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HolyGrail - I'd have to read faster or starve
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 2, 2006 at 8:00 AM
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Leroy - he'd have a lot to overcome this sensationalised culture but he
might could do it. He was a real man with real ideas. I bet he wouldn't give a political poll a second look
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 2, 2006 at 8:00 AM
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Dylan - the world is a sad place. Hope is what some have that others don't
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 2, 2006 at 7:58 AM
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Thanks TAPS. I wish people would try to forego some of the meds
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 2, 2006 at 7:58 AM
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That actually sounds very interesting, especially as an old grizzled veteran of depression! The theory of depressed people seeing the world more clearly than their perky counterparts is interesting, but probably only true to a certain point. When depression is at its most severe, it is all but debilitating, and one's view of the world becomes distorted just as the overly optimistic. It becomes all doom and gloom with no way out. But those with less severe depression (and unmedicated, or only mildly so!) may well have the ability to see things as they truly are...On another note, you could have quite the carreer as a book reviewer!!
posted by
Holy_Grail
on December 1, 2006 at 9:37 PM
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FreeManWalking
Lincoln is a compelling, giant personality even compared with all the overly sophisticated personalities that are now marched in front of us in the mass media. I wonder how he (Lincoln) would fare as a politician in 21st Century America.
posted by
LeRoyCoyote
on December 1, 2006 at 8:55 PM
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I'd like to look into those studies...
...about depressed people seeing the world as it is.
I have been told that my own depressed view of the world is distorted by mental illness. This would be an interesting correction.
(Though it might prove too much. If the depressed view of the world is right, what does that say about the world?)
posted by
Dyl_Pickle
on December 1, 2006 at 6:56 PM
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FreeManWalking, Very interesting review here. Abraham Lincoln was a fascinating man. Depression can be a debilitating illness and even deadly. But, there are many who are overcomers. Today, many are helped with medicines that were not available in Lincoln's day, but it is still an uphill battle that each person has to fight alone. I have much respect for those who live with it.
posted by
TAPS.
on December 1, 2006 at 4:45 PM
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Strat - I haven't read that one but have heard it was good from a friend.
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 1, 2006 at 10:20 AM
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Sounds like a good read.
Have you read "Team of Rivals?"
posted by
strat
on December 1, 2006 at 9:51 AM
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Well, I do have a problem with diagnosing dead people anyway, FMW,
There's so much of a tendency to overdiagnose trendy disorders anyway, that it's a crap shoot. but feeling what you feel is right. There is no way I could have talked myself out of being manic, not a snowball's chance in hell.
Which is why perky people just annoy the hell out of me. It's like shut up and go back to your aerobics class, Bambi.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 1, 2006 at 8:06 AM
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Blanche - I agree. Feeling what you feel is like tasting what you eat. But
Shenk specifically categorizes Lincoln as depressive rather than manic-depressive. Working only from old letters and personal accounts its a difficult diagnosis. Shenks argument is that Lincoln was never happy. He could tell a funny story then his face would immediately change to one who feels anguish inside.
posted by
FreeManWalking
on December 1, 2006 at 8:03 AM
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Freemanwalking, I've read in a great book called "Touched With Fire",
by Kay Redifield Jameson, a Harvard psycniatrist, who is manic-depressive herself, that Lincoln was not only depressive, but manic-depressive. He suffered from periodic bouts of mania as well. So was Winston Churchill, and more than a few other great historical figures.
There's the downside and the upside to every "curse" or "blessing" and one of them is the ability to feel emotion. I believe the chpper, perky people are like Kathy Bates in Stephen King's Misery, they shut off the ability to feel pain, sadness or anger, in order to stay "upbeat", and then repress it and let it come out in even scarier ways.
I fear the perky far more than the honestly mentally ill. At least the mentally ill acknowledge their illness and deal with it openly. And as the book says, some have great gifts as an upside.
posted by
Blanche.
on December 1, 2006 at 7:53 AM
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