Was Abraham Lincoln Depressed?

According to the American Psychological Association, that turns out to be one of every five people have some form of depression. It’s one of the leading causes of disability; in the year 2000 more than one million people killed themselves. However, mental illness is being treated more affectively nowadays then ever before. Stress is the leading cause to depression today, because many people don’t know how to cope with daily stress.

Abraham Lincoln suffered from depression year after year. During the 1800’s Lincoln was known to have suffered depression, anxiety and insomnia. Research states, it could be possible that Lincoln may have suffered from Mercury poisoning. Lincoln became extremely aggressive with severe mood swings, according to studies shown in the early 2000s. Lincoln’s life depression began with the loss of many loved ones, as every as childhood. As a young child it was known that Lincoln lived to experience various traumas.

For example, Lincoln was known to be color blind. He also survived a near drowning experience, when he fell in the water at Knob’s Creek, during a bird chase, his neighborly friend had saved his life. Once as a child, Lincoln was riding a horse one day when he lost his temper, whipped the horse hard and in return the horse kicked him; Lincoln suffered a concussion. One Historian suggests it may have caused a “petit mal” and possibly brought on attacks of transient aphasia, where Abraham would be in “another world” and fall into deep sleeps while visually awake. In 1841 Lincoln had a tooth pulled and the dentist broke a part of his jaw during extraction without anesthesia. And in 1863, Lincoln became ill with blotches all over his body, diagnosed with a case of small pox, which was highly contagious.

Lincoln’s childhood derived from poverty, no educational background; he lost his mother and brother by the age of twenty one. Also, Lincoln was engaged to Mary Todd, which lasted until the very day he was getting married. Although he was secretly in love with another woman named Matilda Edwards. When that ended, his friends stated that Lincoln went “Crazy” and they removed all dangerous objects such as razors and knives from him. Next, Lincoln was reunited with Mary Todd and they married three years later. Over the next eleven years they had four children. With more children to come, a total of twelve but only two survived. Furthermore, the death of his son Willie was extremely difficult for him; everyone thought Willie was a clone to Abraham.

Lincoln suffered a great deal; however, it was well known melancholia was part of his history, his mother, sister and cousin suffered from depression. Based on written records and his friend said, “’Lincoln was suicidal,” although there was never actual proof.

Lincoln was defeated, fired in political ability and state legislature, he was found insufficient. His demeanor, depression had become part of his mental and emotional state. (This was one of his many states of depression.) Then, Lincoln was elected President on November 6, 1860 and was sworn in on March 4, 1861. He had extremely emotional pressures; “loss of life,” “battlefield setbacks,” “assassination threats” and more.

Upholding his beliefs and commitments to the world, Lincoln had freedom within himself, I believe.