The suicide curse in the Hemingway family

Dr. Clarence Hemingway (father of Ernest): shot himself in the head in 1928 in Oak Park, Illinois. 

Ernest Hemingway, novelist (winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954): shot himself in the head in 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho. 

Leicester Hemingway, novelist (Ernest's brother):  shot himself in the head in 1982 in Miami Beach, Florida.  

Ursula Hemingway (Ernest's sister): overdosed herself on sleeping pills in 1996 in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Margaux Hemingway, model and actress (grand-daughter of Ernest): overdosed herself on sleeping pills in 1996 in Santa Monica, California.

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Today, fifty years ago, Yukio Mishima committed suicide by hara-kiri

On 25 November 1970, celebrated author Yukio Mishima took his own life at the Ichigaya Camp in Tokyo by hara-kiri (Samurai ritual self-embowelment). He was only 45 years old.

In an interview, he once said, “The Western concept of suicide is defeat, in Japanese hara-kiri, sometimes, you win.”

A law graduate of Tokyo Imperial University, Mishima wrote full-time from the age of 24. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times in 1963, 1964 and 1965. His volume of works included about 35 novels, about 50 plays, about 25 books of short stories and 35 books of essays.

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Writers twice more likely to commit suicide than the general population, according to research

Research conducted by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that writers were twice more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

In 2012, the Institute gathered census data of 1.2 million patients afflicted with schizoaffective disorder, depression, anxiety syndrome, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, autism, ADHD, anorexia nervosa and suicidal tendency.

It was found that bipolar disorder was prevalent in people with creativity-based careers, especially writing. The results were published in the Journal of Psychiatrist Research, September 2012.

Many contemporary Asian writers have committed suicide. Please click on the YouTube link below to find out ten of them though the list is not exhaustive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y40vm1z9ypk&t=1s

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