Vaslav Nijinsky Case Study

Vaslav Nijinsky was a famous Russian ballet dancer born around 1889, and died in 1950 whose career ended because of his recurrent psychological problems. Nijinsky started early on his career and sustained homosexual relationships to his benefit in various occasions, but later married Romola in a to South America, with whom he had two children, Kyra and Tamara (Acoella 1999; Fearne, 2009). The onset of Nijinsky’s illness is not clear, and may have been a contribution of specific environmental factors, his need to perform for an audience (Järvinen, 2014), and genetic factors, his brother was institutionalized (Acoella, 1999), although it would be risky to assume the latter. Nevertheless, because of Nijinsky’s thoughts captured in a diary he started on 1919, one can clearly perceive he had delusional thoughts of grandeur (Nijinsky, 1999, p. 126) and persecution (Fearne, 2009), reflecting racing ideas flowing in the paper. In addition, it could be pointed out that he had difficulties communicating with others and some to perceive him as shy and hard to approach (Järvinen, 2014). The progressive development of his illness was emphasized when he institutionalized; at this point, other symptoms appeared, seemly with the help of the drugs he was taking (Ostwald, 1991, p. 235).
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This mood swing includes periods where he had diminished emotional expression and euphoria sometimes in less than a week apart.
• Racing ideas are present in his diary (Nijinsky & Acoella 1995; Nijinsky,