text: was howard hughes' mental illness ever diaganosed? he was definitely obsessive/compulsive, but was schizophrenia ever considered? hughes appeared to close friends as having bizarre habits and personal tics. he had major deafness from childhood and couldn't hear the conversations around him, but he did not share that information to many people. he did business by telephone because it was easier for him to hear. hughes had syphilis, and in his later years he developed neurosyphilis, which causes profound degeneration of brain cells that can lead to paranoia. also, as a test pilot he was involved in many plane crashes that probably caused brain injury. because of severe pain, he became addicted to codeine, and addiction lasted until death. and, yes, he did have the ocd. all of these facts are 'after the fact', so i am not certain if he ever had a complete dignosis while living.