/13/2011

I guess a better name for the article would have been: Troubled MALE Geniuses. Nice research skills, HuffPo.

[Berlusca]

01:14 PM on 04/12/2011

"What does this mean," or "How does/can this fit," are different questions from "What should I do," or "What does this mean to me/will I do with it". Moreover the later can and often if not usually do inhibit the former. That is, to see a problem or anomaly clearly it's context is usually needed, and in creating both that context and a solution the less 'I', abstracted, there is the deeper that comprehension. That diminished or less integrated abstracted 'I' however often results in outright personal havoc and suffering, particulalry in complex societies. (One should also note that a measured top-percentile IQ does not correspond to the colloquial usage of 'genius' as a concept. Many who created and create astonishing solutions, works of 'genius', in the sciences and arts did not and do not have mensa-level (132) IQ's while many high-IQ people are rather limited. IQ exams test how fast you are at choosing the right key, not how good you are at finding a way to get inside.)

[Decima]

08:51 AM on 04/12/2011

People do their best thinking when they're unhappy.

Why? Because when you're unhappy you need to figure out how to become happy, and figure out what is wrong with things. So you do a lot of thinking, and you work a lot to try to improve your lot.

On the other hand, when you're happy you want to maintain that status, so people generally tend to stop working as hard at improving, and start working harder at trying to maintain. However, life's circumstances are ever changing, so attempting to maintain your standing will generally plunge you inevitably into unhappiness.

Enter people who are chronically insecure and unhappy, and given some natural talent many of them accomplish great things.

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

08:37 AM on 04/12/2011

only men are geniuses? A little more research please...

[Sunflo]

07:39 AM on 04/12/2011

Lust for Life, Irving Stone's (fictional) bio of Van Gogh was pretty good.

[wonder6789]

04:07 AM on 04/12/2011

Bobby Fisher made "Anti-American statements"?
Why, he must certainly have been raving mad : schizophrenic psychotic, at the very least.
Michelle Bachmann 2012.

[dna user]

02:38 AM on 04/12/2011

The term genius is thrown around with such disregard. Well, if it makes anyone happy. You probably aren't a genius.

[Counterglow]

01:36 AM on 04/12/2011

I can state with certainty that a tortured soul is NOT always the price of genius. I'm fortunate enough to know a guy who's one of the top doctors in Canada. His academic qualifications are so ridiculously above normal that it seems silly even to place him in the same category as the rest of us.

He is one of the most balanced, decent people I know, happily married with a family. If you wound up across the table from him at a pub, you wouldn't have a clue you weren't just with another one of the boys having a pint and a conversation.

[ghost geezer]

11:31 PM on 04/11/2011

We fear genius and gain comfort by making it certifiable.

[cdhj12000]

09:49 PM on 04/11/2011

the brighter the light, the darker the shadows.

[shadowgov]

08:46 PM on 04/11/2011

i don't see anything wrong with bobby fischer's behavior

[CountLeo]

08:30 AM on 04/12/2011

Pretty fascinating guy until the later years which seem very sad.

[sarahw115]

08:18 PM on 04/11/2011

The most brilliant person I ever knew developed very severe paranoid schizophrenia. He was extremely intelligent, astoundingly creative, and before the illness, a real leader (caring, charming). There seems to be a correlation, as if have a very high intellectual IQ requires you to have an correspondingly high emotional IQ, to deal with the realities. But I think that's a rare combination, especially while you're young.

[hugatree]

08:04 PM on 04/11/2011

Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jameison wrote an excellent book about the link between mental illness and genius. Citing letters, diaries, journals of great writers, painters, musicians, and philosophers as well as commentary about their lives from friends and colleagues, she makes convincing diagnoses of some of history's greatest artists. Very interesting stuff.