In the summer of 1881 Vincent Van Gogh asked for his cousin's hand in marriage and was rejected. He was very insistent on seeing her and acted by holding his hand in the flame and holding up the words "Let me see while I can keep my hand in the flame" (Wikipedia, Letter 193 from Vincent to Theo, The Hague, 14 May 1882). In 1885 Vincent's father died (ArtBook: Van Gogh; A Profound and Tormented Genius: His Life in Paintings, 1998). In December 1888, Vincent Van Gogh was living with fellow artist and friend, Paul Gauguin. They lived in the “Yellow House”; the house that Vincent had rented and painted a picture of in September of that year. On December 23, Van Gogh approached Gauguin with a razor blade and then left the Yellow House in a panic and fled to a local brothel. This led Vincent to cut off part of his ear, which he then donated to a prostitute (Wikipedia, Rita Wildegans, 2007). After that night Vincent spent 3 days unconscious in the hospital and was discharged home on January 7, 1889 (Jen Green, 2002). In January and February Vincent often remained in hospital due to his hallucinations and paranoia. He thought someone had poisoned him. In March the police closed his house after a petition was signed by some locals and he was then admitted to the city hospital in Arles (New World Encyclopedia, 2008). Vincent once reported to his brother Theo that looking at his face in a mirror calmed him. In April, Vincent's brother Theo got married and Vincent began to feel like a burden to him (Jen Green, 2002). In May 1889, Vincent agreed to return to the Saint-Remy asylum. During his time there he reported that painting calmed and healed his spirit... in the middle of paper... he knew how he felt at any moment in his life. I don't know if there were many psychiatrists and therapists around in his time, but when researching him, it seemed like he was in contact with at least two doctors in his life who helped him with his psychological problems. So if Vincent Van Gogh were alive today, I would still have him talk to doctors or a psychiatrist he is comfortable with. I don't know what types of treatments were available to someone in the late 1800s, but today I would like to see if Vincent was alive. interested in taking a combination of mood stabilizers with antidepressants to relieve his manic and depressive episodes. The textbook states that using them in combination can also “reduce the risk of future depressive episodes, just as they appear to prevent the return of manic episodes” (Comer, 2011 p.. 224).