“They tried to make me go to rehab, I said ‘no, no, no’,” so states the chorus of Amy Winehouse’s biggest musical hit, “Rehab”. Amy was a very successful English soul/jazz singer-songwriter who died in 2011 from acute alcohol poisoning at the age of 27. She did in fact enter rehab several times, but she never was able to complete a program and could not maintain her sobriety. It is fairly easy to find information on her struggles with mental illness because the ever-present tabloid media captured her decline. Amy suffered from a variety of mental illnesses that began in her youth and she was unfortunately unable to escape her demons before she ultimately succumbed to them.
Diagnoses
Amy suffered from several mental disorders including: bipolar disorder, addiction, bulimia nervosa and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI).10 The hallmark of bipolar disorder is pronounced mood swings in which a person goes from being elated to being normal to being extremely depressed.11 During an interview on The Album Chart Show, she admitted, “I do drink a lot. I think it's symptomatic of my depression. I'm manic depressive, I'm not an alcoholic, which sounds like an alcoholic in denial."10 Manic depression is an older term for bipolar…show more content… 7,10 According to Tremblay et al, in a population-based study, they found a significantly higher median occupational creativity level for those with bipolar disorder compared to those without bipolar disorder.10 During manic periods, especially during the early stages, people report feeling happy, productive and creative.2 Ms. Winehouse was a very successful musician who won many awards including 6 Grammys and sold over 4 million albums. Perhaps her bipolar disorder made her more creative and successful, however this success was a great expense to her mental health and her disorder eventually helped lead to her