Ernest Hemingway’s Mental Illness: Never Diagnosed, but Always Visible

In the first half of the 20th century, manic depression and bipolar disorder had already been discovered, but it wasn’t talked about. It wasn’t until the 1960s and the 1970s that the words started to become more common. Today, of course, there are treatments that allow people with mental illness to live a full and normal life.

Ironically, though, Ernest Hemingway did lead a full, normal life, at least in his own eyes. And although he was never diagnosed with any type of mental illness, the more I know about him, the more I believe he was bipolar, manic depressive, and obsessive/compulsive.

First, if you take a look at his books, you won’t find a lot of short paragraphs. Sometimes an entire page can read like a single run-on sentence with no paragraph breaks. This was the first clue that captured my attention.

Secondly, he lived a life of extremes. He ran with the bulls in Spain. He drove the same roads that were driven in the French Grand Prix and drove them as fast as he could. He was a hunter, and went after the biggest game he could, and also the riskiest: lions in Africa. When he wasn’t hunting, he was deep sea fishing. He loved the fight with the big fish – a fight he loved to win.

And he did all this while consuming massive amounts of alcohol. He could drink an entire bottle of wine – or two – every night during and after dinner. That’s after having a few mixed drinks at lunch.

But perhaps the most telling trait was that he never stayed in any one place too long. He would spend the spring in the U.S. and the fall in Italy or vice versa. He moved back and forth and around Europe and the U.S. constantly. It’s amazing he got any writing done.

And speaking of writing, he did it standing up at a cocktail table. According to Aaron Hotchner, one his closest confidants, who wrote several books about his life with the writer, Hemingway would write on yellow legal pads standing for as much as nine hours a day.

He was married several times, but spent the most number of years, I believe, with Mary. She must have loved him very much to deal with his shortcomings.

In the end, when his life became compromised by illness and he couldn’t drink, hunt, fish, travel or drive the way he used to, he took his own life with a shotgun.

When I think about Hemingway’s life, I wonder, what if drugs had been available in the 40s and the 50s, and what if Hemingway had taken them? Would he have written masterpieces? Would he have enjoyed life as much as he did?

The truth is, in a lot of ways, Hemingway’s career as a writer gave him the financial means to live the life he did. If he had been a poor man, would he have lived his life the same way? To the degree that he could afford it, I believe he would have.

Was he bipolar and obsessive/compulsive, or merely eccentric? Perhaps some day a master’s degree student will take up Ernest Hemingway as his or her thesis subject, and we will finally know the truth.

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