The famous painter from Holland, Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) cut part of his external ear, painted auto portrait of himself with the bandage, and shot himself on his chest. His last words, before he died were: “The sadness will last forever”.

Why he did it?
Many articles about the medical possibilities were published. Here we shall focus on one possibility: severe tinnitus.

Vincent Van Gogh was born on 1863 in Groot-Zundert, Holland. He studied art in Belgium. In Antwerp he discovered the paintings of Rubens and Japanese art. He was impressed by Gauguin, Pissaro and Monet. His “Brushstrokes” remained the main feature of his style as a painter.

On 1888 he was admitted to Asylum (Psychiatric institution of those days) in Saint Remy after he cut part of his external ear. Two years later he was discharged, and looked better. Two months after his discharge he committed suicide. He shot himself in his chest and his brother Theo heard him saying: “This sadness will last forever”.

After he died, he became very famous and was considered a genius. A lot of controversy was associated with his tragic mental illness. Accumulation of knowledge about tinnitus indicates that there is common denominator between his symptoms and the symptoms of the “Typical tinnitus sufferer”.

His decision to cut his ear was not a result of psychotic thought. It was an attempt to treat his unilateral tinnitus by cutting the ear.

What is Tinnitus?
In the website of Dr. Z. Shemesh there is a brief definition of tinnitus: A sensation of sound that is related to the ears, head or the ears and the head, without any external sound stimulation. The sound of Tinnitus has no verbal meaning and can be “Objective” or “Subjective”.

The hypothesis of Dr. Shemesh, a famous tinnitus therapist from Israel, is that the decision of Vincent Van Gogh to cut his ear was not a result of psychotic thought. It was an attempt to treat his unilateral tinnitus by cutting the ear.

After prolonged admission in Asylum he experienced improvement in his mood and was discharged, but the tinnitus was not affected by the psychological treatment there or the surgical act that the patient performed by himself.

His despair pushed him to his fatal suicidal act.

Is it common that a tinnitus patient have high suicidal risk?
Dr. Shemesh says tinnitus is a medical condition with various degrees of severity. The sufferers with mild to moderate tinnitus usually do not seek medical help, and classified as “non help seekers”. Those who are severely affected by the tinnitus have also reactive symptoms to the basic disease, such as: insomnia, anxiety, fatigue, pessimism, inability to enjoy pleasurable activity of life, low productivity at work and low interest in social life.

Depression and suicidal thoughts are common in the severe form of the disease. Most probably the great artist Vincent Van Gogh suffered from severe tinnitus.
 
Dr. Shemesh, do you think that a severely affected tinnitus sufferer should be desperate even today?
Despair is associated with loss of hope for cure, says Dr. Shemesh. In most of the tinnitus sufferers there is a spontaneous cure. In young soldiers who came to the out patient clinic of the Israeli army we observed complete recovery in 85% of them during the first 6 months of their tinnitus. I do not have accurate statistics for other populations, but it seems that it is similar to the population of soldiers.

Some of the patients do not have such favorable statistics, and I consider it as a failure of their curative mechanisms.

Do you think that it is possible to decrease the level of tinnitus in the sufferers?
Today, there are few ways to achieve some relieve and improvement in the quality of life of the patient, even if he is not completely cured. Hypnosis, bio-feedback, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) and Various psychotropic medications, can help.

Is it possible to cure chronic sufferers?
The aim of the primary research in 1981, was to help chronic tinnitus patients. The beginning of the clinical research was in “Hadassah Hospital”, and continued in the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) from 1986. Every sufferer who was found abler to study how to do self hypnosis, was included in the research group.

The project was a co production between “Hadassah Hospital”, “Hebrew University Medical School” and the IDF. Many Israeli soldiers who suffered from military noise exposure, were treated. All of them were chronic tinnitus sufferers.

On the basis of the research and clinical data, a treatment protocol was developed.

Important part of it is attempt to focus on the question: Why the auditory system did not cure itself? What are the mechanisms that failed?

Is there any connection between tinnitus and vertigo?
Yes. About 30% of the tinnitus patients report of having attacks of vertigo or dizziness.