Depression and mental illness are issues that must be takenseriously. Also, it needs to be considered that sometimes mentalillness has no rhyme or reason – anyone can fall ill with anxiety,panic, feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, loneliness,rejection and worthlessness. Life events can also triggerstronger periods of depression, such as aging, death of lovedones, emotional trauma, physical illness, unemployment andmore. What’s most important is to know the risk factors andthe signs.

　　我们必须严肃对待失望沮丧之类的精神状况。同时，也要意识到有时候有些精神病的出现毫无征兆、毫无理由—每个人都会有紧张感，焦虑感，无助感，绝望感，孤单感，排斥感和无价值感。生命中的大事能引发一段时间的抑郁：变老、最爱的人离世、情感创伤、身体疾病、失业等等。最重要的是要了解这些危险因素和危险信号。

　　Artists and writers are not immune from mental illness, and according to some research, creativeindividuals may be more likely to suffer from some mental disorders. Genetics firm deCODE claimstheir research shows that creative types (painters, musicians, dancers, and writers) are 25% morelikely to carry a gene associated with mental illness than professions the researchers deemed asless creative. However, Harvard Psychiatry Professor Albert Rothenberg claims that there is noconnection between mental illness and creativity, that we may still be romanticizing the notion ofthe 19th century struggling artist fighting their demons.

　　艺术家和作家也会得精神病。一些调查显示，富有创造力的人更容易遭受精神病的折磨。deCODE基因公司宣称他们的调查结果显示，像画家、音乐家、舞蹈家、作家这类富有创造力的人得精神病的概率比创造力低的那些人高25%。哈佛精神病学教授罗滕伯格认为，精神病跟创造力之间没有必要的联系，我们依旧把19世纪饱受精神病折磨的艺术家们的故事浪漫化了。

　　Regardless of whether or not there is a connection, below we have listed 10 legendary writers whotragically took their own life. If you know someone struggling with any of these emotions, or ifyou know anyone who has attempted suicide, please reach out to the National Suicide PreventionLifeline at 800.273.8255.

　　不管这期间到底有没有联系，下面我们列出了10 大传奇作家的自杀悲剧。如果你知道有谁正在同情感作斗争，或是想自杀的，请拨打全国自杀预防的生命热线800.273.8255.

　　10. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

　　10. 弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫(1882-1941)

　　Virginia Woolf is most well-known for Mrs Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), and heressay A Room of One’s Own (1929) that argued a woman must have the economic means and aroom of her own in order to write. She suffered mental breakdowns after her mother’s death in1895 and her father’s death in 1904. The death of her brother in 1906 also brought on similarepisodes. Her illness was said to be periodic and recurrent. Woolf would say that she was “a sanewoman who had an illness.” If diagnosed today, Woolf would likely be categorized as sufferingfrom manic-depression or bipolar disorder according to some.

　　弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫因1925年发表的小说《达洛维夫人》和1927年的《到灯塔去》而闻名一世，她在1929年发表的文章《一间自己的房间》中就说了，女人必须有经济能力和一间属于她自己的房间来写作。1895年母亲离世和1904年父亲离世使她精神崩溃，2年后弟弟的去世给她造成了同样的打击。她的病据说是周期性的。伍尔夫说自己是“神志清醒的精神病人”，如果按今天来诊断，她得的可是是躁狂抑郁症或躁郁症。

　　Woolf also saw a variety of doctors during her lifetime. On March 28, 1941, after her home wasdestroyed by the Blitz of World War II, Woolf filled the pockets of her overcoat with stones andwalked into the River Ouse. Her body was recovered three weeks later. Her last note to herhusband ended with “Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t goon spoiling your life any longer. I don’t think two people could have been happier than we havebeen. V.” She died at 59.

　　伍尔夫一生看过无数医生。二战时，伦敦大轰炸摧毁了她的家，1941年3月28日那天，伍尔夫在外套口袋装满了石头，走进了欧塞河。3周后，人们发现了她的尸体。给丈夫的遗言中，最后一句她写道：“一切都离我而去，只有你的善良一直伴随着我。我不能再继续毁了你的生活，我相信，世上没有哪两个人可以像我们在一起这样幸福，伍尔夫。”她去世时年仅59岁。

　　9. David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)

　　9. 戴维·福斯特·华莱士(1962-2008)

　　David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest was listed by Time magazine as one of the best English-language novels from 1923-2005. Wallace’s unfinished novel, The Pale King, publishedposthumously, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. He was a professor, a maximalist, aswell as a non-fiction writer.

　　戴维·福斯特·华莱士的小说《无极的玩笑》被时代周刊评为1923-2005年间最好的英文小说之一。他未完成的小说《苍白的国王》，于死后出版，最终入围普利策小说奖。他是个教授，是个极繁主义者，同时也是个非小说作家。

　　Wallace’s father shared that his son had struggled with depression for 20 years and that shortlybefore his death he began to suffer from side effects from prescription medication. He had beenweaned off the medication under his doctor’s supervision and given electro-convulsive therapy.However, when he returned to the medication it had lost its effectiveness. On September 12, 2008, Wallace wrote a letter to his wife, arranged part of his most recent manuscript, and hunghimself from the patio rafter. He was 46.

