Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?

For support and advice relating to mental health. Please note: we have a strict policy relating to self harm and suicide threads - please read the H&R guidelines before posting.

Announcements Posted on
Enter our travel-writing competition for the chance to win a Nikon 1 J3 camera 21-05-2013
Sign in to Reply
  1. Paint-a-Picture's Avatar
    • Banned
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 705
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by fire2burn)
    In this thread people talk a load of wishy washy *******s about subjects they do not understand. Most amusing indeed.
    You seem like you know alot. Go ahead you answer the questions. Fool.
  2. thurin's Avatar
    • Adored and Respected Member
    • Location: Hertfordshire
    • Posts: 424
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by fire2burn)
    In this thread people talk a load of wishy washy *******s about subjects they do not understand. Most amusing indeed.
    *forum
  3. Destroyviruses's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: England
    • Posts: 1,706
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    Maybe the area of your brain that percieves pleasure from little things is sacrificed for more room to think. I'm happier now, but i think im getting dumber.
  4. jwright91's Avatar
    • Exalted Member
    • Posts: 252
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    A smart person might recognise that humans are inherently stupid. I imagine this would be rather depressing.
  5. Manitude's Avatar
    • TSR Idol
    • Location: The Grim North West
    • Posts: 8,330
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    I can't say I've ever heard of this correlation before, but just taking a few seconds to think about it, it does appear to agree with my experiences of people with extreme depression.
    Not sure why this correlation exists. I don't particularly want to hazard a guess without any real backing.
  6. fire2burn's Avatar
    • Section Moderator
    • The Daedric Mod of Madness
    • Location: Cambridgeshire
    • Posts: 9,658
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by Paint-a-Picture)
    You seem like you know alot. Go ahead you answer the questions. Fool.
    There is nothing to answer.

    For starters the OP makes wild claims that there is some definite relationship between intelligence and having depression and that by being intelligent you are more likely to be depressed. Says so right there in the thread title. Yet they provide no sources, no links, no litterature, nothing.

    Half hearted assumptions from Karl Pilkington of all people does not constitute hard evidence or facts.

    Until reputable evidence is provided to show that there is a link between intelligence and depression there is nothing to debate here.
    Last edited by fire2burn; 16-06-2011 at 18:28.
  7. IFondledAGibbon's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: I don't.
    • Posts: 1,669
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by Destroyviruses)
    Maybe the area of your brain that percieves pleasure from little things is sacrificed for more room to think. I'm happier now, but i think im getting dumber.
    Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent.
  8. Destroyviruses's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: England
    • Posts: 1,706
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by IFondledAGibbon)
    Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent.
    i dont think the area of brain relates to brain functioning as a direct positive correlation.
  9. Planar's Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: NI
    • Posts: 3,858
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by IFondledAGibbon)
    Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent.
    Not necessarily. Were it true that the most intelligent among us had the biggest brains(I have no idea if they do, by the way), what would matter is the absolute size of the brain devoted to pleasure. In this way, someone with a large brain might have less space for pleasure than someone with a small brain.

    And the science of my post is probably all wrong, which I wish to make clear.
  10. ibless's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Location: Bradford
    • Posts: 94
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    i personally think its completely down to the individual and how they react to the pressures of intelligence- though it surprises me how many people regard intelligence as a burden, we should see it as a blessing and it should inspire us to change the world especially when we see something is wrong- more often than not resistance to fatalism is not so futile
  11. Mr_Velcro's Avatar
    • Respected Member
    • Location: ____
    • Posts: 241
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    Intelligent people aren't more likely to be depressed, that's just something that some depressed people say because they're self-centered.
  12. john_john's Avatar
    • Respected Member
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    TSR seems to be the place where intelligent people are confused with academic people.
  13. ibless's Avatar
    • Full Member
    • Location: Bradford
    • Posts: 94
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by john_john)
    TSR seems to be the place where intelligent people are confused with academic people.
    i second that- there is a big difference between being 'intelligent' and being 'clever'
  14. crazylemon's Avatar
    • TSR Royalty
    • Posts: 16,028
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by skeanos)
    Smart people know more therefore there less to find out which often results in life becoming increasingly less interesting. As someone gains knowledge it becomes increasingly harder to find out more because there is a sense that there is nothing left.

