Woolf: What's the Diagnosis?

Woolf was described as "mad" in her time for her not-so-private freakouts, mood swings, manic-depressive cycles, and more.

There is a deep analysis from scholars, doctors, and more that have tried to diagnose Woolf, and they all come to a similar conclusion: bipolar disorder.

Most of these diagnoses come from Woolf's personal journal entries, some are from what the public witnessed, and other medical journals kept on the ladder. However, one could argue that Woolf did not suffer from bipolar disorder, but Borderline Personality Disorder, a developed interest rooted in trauma-response.

I Hate You, Don't Leave Me is a modern updated novel written by Hal Straus and Jerold J. Kreisman, a self-help author specializing in mental health awareness novels and a psychologist specializing in BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder), and explains the misdiagnoses, specifically in women, between bipolar and BPD and the overlap of symptoms.

Woolf's descriptions of her depressive and manic episodes are not much different than the swings of BPD--fitting in both diagnoses. Bipolar has no root cause other than potentially a small genetic background, but BPD is genetic and also rooted in trauma, specifically, childhood trauma--as argued in I Hate You Don't Leave Me.

Of course, Woolf was not diagnosed with any of these terms in the 19th-20th century, there was little understanding of bipolar and no knowledge of BPD then, as BPD is still a mystery to psychologists, psychiatrists, and therapists today. A proper diagnosis then may not have helped her much anyway without modern medicine and therapy as mood stabilizers tend to be the only solution to assist in the swings for both bipolar and BPD, and therapy is the only core treatment for different forms of BPD.

However, the point of this is not to speculate on whether Woolf would have been helped by a proper diagnosis during her lifetime (although that would be nice to speculate on), it's whether or not one would like to believe, with medical history, that trauma was so deep-rooted in Woolf's life because of her half-brother's continuous assault on her that this affected her in every aspect of her life: her writing, her mental state, even her ability to get out of bed.

Does the alleged BPD impact her writing more or less? Does the impacts from her trauma make her writing all that more special--or is it just glimpses into an already brilliant mind that we see as the trauma manifests itself in her writing? What's the point of knowing her diagnosis if it doesn't impact the writing?

I'd say it definitely does. The chaos, the little moments, the reputation she received is all tied to that one major instance in her life: the assault.

Would Woolf be so well-known if that hadn't happened to her? Woolf went on to write impactful stories and was also a book editor. She and her husband also went on to do great things (to be mentioned later). Would she still have shown this intense mental illness? Would the play, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" even be written if Woolf grew up with a normal family that didn't assault her and preserved her innocence?

These are questions abuse victims are constantly faced with. How would it have been different if the abuse hadn't happened?

And some, maybe those who have never been victim to abuse, may ask--"what does it matter?"

And that's the point of breaking down the source of these authors' "madness" and bringing these questions to light--they may have lived and died 100+ years ago, but they're not different from the same victims of modern day who are experiencing abuse.

The purpose of these posts will be: why should any human being have to undergo that? Let's talk more about it. Our society needs to be more comfortable talking about abuse and bringing awareness to it. Abuse victims need to know that they're not alone and that their life is not defined by abuse.

You can argue that Woolf's success was from her abuse from her half-brother. You can also argue that she already had that talent and potential and the abuse is just part of her actual past, not her writing. It depends on the lens of the reader, for sure, but Woolf is not defined by what happened to her--it happened, but she made an impact in the literary world on her own with her own skill and instinct.

And all abuse victims can do it too.

Sources for this article and to use for future posts: (I own this book so I like to reference it a lot) Straus, Hal and Jerold J. Kreisman I Hate You Don't Leave Me. TarcherPerigee. 1989. Updated, Third Edition Dec 7, 2010. 978-0399536212.

PhD in psychiatry breakdown on Woolf and her journal entries https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.ajp.161.5.809

Peer-reviewed article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27304258/

Academic article: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1142&context=english_fac_pubs

Another academic article: https://encompass.eku.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1538&context=honors_theses

(All articles talk about how Woolf's symptoms would be diagnosed as bipolar disorder today)