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In Reply to: just how mentally ill was Berg? posted by exer on April 20, 2004 at 20:54:24:
Just my opinion, but I believe Berg showed symptoms of bipolar disorder (aka, manic depression). Observed symptoms of his mania include: inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, flight of ideas (racing thoughts that 'take off'--think about how his writings ramble all over the place), distractibility (today we're doing this, tomorrow were doing something altogether different), excessive involvement in risky behavior (indiscriminate sexual contact).
One could argue that some of his dreams and visions were actually psychotic episodes--the business about goddesses, for example, and being oppressed by demons. One has to be careful when evaluating someone's religious experience for evidence of psychosis, but I'm willing to stick my neck out and suggest that a lot of Berg's visionary activity seems to have had psychotic features.
Some scientists will argue that all visions are psychotic, but I'm of the view that some things are from a higher power and some come directly out of malfunctioning brain chemistry and a self-serving ego. I'd say you can tell which is which by examining the fruit: Berg's visions were the basis for lot of confusion and dangerous behavior--not exactly the fruit of anyone's higher power, imo, unless you're talking about the "higher power" of egotistical delusions.
Finally, many people with untreated brain diseases like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia control their symptoms by using alcohol. While alcoholism is it's own disease condition, Berg may have gotten hooked because alcohol calmed him down and kept his recurrent psychosis under control for short periods of time. However, there's also evidence he may have drunk so excessively at times that he went into a state of substance-induced psychosis.
It's hard to tell exactly what combination of things caused Berg to get so far out of touch with reality. In addition to the possibility Berg had a brain disease, it is clear he was a highly charismatic sociopath who could convince others that he was actually a prophetic visionary--even when his many revelations failed to materialize as predicted.
