Mental Illness

Including suicide and attempted suicide

Adler-Collins, Je Kan

Adler-Collins was the child of a military family who was taken into care at the age of three when his mother shot his father during a domestic dispute. He was abused in care for years, but ... [more]

Cameron, Rhona

Cameron was born in Dundee or Musselburgh, Scotland, and adopted when she was very young. Her adoptive father also died, when she was 14, sending her into a long-term depression. She was... [more]

Castelo Branco, Camilo

Castelo Branco was born illegitimate in Lisbon, and raised by relatives after being orphaned as a very young child. As a young man he led a wild life but then took minor orders in the Ch... [more]

Cookson, Catherine Anne

Cookson was born to a young unmarried woman and raised by her grandparents. Until she was seven she thought that her mother, Kate, was her older sister, and finding out that she was illegit... [more]

Cullen, Eric Robertson

Cullen was adopted and had achondroplasia, a type of dwarfism. (He was adopted at birth because his mother was unmarried and unable to care for him; his achondroplasia was not diagnosed unt... [more]

Dowd, Donny

Dowd spent part of his childhood in a Roman Catholic orphanage. When old enough he joined the US Navy and fought in Vietnam, where he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. He return... [more]

Evans, Barry

Evans was left at a Barnardos home when he was two months old and nothing is known of his family He went into show business at 17 and became famous as Dr. Michael Upton in the British tel... [more]

Fever went into care as a baby and spent almost his entire childhood in a succession of foster families and children's homes. Some were good but in others he was abused physically, emotional... [more]

Gaius Caligula (under Roman Empire)

Ancient Roman society institutionalized the adoption of adults. It was relatively common for a wealthy Roman couple to adopt an adult man, even a slave, as heir if they did not have any son... [more]

Gaius Marius the Younger (under Roman Empire)

Ancient Roman society institutionalized the adoption of adults. It was relatively common for a wealthy Roman couple to adopt an adult man, even a slave, as heir if they did not have any son... [more]