Jonah Lehrer’s recent article in the Gray Lady about depression’s possible upside was provocative, insightful, intelligent, dangerous and a whole slew of other adjectives.
While some psychiatrists regard the theory that depression can be good for you “as little more than irresponsible speculation, a justification for human suffering,” others are buying into it.
The types of depressed people who do not bathe, neglect their kids, etc – those need real help and real medicine. But for a lot of others, the scientists that Lehrer centers on, Andy Thompson and Paul Andrews, basically are saying that “if depression didn’t exist — if we didn’t react to stress and trauma with endless ruminations — then we would be less likely to solve our predicaments. Wisdom isn’t cheap, and we pay for it with pain.” That line would make a great poster – I can see across a backdrop of a boxer getting clobbered right in the face (more on fighters later).
The passage below comes towards the end of the rather long article. The Andreasen mentioned in it is neuroscientist Nancy Andreasen who conducted a study of 30 writers from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop which found that eighty percent of the writers met the formal diagnostic criteria for some form of depression. Shocker! She never saw my 300 level creative writing class but it was the same story.

Why is mental illness so closely associated with creativity? Andreasen argues that depression is intertwined with a “cognitive style” that makes people more likely to produce successful works of art. In the creative process, Andreasen says, “one of the most important qualities is persistence.” Based on the Iowa sample, Andreasen found that “successful writers are like prizefighters who keep on getting hit but won’t go down. They’ll stick with it until it’s right.” While Andreasen acknowledges the burden of mental illness — she quotes Robert Lowell on depression not being a “gift of the Muse” and describes his reliance on lithium to escape the pain — she argues that many forms of creativity benefit from the relentless focus it makes possible. “Unfortunately, this type of thinking is often inseparable from the suffering,” she says. “If you’re at the cutting edge, then you’re going to bleed.”

Powerful stuff. This article had two bonafide great lines, the one earlier about wisdom and the one above about bleeding on the cutting edge. If you read the article, post a comment and I’ll be happy to respond. This is one of those topics that could engender a lot of conversation.