On a related note to my Bobby Fischer post above. A psychiatrist I went to and I had maybe one interesting conversation in the entire time we saw each other. He had a ton of Vincent Van Gogh books in his office. I asked him if this was due to his profession and Van Gogh’s mental illness. He denied this and instead said that he merely liked the way Van Gogh saw the world.
I claimed that Van Gogh probably saw the world that way due to his mental illness and asked him what effect drugs like Prozac or whatever would have been prescribed to Van Gogh would have had on his art. The psychiatrist claimed that it would have made Van Gogh an even greater artist.
My serious and somewhat heartfelt reply was, “I think it would have made him into Norman Rockwell.”
Whether that would have been a good thing or a bad thing is up to you.
