Hemingway suffered from bipolar disorder, then known as manic
depression, and was treated with electroshock therapy at the Menninger
Clinic. The therapy, he claimed, had destroyed his memory--other sources have claimed that the effects of it were what drove him to suicide-- and he told his friend
A.E. Hotchner that his
memory loss was one of the reasons he no longer wanted to live. The
condition was hereditary: Hemingway's father Clarence likely suffered
from it, as did at least one of his sisters, Ursula, and his only
brother, Leicester, as did one of his sons, Gregory, and his
granddaughter
Margaux Hemingway. In addition to Ernest, Hemingway's father
Clarence, his siblings Ursula and Leicester, and his granddaughter
Margaux all committed suicide. His son Gregory died in police custody
after being picked up in a stupor shortly after a sex change
operation.
