Winston Churchill suffered from what he called 'the Black Dog' -- a phrase he borrowed from his father -- throughout his adult life. It was clinical depression, and it was severe. Churchill, who led Britain through its darkest hours between 1940 and 1945, experienced episodes of depression that left him bedridden, unable to work, and contemplating suicide. He had his first recorded episode in 1910, and the condition recurred with varying intensity for the rest of his life.
Churchill's depression was not merely a matter of low spirits or temporary sadness. It was a clinical condition that he described in graphic terms to his doctor, Lord Moran, who kept detailed notes of their conversations over two decades. "I think this might be finished now," Churchill reportedly said during one particularly severe episode, "it is a daily battle and I am tired." During these periods, he would retreat to bed, often for days at a time, surrounded by papers he could not bring himself to read.
The irony of Churchill's condition was profound and not lost on those who knew him well. The man whose speeches had electrified a nation and given the British people the resolve to continue fighting against Nazi Germany was, at intervals, utterly incapable of getting out of bed. He managed this through a combination of methods: rigid daily structure, constant activity, alcohol (he drank heavily throughout the war, though historians debate how much of this was self-medication and how much was simply habit), and the support of his wife Clementine, who recognized the signs of an approaching episode and would arrange his schedule to minimize demands on him during vulnerable periods.
Churchill never publicly discussed his depression during his lifetime, and it remained largely unknown until after his death. Lord Moran published his memoirs, Churchill: The Struggle for Survival, in 1966, seven years after Churchill's death, revealing the extent of the Prime Minister's illness. Moran described watching Churchill fight off suicidal thoughts while simultaneously making decisions about the deployment of British troops in North Africa.
Churchill's experience of leading Britain through the most consequential war in history while suffering from severe depression has become one of the most discussed aspects of his legacy. Historians and mental health professionals alike have examined what it meant that one of the most iconic figures of the twentieth century was, at his core, a man who struggled with darkness on a scale that most people never confront -- and who carried on regardless.