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 | |
-
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?You seem like you know alot. Go ahead you answer the questions. Fool.(Original post by fire2burn)
In this thread people talk a load of wishy washy *******s about subjects they do not understand. Most amusing indeed. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?*forum(Original post by fire2burn)
In this thread people talk a load of wishy washy *******s about subjects they do not understand. Most amusing indeed. -
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?There is nothing to answer.(Original post by Paint-a-Picture)
You seem like you know alot. Go ahead you answer the questions. Fool.
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent.(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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?i dont think the area of brain relates to brain functioning as a direct positive correlation.(Original post by IFondledAGibbon)
Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?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.(Original post by IFondledAGibbon)
Implying those with the biggest brains would be the happiest and most intelligent.
And the science of my post is probably all wrong, which I wish to make clear. -
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
-
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?i second that- there is a big difference between being 'intelligent' and being 'clever'(Original post by john_john)
TSR seems to be the place where intelligent people are confused with academic people. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?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.(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.
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?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.(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.
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?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.(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.
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?This correlation does not exist.(Original post by Manitude)
Not sure why this correlation exists. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?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.(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.
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. -
Re: Why are intelligent people more likely to be depressed?+4 rep. I ran out.(Original post by john_john)
TSR seems to be the place where intelligent people are confused with academic people.