The Victorians had many names for depression, and Charles Darwin used them all. There were his “fits” brought on by “excitements,” “flurries” leading to an “uncomfortable palpitation of the heart” and “air fatigues” that triggered his “head symptoms.” In one particularly pitiful letter, written to a specialist in “psychological medicine,” he confessed to “extreme spasmodic daily and nightly flatulence” and “hysterical crying” whenever Emma, his devoted wife, left him alone.

via www.nytimes.com

I realize that the author of the NYT piece on Depression's Upside is trying to use a "sexy" title that will draw readers and that the analysis is supposed to bring a new view of depression . . . but . . . the assumption that Charles Darwin's bout with depression accelerated his achievements is spurious and assumptive . . . we can't know if that is the case, we can only know that Darwin said his studies were helpful in combatting his depression-like symptoms not that he would not have studies perhaps even more effectively had he not been so afflicted.

In any case . . . even if Depression might spur SOME folks to greater achievement in some areas as a coping mechanism to battle the depression, is it really worth it? At the human level?

In Darwin's own letters, he feared being relegated to a life of mediocrity because of his own tendency to be productive on few days with one third of his days spent sitting about battling his mental anguish (certainly his malaise and bouts of uncontrollable crying whenever his wife left the room were difficult to control once they began, regardless of the therapeutic aid the studies gave him).

Either way, I suppose we could decide which is more important at the individual level . . . contribution to the ages or quality of life . . . most folks would likely say the contribution to the ages is more important when discussing the work of folks like Darwin, perfectly happy to condemn them the likes of others to depression but . . . and this is only a suspicion, I would likewise suspect that most folks would opt for the happiness of mediocrity rather than the misery of success and legacy any old day . . . although, the happiness of success in the hear and now sounds so much better.

All the best,
Brian