Do you think Caligula was schizophrenic?

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I was pondering which section to post this in, but decided to post it here, as I believe this topic may be of interest to many who are active in PPR. It's ancient politics, after all.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~monarchs/madmonar ... la_bio.htm

Been reading on Caligula lately, was wondering if he suffered from schizophrenia or any related disorder. What would you diagnose him with?

Why not diagnose him with Asperger's? It seems like almost every other famous eccentric who's ever lived has been posthumously diagnosed with A.S. at some point.

Seriously though, I don't really know enough about schizophrenia to comment, but it's an interesting question.
We could ask similar questions about several historical figures.
For example, it seems fairly probable that 'Mad' King George III of England had porphyria.

Relying strictly on the link, I do not believe he fits the description of a schizophrenic at all. I wish the article would have said more of his childhood behavior other than the slight mention of incest. However, this mention and the mention of enjoying executions does imply he might have had problems before his illness. The article makes him sound psychopathic, but there is issue with that term. Psychopathy is commonly equated with antisocial personality disorder, and there is arguement as to if they should be separate. The DSM changed the terms, which are not specific in reference to violence and sexual deviance. So, while all psychopaths fit the criteria of ASPD, it can be agrued that not all ASPDs are psychopaths. Or, maybe he just got his brain burnt by the fever...hard to guess a dead guy, and I am hardly qualified anyway.

I agree with claire333. Caligula is more likely to have been a psychopath. This is a common theme in oligarchies. A combination of inbreeding and exposure to too much power and privilege.

He was a boy toy for the previous emperor, (Tiberius? where's a Twelve Caesars when you need it.., in a situation where many of them were literally thrown off a cliff. By carefully palming the Imperial symbols, he became a PTSD'd ruler in a system with no limitations to his actions. he was a survivor, but he definitely wasn't playing with a full deck.

I too initially assumed that he was a psychopath, except for two symptoms related to psychosis and schizophrenia - strange manifestations at night, and thinking that he was a God.

As for ASPDs, I must research.

The manifestations part was vague so I did not know what to make of it. Thinking he was a god would fit, as psychopaths are narcissistic. Pakled also made a good point of him being an abuse survivor, which can affect in a number of ways.

Well, my sister had hallucinations at night as a child. This was the result of being misdiagnosed with malaria and given the wrong medicines by a quack. She would see dark figures while trying to sleep. A homeopath solved her problem.

If not visual hallucinations, do you think he had a similar problem?

The article just said manifestations, so this could have been visual hallucinations. It was just not specific. I have not studied Caligula so I am not certain if there is more information available on the specifics of these manifestations.

He could've had a lot of stuff wrong with him also you have to take into consideration the kind of society he grew up in. What seems crazy was probably close to the norm in that time and let's not forget his sexual appetite, he could've had syphilis as well troubles inherited from being somewhat of an inbed. There was a lot of that going on within royal families.

Although sexually liberal, it does seem to me that Greco-Roman families did exercise constraint. For example, I do recall incest being considered immoral.

Regardless of social norms in that period, we can all agree that Caligula caused a disturbance great enough for the senate and people to label him as 'raving mad'.

The first major outbreak of syphillis was in the late 15th century, by French troops beseiging Naples. I see no evidence proving its existence to an earlier date, although it may have evolved from a different disease.

I think it is possible the author of the article chose schizophrenia due to the assumption of Caligula's problems having a starting point shortly after gaining power, and after his illness. Schizophrenia has a definite onset and progression. If the author is correct about the timeline, it is not a horrible conclusion since Caligula's age at the time would have fit. Also the author might have considered his belief of being a god to be a delusion rather than narcissism. However, schozophrenics are not catagorized as even promiscuious much less violent, and although lack of emotion is a symptom, it is more of a lack of expression or enjoyment,not lack of empathy.

Blasted!

You got me on the syphilis case but I've read books about it being quite common in that period for families to intermarry.

Anyway I agree the man has a history of being crazy. It seems however, his illness progressed throughout his adult life. I'm not sure if that's a good symptom of schizophrenia or not.

Also, when I mean the norm in greek and roman society, I don't mean it was written law but culturally accepted. It was at a time when rulers were under "divine" order. But all we can do is speculate what he had since there wasn't an official diagnoses for those kinds of stuff back then....at least not a lot of sufficient evidence to suggest the ailments we label today.

I think somewhere I read that it was possible he had some kind of brain tumor, which could have gone at least part way to explaining the headaches etc. In combination with his background, survivor history and too much power, it could fit.

I too meant by it being culturally accepted. Incest was definitely a no-no.

True, all we can do is speculate.

Point taken. Caligula does seem to fit the psychopathy diagnosis rather neatly.

Most likely not. If accounts of Caligula are true, he was definetly mentally ill neurotypical.