Editing Paul Robeson (section)

===1961–1963: Health breakdown===

Back in London after his Australia and New Zealand tour, Robeson expressed a desire to return to the United States and participate in the [[civil rights movement]], while his wife argued that he would be unsafe there and "unable to make any money" due to government harassment. In March 1961 Robeson again traveled to Moscow.{{sfn|Robeson|2001|p=309}}

====Moscow breakdown====
During an uncharacteristically wild party in his Moscow hotel room, Robeson locked himself in his bedroom and attempted suicide by cutting his wrists.{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=498–499}} Three days later, under Soviet medical care, he told his son, who had received news about his condition and traveled to Moscow, that he felt extreme paranoia, he thought that the walls of the room were moving and, overcome by a powerful sense of emptiness and depression, he tried to take his own life.{{sfn|Nollen|2010|p=180}}

Paul Jr. has stated that his father's health problems stemmed from the CIA's and MI5's attempts to "neutralize" his father.<ref name="Democracy Now">{{cite AV media |medium=radio broadcast |people=(presenter) Amy Goodman |date=July 1, 1999 |title=Did the U.S. Government drug Paul Robeson? Part&nbsp;1 |work=[[Democracy Now]] |url=http://www.democracynow.org/1999/7/1/did_the_cia_drug_paul_robeson |postscript=; |access-date=December 15, 2010 |archive-date=February 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210213142424/https://www.democracynow.org/1999/7/1/did_the_cia_drug_paul_robeson |url-status=live }} [http://www.democracynow.org/1999/7/6/did_the_u_s_government_drug part 2, July 6, 1999] {{Webarchive|date=December 17, 2010|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217164721/http://www.democracynow.org/1999/7/6/did_the_u_s_government_drug}}</ref>{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=563–564}} He remembered that his father had had such fears before his prostate operation.{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=438–442}} He said that three doctors treating Robeson in London and New York had been CIA contractors,<ref name="Democracy Now"/> and that his father's symptoms resulted from being "subjected to mind de-patterning under [[MK-ULTRA]]", a secret CIA programme.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Time Out: The Paul Robeson files |magazine=The Nation |date=December 20, 1999 |first=Paul Jr. |last=Robeson |volume=269 |issue=21 |page=9}}</ref> [[Martin Duberman]] wrote that Robeson's health breakdown was probably brought on by a combination of factors including extreme emotional and physical stress, [[Bipolar disorder|bipolar depression]], exhaustion and the beginning of circulatory and heart problems. "[E]ven without an organic predisposition and accumulated pressures of government harassment he might have been susceptible to a breakdown."{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=498–499}}

====Repeated deterioration in London====
Robeson stayed at the [[Barvikha]] [[Sanatorium]] until September&nbsp;1961, when he left for London. There his depression reemerged, and after another period of recuperation in Moscow, he returned to London.

Three days after arriving back{{when|date=September 2021}}, he became suicidal and suffered a panic attack while passing the [[Embassy of Russia, London|Soviet Embassy]].{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=735–736}} He was admitted to the [[Priory Hospital]], where he underwent [[electroconvulsive therapy]] (ECT) and was given heavy doses of drugs for nearly two years, with no accompanying psychotherapy.{{sfn|Nollen|2010|pp=180–181}} During his treatment at the Priory, Robeson was being monitored by the British [[MI5]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/07/uk.race |title=Paul Robeson was tracked by MI5 |last=Travis |first=Alan |date=March 6, 2003 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited |postscript=; |access-date=December 12, 2016 |archive-date=August 18, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160818074029/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/07/uk.race |url-status=live }} cf. {{cite news |newspaper=[[Western Mail (Wales)|Western Mail]] |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tm_objectid%3D15246932%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50082%26headline%3Dmi5-tracked-robeson-amid-communist-fears-name_page.html |title=MI5 tracked Robeson amid communist fears |access-date=November 6, 2011 |archive-date=January 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122003323/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/tm_objectid%3D15246932%26method%3Dfull%26siteid%3D50082%26headline%3Dmi5-tracked-robeson-amid-communist-fears-name_page.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Both British and American intelligence services were well aware of Robeson's suicidal state of mind: An FBI memo described Robeson's debilitated condition, remarking that his "death would be much publicized" and would be used for Communist propaganda, necessitating continued surveillance.{{sfn|Duberman|1989|p=509}} Numerous memos advised that Robeson should be denied a passport renewal, an obstacle that was likely to further jeopardize his recovery process.{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=498–499}}

====Treatment in East Germany====
In August&nbsp;1963, disturbed about his treatment, friends and family had Robeson transferred to the Buch Clinic in [[East Berlin]].{{sfn|Nollen|2010|p=182}}<ref name="Lamparski">{{cite book |last=Lamparski |first=Richard |year=1968 |title=Whatever Became of ... ? |volume=II |page=9 |publisher=Ace Books}}</ref> Given psychotherapy and less medication, his physicians found him still "completely without initiative" and they expressed "doubt and anger" about the "high level of [[barbiturates]] and ECT" that had been administered in London. He rapidly improved, though his doctor stressed that "what little is left of Paul's health must be quietly conserved."{{sfn|Duberman|1989|pp=516–518}}