　　华莱士的爸爸透露，华莱士和抑郁症斗争了20 年，在他去世前不长时间，一直饱受非处方药副作用的折磨。他在医生的监督下停止了药物治疗改用电疗法。然而，当他再次服药却已经没有任何效果了。2008年9月12 日，他在给妻子的遗书中，安排了最新的手稿作品。最终在屋外的庭院上吊结束了生命。年仅46岁。

　　8. John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969)

　　8. 约翰·肯尼迪·图尔(1937-1969)

　　John Kennedy Toole was raised in New Orleans and attended Tulane University, followed byColumbia University where he studied English. He was drafted into the army, disturbing hisstudies, and would write in his private office. After his discharge, he completed the manuscript forA Confederacy of Dunces. The novel was pitched to Simon & Schuster and it was selected by editorRobert Gottlieb. The novel went through several revisions, but ultimately Gottlieb was unsatisfiedand passed on the project.

　　约翰·肯尼迪·图尔在美国的新奥尔良长大，杜兰大学毕业，随后又进入哥伦比亚大学进修英语。后来入伍，便中止了学习，开始在个人的办公室写作。退伍之后，他完成了《笨伯联盟》的手稿。图尔本想让西蒙与舒斯特出版公司出版，哥特列波编辑这部小说。可是经历多次修订，最终列波还是不满意就没有出版。

　　Toole went on to present the novel to Hodding Carter Jr., who also dismissed the work. Upset anddepressed because of the failure to publish his novel, Toole ran a garden hose from the exhaust ofhis car to the inside of a rented cabin. He died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Toole was 32. Yearslater Toole’s mother brought the novel to Walker Percy who moved it into publication. Elevenyears after Toole’s suicide A Confederacy of Dunces was published. The novel went on to win thePulitzer Price for Fiction in 1981.

　　图尔又把小说拿给了小霍丁卡特，他也拒绝出版。小说出版频频受挫让汤普森特别沮丧和失望，他把花园浇水用的橡胶水管一头插在汽车排气管上，一头通向租用的小木屋。把自己关在密闭的小屋，最终死于一氧化碳中毒。年仅32岁。几年后，图尔的妈妈把这部小说拿给沃克尔珀西，那个时候他已把小说放入出版流程。在汤普森自杀后的第11年，《笨伯联盟》出版了，并最终赢得了1981年的普利策小说奖。

　　7. Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005)

　　7. 亨特·斯托克顿·汤普森(1937-2005)

　　Hunter S. Thompson was a journalist who became so engrossed in his stories he became hisstories. He’s known for works like Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the OutlawMotorcycle Gangs, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the AmericanDream, and The Rum Diary.

　　亨特·斯托克顿·汤普森是位记者，他太痴迷于他报道的故事了以至于后来他自己成了自己的故事。他的著名作品有：《地狱天使：奇怪恐怖传说之逍遥法外摩托帮》;《赌城恨憎：通往美国人内心的野蛮之旅》;《朗姆酒日记》。

　　Thompson was raised in poverty, and was unable to finish high school. After being arrested as ayouth for stealing a man’s wallet, he avoided jail by entering the military. He began his journalismcareer in the military and focused on writing after his honorable discharge. He was fascinated bycultural shifts. His usage of drugs and alcohol was larger than life and he himself became acounterculture icon. Thompson shot himself at his home at the age of 67. He struggled withperiods of depression as well as with pain from advancing age.

　　汤普森从小家境贫寒，高中都上不起。小时候偷了一个人钱包被逮捕了，为了不坐牢他选择去当兵。就是在这段时间开始的记者生涯，光荣退伍后，他便专心致志的写作。他对文化观念的转变很痴迷。毒品酒精对他来说比生命还重要，他自己也变成了一个反文化的标志。汤普森在67岁那年饮弹自尽。他一直在抑郁和年老给他带来的痛苦中挣扎。

　　6. Anne Sexton (1928-1974)

　　6. 安妮·塞克斯顿(1928-1974)

　　Anne Sexton’s poetry was of the most personal kind. Her collection of poetry Live or Die, whichwon a Pulitzer Prize in 1967, covered her strained relationships with her mother and children, aswell as her treatment for mental illness. Sexton suffered from post-partum depression after thebirth of her first child in 1955, and after the birth of her second child she was admitted to aneuropsychiatric hospital. It was one of her doctors who encouraged her to take on poetry.

　　安妮·塞克斯顿的诗歌最富有个人情感。诗集《生与死》获得了1967年的普利策奖，讲的是她和母亲及孩子间紧张的关系，以及她精神病治疗过程。塞克斯顿在1955年生完第一个孩子之后，一直受到产后抑郁症的困扰。生完第二个孩子后，她就进了一家精神病院。她的一位医生鼓励她开始作诗。

　　Sexton’s poetry would go on to appear in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and SaturdayReview. While taking workshops and attending writer’s conferences she would go on to work withacclaimed poets such as Sylvia Plath. After meeting with a colleague to revise her manuscript, TheAwful Rowing Toward God, she put on her mother’s fur coat and drank a glass of vodka beforelocking herself in her garage. Sexton died of carbon monoxide poisoning. She was 46.

　　塞克斯顿的诗歌开始慢慢的出现在《纽约客》、《哈泼斯杂志》以及《周六评论》上。参加研讨会以及作家会议让她开始和西尔维娅·普拉特等著名诗人合作。有一次她会见同事并让其修改《庄重地划向上帝》的手稿，完事后便穿上她妈妈的毛皮大衣，喝了一杯伏特加，把自己锁在了车库里。她因一氧化碳中毒而死，享年46岁。