Neurosis can be a good thing, sort of…

In Darkness by Amy Lowell

Must all of worth be travailled for, and those

Life’s brightest stars rise from a troubled sea?

Must years go by in sad uncertainty

Leaving us doubting whose the conquering blows,

 Are we or Fate the victors? Time which shows

All inner meanings will reveal, but we

Shall never know the upshot. Ours to be

Wasted with longing, shattered in the throes,

 The agonies of splendid dreams, which day

Dims from our vision, but each night brings back;

We strive to hold their grandeur, and essay

 To be the thing we dream. Sudden we lack

The flash of insight, life grows drear and gray,

And hour follows hour, nerveless, slack.

I just discovered Amy Lowell’s poetry, which in my opinion, deserves to be disseminated far and wide. I’ve been researching the incidence of depression on historical figures/thinkers, and realised that (low and behold) it seems to be quite a widespread phenomena. I wonder if the existence of clinical depression flies in the face of evolutionary dogma. After all,  many influential figures have suffered from it – and a considerable number have succumb to the violence of their own hand, yet their contributions have shaped society and culture as we know it.A great paper on the topic is written by Daniel Nettle, entitled Evolutionary origins of depression: a review and reformulation.  He writes:

 

… increasing neuroticism is associated with increasing competitiveness,and neuroticism is a strong predictor of success in attainment (generally studied amongst university students) amongst those who are resilient enough to cope with its negative effects. Having a fairly reactive negative affect system causes people to strive hard for what is desirable and to avoid negative outcomes, and this may well be associated with increased fitness. . . Thus it is plausible to argue that increasing neuroticism is selected for, because of its beneficial effects on striving in interpersonal contexts, until the point where the negative effects of mental and physical illness outweigh the marginal benefits. (Nettle, 9) However, if neuroticism is in fact an evolutionary tool, it is one that engenders a very high risk. Depression is crippling, and it creates an all-pervasive sense of nothingness that can completely demolish a person’s ego and psyche. Nonetheless, perhaps this (low-intensity) neuroticism is also that which allows one’s  imagination to lead them to novel ideas. It seems plausible to me that neuroticism could even lay the groundwork for all originality.  After all, the inventor of sliced bread might just have been a neurotic freak who despised having to cut up their bread one morsel at a time, whereas all their counterparts and ancestors had been fairly comfortable performing the task.  

All of a sudden, I don’t feel so bad for being neurotic.  

“ I stole this image from this other wonderful blog that I just stumbled upon.