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Ian Curtis (July 15, 1956 – May 18, 1980)

Ian Curtis Died at the age of 23. It has been speculated that, had he lived, he might have eventually been diagnosed with bipolar disorder due to his fluctuation in mood swings. According to an article in the Independent, titled, "Dark Star: The Final Days of Ian Curtis by his Joy Division Band Mates", at  the age of 16 he took an overdose of Largactil (in the US it is marketed as Thorazine)and had to have his stomach pumped. Although seen mostly as a polite and withdrawn person, he could easily get wound up, manic, and aggressive.  

His band mates were apparently unaware of his epilepsy until they all returned home from their first performance in London in 1978 when he suffered his first grand mal seizure. While the band apparently tried to work around his illness, it was challenging since they lived the life of musicians--drinking, over-stimulation, traveling, and strobe lighting in some of the clubs--all of which can contribute to epileptic fits. 
As Curtis's epilepsy worsened, he was treated with medication that produced severe mood swings. Guitarist Bernard Sumner recalls that "while we were working on Closer, Ian said to me that doing this album felt very strange because he felt that all his words were writing themselves. He also said that he had this terrible claustrophobic feeling that he was in a whirlpool and being pulled down, drowning." Curtis attempted suicide a second time with prescription medication after his daughter Natalie was born in 1979.  The night before they were to depart on their first US tour, Curtis hanged himself in his kitchen.  While the band lived hand to mouth throughout their career, the song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" reached the top 10 list after his death. According to Natalie Curtis, her commentary on Anton Corbijn's film Control, which was filmed about Ian Curtis in 2007,  ''My main criticism of the film is that it doesn't go far enough to convey my father's mental health problems: his depression and mood swings are simply not addressed." According to the Royal College of Psychologists,  "Control offers the opportunity to consider an important mental health issue, namely the relationship between depression, suicidal behaviour, and epilepsy." A study by Christensen et al in 2007 (Lancet Neurology6:693-8) suggests that the "risk of suicide is 32 times higher in those with epilepsy and depression than in the general population, as opposed to 2.4 times higher in those with epilepsy alone." 






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