7. Sir Winston Churchill led Britain to victory in World War II, and fought a private battle against his ‘black dog’ of depression
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) was the inspirational leader of Britain during World War II. His uncompromising attitude to Adolf Hitler and public bravery inspired both soldiers and those on the Home Front not to surrender to the threat of Germany: enthralled communities gathered around wireless radios to hear his rabble-rousing speeches. With bombs falling and loved ones dying, Churchill offered encouragement: ‘we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills’.
Churchill was, and still is, a national hero. But, unseen except by those closest to him, Churchill was fighting another battle altogether. Since his youth, Churchill had been suffering from bipolar disorder. He fell into intense and lengthy periods of depression, sometimes in response to misfortune and at others for unexplained reasons. Churchill’s letters movingly allegorize these fits of depression as his ‘black dog‘: ‘I think this man [a doctor] might be useful to me – if my black dog returns. He seems quite away from me now – it is such a relief. All the colors come back into the picture’.
Manic depression lay behind Churchill’s many achievements. The aggression, iron will, and single-mindedness that made him the perfect wartime leader all came from bipolar disorder. His ability to work intensely with very little sleep came from the same source. As well as serving as a soldier and politician, Churchill was a celebrated writer, producing an astonishing 43 books and innumerable articles, and at his death, he left 15 tonnes of personal papers. He wrote so prolifically to keep the ‘black dog’ at bay. Churchill’s struggle with mental illness, without effective treatment, only serves to magnify his superlative achievements.