The Crack-Up: Nietzsche's Breakdown In Turin

Friedrich Nietzsche's nervous breakdown in Turin, Italy, on January 3, 1889 was as dramatic as its outcome. One morning he witnessed a cab driver mercilessly flogging his horse. Nietzsche's nerves unraveled as he ran across the road and threw his arms over the horse to protect it from the blows. Totally distraught, he broke into tears and fell to the ground. The next eleven years he would be kept in a mental institution, never to write again.

The story is well known, though its causes lesser known. What happened? 

According to historians the event was the climax of years of physical and mental strain. It didn't "just happen" out of thin air. 

When I was young, perhaps in my twenties or so, the words "nervous breakdown" were scary to me. Was a breakdown something like being struck by lightning? Something that happens to you that you have no control over? I don't think so.

First, Nietzsche had physical health problems that included chronic migraines, severe digestive issues and deteriorating eyesight. It's been suggested that he had also contracted syphilis in his youth, a condition that can produce neurological complications later. His immersion in his philosophical work also left him exhausted as he pushed himself beyond his physical limits.  

In the realm of mental health, he alienated friends and suffered from isolation and loneliness. His ideas were often misunderstood and dismissed. Add to this the pain caused by unfulfilled romantic desires. 

Nietzsche with his sister Therese Elisabeth

The breakdown took place after recent personal turmoil that included his break-up with Lou Andreas-Salomé, whose diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with a broad array of distinguished thinkers, including Nietzsche, Freud and Rilke. Nietzche's estrangment from his sister and the lack of acclaim for his works, like Thus Spoke Zarathustra, were likely contributing factors as well. In that last year he was working feverishly on The Case of Wagner and Ecce Homo, among other things. Did he feel inward pressure from an awareness that he was in a race against time?  His letters to friends were becoming increasingly delusional. Did he understand what was happening to him?

The incident in Turin was a trigger.  Overwrought, he began weeping uncontrollably while throwing his arms around the horse. He was never the same. 

Related Links

A Writing Lesson: Fitzgerald's The Crack-Up
I Think, Therefore I Am… Or Am I? Nietzsche Strikes Again