Sunday, December 4, 2011
Did Lincoln Have Bipolar?
Reading Donald's biography on Lincoln made me think that Lincoln may have suffered from bipolar disorder. The descriptions of his cycling from depression to extreme productivity seemed like almost a textbook example of bipolar disorder. From what I know about the disorder, people in the mania stage are often extremely productive, charismatic, and take on new tasks. These qualities are valued in society, so people in mania often go undetected of any issues. The extreme swinging from depression to what seems like mania described in the biography really stuck out to me. I guess there isn't really any evidence to suggest that Lincoln suffered from anything so bad that it kept him from functioning, but I think he may have had mild bipolar.
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There's a considerable, and recent, literature on this, specifically the view that Lincoln suffered from depression. Posthumous psychiatric diagnosis, particularly for people in previous centuries, is a very problematic business. I'm inclined to the view of some who have investigated the matter that Lincoln's periods of feeling blue were all amply justified by genuine difficulties, and thus most post-hoc psychologizing doesn't add up to much.
ReplyDeleteThe depression alone probably wouldn't make me think he had any mental illness, but combined with the mania symptoms, I can't help but think he had mild bipolar disorder. Just because he had justified reasons for being sad doesn't mean he didn't also have a disorder. Bipolar disorder or depression can be triggered by life events.
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