Row over bipolar Burns claim

Published on Saturday 6 June 2009 19:53

IT SEEMS it was too much to take for Scotland's culture chiefs, but new analysis of the handwriting of Robert Burns suggests he suffered from bipolar disorder.

An examination of letters and manuscripts found evidence the 18th century writer may have suffered extremes of mood that today might be diagnosed as manic depression or bipolar disorder.

Joan Charles, an intuitive analyst, was asked by the National Trust for Scotland to examine the handwriting to mark the Year of the Homecoming. But although the word bipolar was included in a report to senior trust officials, it was later removed, sparking a row with mental health campaigners who have accused the trust of "editing history".

The romanticised image of the Bard is a central part of the Scottish Government's Homecoming Year theme aimed at attracting thousands of tourists to Scotland in 2009.

David Hopes, NTS curator of the Robert Burns Memorial Museum project in Alloway, said "the evidence was not sufficient to support a diagnosis".