"Lincoln's story confounds those who see depression as a collection of symptoms to be eliminated. But it resonates with those who see suffering as a potential catalyst of emotional growth," writes author Joshua Wolf Shenk.
Abraham Lincoln is often cited as one of the most famous historical figures who suffered from depression. Sometimes, with that knowledge also comes the implication of "if Lincoln could overcome depression, you can too."
But Lincoln never overcame his depression. In fact, according to Shenk, Lincoln used it to fuel his greatness. This knowledge is not meant to minimize the challenges people with depression face, but is instead meant to validate the fact that a lot of people suffered from depression, even someone like Abraham Lincoln. To me, the thing about Lincoln's depression isn't that he suffered from it, but that few know the severity and extent to his suffering. Lincoln would be put on suicide watch -- twice. In this article, I learn and explore the history behind one of our greatest President's suffering.
In 1841, Lincoln had his second breakdown. But despite his lifelong depression, the Ilinois lawyer became President 19 years later, and guided our country through a Civil War that reunited the Union and did away with slavery. Of course, in 1841 there was no clinical term for depression. But Lincoln is a textbook example from far before the term "clinical depression" was even coined.
"To start, the principal factors behind depression are biological predisposition and environmental influences," Shenk writes. "A person who has one parent or sibling with major depression is one and a half to three times more likely than the general population to experience it."
Since genetic predisposition is such a major part of depression, Lincoln's family history certainly suggests inheritance. Both of his parents had melancholic characteristics, as all accounts of his mother, Nancy Lincoln, describe her as sad. One cousin called her nature one of "kindness, mildness, tenderness, [and] sadness." Even Lincoln himself described her as "intellectual, sensitive, and somewhat sad." For Lincoln's father, Tom Lincoln, one neighbor in Kentucky said that "he often got the 'blues,'..and wanted to be alone all he could when he had them." Sometimes, Lincoln's father would spend half a day alone in the wood or fields.
Lincoln also found a lot of biological disposition to depression in his uncle, Mordecai Lincoln, and all his first cousins on his uncle's side. One person who knew Lincoln and his cousins described the two "Lincoln characteristics" as a sense of humor and a sense of melancholy.
When Lincoln was nine years old, his mother died, as did his aunt and uncle on his mother's side. His father was absent and went to Kentucky to find another wife, and his twenty-year-old cousin was in charge of taking care of him. Throughout his childhood, Lincoln was very devoted to his education, but his father was against how fervently Lincoln pursued it. Tom Lincoln wanted Abraham to work more on the farm instead of devoting himself so fervently to his books.
While we frequently look to Lincoln's self-education as inspiration and an example, his devotion to his education was rebuked by his family, often being called lazy. His lack of support from his father and the rest of his family in his studies may have been a factor in depression later in his life.
Throughout most of his teens and early 20s, Lincoln was considered social and very well-liked. He wasn't considered a sad man by his neighbors, and his popularity helped him win a lot of local elections.
In 1835, however, when Lincoln was studying law, he was remembered to be studying all day and night. He seemed oblivious to his surroundings, and would grow incredibly skinny. At the time, an epidemic called "bilious fever" was spreading through the area. Lincoln would help tend to the sick and help with burials, as death started washing through his new home in New Salem, Ilinois. One of his friends, Anna Mayes Rutledge, died in the epidemic.
During her funeral, Lincoln grew into the deep melancholy he was known for. He would be observed to have changed afterward, and would often take his gun and wander into the woods for long periods of time to be alone. All his friends worried about his safety and long-term mental health. A schoolteacher in the community, Mentor Graham, remembered Lincoln confessing to him that he often felt like committing suicide.
Graham and his neighbors effectively put Lincoln on suicide watch. Lincoln's friends watched over him 24/7 "for fear of an accident," and one villager said that "Lincoln. was locked up by his friends...to prevent derangement or suicide." People in the community often pondered whether Lincoln was crazy at the time, Some people believe that he loved Rutledge, and other believe they were engaged, but nothing is known for certain.
The members of the community would have the same question as to what catalyzed Lincoln's breakdown. People hypothesized about the love affair between Rutledge and Lincoln. People in the community was just confused. Lincoln was well-liked by everyone, but "now, all of a sudden he was openly moping and threatening to kill himself," according to Shenk. "Why? people asked."
No matter the cause of Lincoln's depression, his mental state grew a lot more unstable, especially in times of poor weather and rain. Something as ordinary as rain and cold temperatures would send Lincoln reeling.
Despite the fact that Lincoln was talking openly about suicide and walking around the forest with his gun, an older man named Bowling Green and his wife took him in for a couple of weeks. Green would say, even when Lincoln left his home, that Lincoln was "quite melancholy for months".
In 1841, Lincoln's second breakdown was during the winter and early stages of the year. While not one event precipitated his second breakdown, Lincoln was under enormous personal stress. At the time, he was engaged to a woman named Mary Todd, the daughter of a wealthy slaveowner in Kentucky. Lincoln did not love Todd, and his friend, Joshua Speed, was subject to marry Matilda Edwards, a woman he did love but couldn't approach.
A stretch of very, very cold weather made Lincoln start talking about hopelessness and suicidal ideation yet again. Speed talked about having to remove knives, razors, and "other such dangerous things" from Lincoln's room to stop him from killing himself.
As a result of this major depressive episode, Lincoln spent several hours a day with. a doctor name Dr. Anson Henry. Lincoln would not appear in public until January 20, looking emaciated. He would write a letter to his law partner three days later calling himself the "most miserable man living" and wondering whether he would ever get better. "To remain as I am is impossible," he said. He had two options: to die or get better. Shenk notes that Lincoln didn't just confide these feelings to a friend, counselor, or family member. He said these words to his law partner, indicating that his mental health struggles were so profound they transcended professional boundaries.
Lincoln decided that he was going to live. For the next decade, he threw himself into his work. He kept himself busy. He understood that he simply suffered more than most people because he was "naturally of a nervous temperament." He joked around, told stories, and recited poetry on death and despair. Lincoln's depression never went away. He just learned how to cope with it.
In his mid-40s, Lincoln devoted himself to stop the expansion of slavery. Shenk argues that the same core traits of his depression gave him strength as a champion against slavery's expansion. The suffering he endured while he was younger gave him clarity, creativity, and humility. Lincoln saw the world for what it was, and was able to "look troubling reality straight in the eye".
Lincoln did not cower to challenges. He became used to failure and always sought to improve. He twice lost bids for the Senate. And yet still he was chosen to be the Republican nominee for President. Lincoln gave a speech at Cooper Union's Great Hall to 1,500 people on February 27, 1860, to thunderous applause. And Lincoln did not even care about the praise, and walked away as if nothing happened.
And we know the rest of history, that Lincoln would be elected President that year, that he would preside our nation through the Civil War, that he would be assassinated shortly the Civil War. In no part of his life after his 1835 breakdown did people not note that Lincoln seemed melancholy. He never triumphed over his depression and suffering.
Yes, Lincoln learned to cope, but did his suffering also make him great? Or did his suffering and his greatness just co-exist, and was his melancholy, as Shenk notes, fuel for his fire?