    Also I guess some of the more intelligent people over the years become scientists and such and think up theories that no one really believes even if they have spent their life working on them.
    There are far more things to learn in this universe than a human could hope to learn in a single lifetime, this is an absurd veiw.


    I think it is people attribute depression to their intelligence when it is other factors, there is something appealing about being fantastically brilliant and yet totally flawed at the same time.
  15. skeanos's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 969
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by crazylemon)
    There are far more things to learn in this universe than a human could hope to learn in a single lifetime, this is an absurd veiw.


    I think it is people attribute depression to their intelligence when it is other factors, there is something appealing about being fantastically brilliant and yet totally flawed at the same time.
    I obviously wasn't talking about learning absolutely everything. I'm talking about things like why the sky is blue, why things under water viewed from above seem in a different place, crap like that.

    Smarter people are more generally more curious and are more willing to find things out and as such things that normally make the less smarter people intruigued, the more intelligent chappy already knows, hence the world seems less exciting.
  16. crazylemon's Avatar
    • TSR Royalty
    • Posts: 16,028
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by skeanos)
    I obviously wasn't talking about learning absolutely everything. I'm talking about things like why the sky is blue, why things under water viewed from above seem in a different place, crap like that.

    Smarter people are more generally more curious and are more willing to find things out and as such things that normally make the less smarter people intruigued, the more intelligent chappy already knows, hence the world seems less exciting.
    Knowing how something works doesn't make it less exciting or amazing, I can still appreciate those things despite having a basic understanding of how they work.
    To give an example I had my hair cut yesterday by a student, the theory I learn about cutting hair I didn't know simply by listening to them being taught was amazing. It is only a lazy mind that is going to get bored for want of knowledge.
  17. ChessMister's Avatar
    • Exalted and Worshipped Member
    • Posts: 901
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by Manitude)
    Not sure why this correlation exists.
    This correlation does not exist.
  18. LaughingBro's Avatar
    • Vengeful, Imperial Overlord of The Student Room
    • Location: London
    • Posts: 4,720
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    How can you not be sad if logic says there is no afterlife etc.
  19. IFondledAGibbon's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: I don't.
    • Posts: 1,669
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by Planar)
    Not necessarily. Were it true that the most intelligent among us had the biggest brains(I have no idea if they do, by the way), what would matter is the absolute size of the brain devoted to pleasure. In this way, someone with a large brain might have less space for pleasure than someone with a small brain.

    And the science of my post is probably all wrong, which I wish to make clear.
    There's no correlation (for what I've read). I simply wanted to point out that if one area of the brain was made bigger by another area being smaller, then an increased size of both areas should result in increased capacities of both areas.

    Anyway, I doubt there's an actual correlation between intelligence and happiness. If there is I'd guess it'd have something to do with social isolation, rather than any structural differences. Due to the fact that there is no simplistic 'intelligence lobe' or whatever. I could be wrong.
    Last edited by IFondledAGibbon; 16-06-2011 at 20:02.
  20. Destroyviruses's Avatar
    • Peer Of The TSR Realm
    • Location: England
    • Posts: 1,706
    Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?
    (Original post by john_john)
    TSR seems to be the place where intelligent people are confused with academic people.
    +4 rep. I ran out.
Sign in to Reply
Share this discussion:  
Article updates
Moderators

We have a brilliant team of more than 60 volunteers looking after discussions on The Student Room, helping to make it a fun, safe and useful place to hang out.

Reputation gems:
The Reputation gems seen here indicate how well reputed the user is, red gem indicate negative reputation and green indicates a good rep.
Post rating score:
These scores show if a post has been positively or negatively rated by our members.