16. A Famous Novelist Was Diagnosed With Schizophrenia When He Was 21
Jack Kerouac is the quintessential American novelist. During the hippie movement, he emerged as one of the best writers, with his most famous work being the classic “On The Road.” He wrote on topics ranging from promiscuity to drugs to Buddhism to jazz to travel to poverty.
As a young man, Kerouac attempted to enlist in the navy but was diagnosed by a navy doctor with schizophrenia, then known as dementia praecox. He was a heavy drinker throughout his life, possibly as a means of self-medicating the hallucinations and voices in his head. He died from internal bleeding caused by cirrhosis, an effect of alcoholism.
