In the Dallas Morning News, Michael Granberry interviews the author of a new biography that includes the work done by a Dallas psychotherapist who analyzed Frida Kahlo from her bedside, after a suicide attempt towards the end of her life in 1954.

Dr. Harris’ psychological assessment of Ms. Kahlo is based on the tests given by Mexican psychology student Olga Campos: the Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test, Bleuler-Jung Test and Szondi Test. The results show a troubled, complicated woman who overcame her tortured circumstance to produce some of the most powerful art of the last two centuries.

The tests, Dr. Harris says, show that the artist suffered from severe depression.

“She also had what we now know as chronic pain syndrome,” he says. “When people have chronic physical pain, they often suffer from social isolation, withdrawal, periods of depression, substance abuse. … She had all of that.”

Image from consciousme.blogspot.