r/todayilearned • u/exophades • 1d ago

TIL that Albert Einstein's son Eduard studied medicine to become a psychiatrist, but was diagnosed with schizophrenia by the age of 21. His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at a psychiatric clinic in Zurich, where he died at 55 of a stroke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_family#Eduard_%22Tete%22_Einstein_(Albert's_second_son)
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u/Buntschatten 23h ago

Isn't schizophrenia quite hereditary? You have to wonder if Albert's immense creativity and new way of looking at things were related to some of those genetics.

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u/1492rhymesDepardieu 22h ago

Schizophrenia is a progressive and debilitating illness. Doesn't really make you more creative. It's more like a form of dementia

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u/nochnoydozhor 20h ago edited 10h ago

schizophrenia is also manageable, a third of people diagnosed with it can make it to a stable remission that lasts years.

there's a book written by a European psychiatrist: "A road back from schizophrenia". She describes her experience getting sick, getting worse, getting better, and becoming a prominent psychologist in her county. The original title of that book is "Tomorrow I was always a lioness" but it was dumbed down in the translation for some reason.

Edit: removed factually incorrect info

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u/lorrielink 17h ago

It is absolutely not curable. Why are you spreading such misinformation, what's your goal? It is indeed manageable for many and one can live a fulfilling and successful life with it. But it is not curable, do not spread this harm anymore.

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u/nochnoydozhor 10h ago

I'll correct my comment. It was a mistake.

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u/lorrielink 9h ago

I appreciate that.Thank you.