The Backstory: The upside of having the blues

Depression is nothing new, although we call it by a different name than they did centuries ago, and we have some new ways of treating it. But some of our greatest minds, like JFK, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Abe Lincoln have been strengthened by their battles with depression. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got to tell you. It wasn't always called depression, but
it's been around for a long time, and there's no
doubt it is tough to deal with now. On the
other hand, researchers say it's made some pretty terrific people,
really exceptional. That includes folks like JFK, astronaut buzz Aldrin,
actor John Hamm, and most notably Abraham Lincoln. I'm Patty Steele.

(00:23):
The Upside of having the Blues. Next on the backstory.
We're back with the backstory. There have been some really
exceptional people who've accomplished what they have despite dealing with
depression because their pain made them aware of what others
were going through. Researchers say these folks are often dependable, analytical, loyal,

(00:48):
self motivated, task oriented, patient and creative, and they're frequently
the best, most natural leaders. Abraham Lincoln is a perfect
example of this, and we're going to get to him
in just a minute. Some other examples. Astronaut buzz Aldron
said when he returned from the moon, he felt a
complete lack of purpose in his life. He said, I

(01:08):
moved from drinking to depression, to heavier drinking to deeper depression,
but he finally came to grips with all of it.
With some help, he gave up the drinking and he
became a motivational speaker. Swimming superstar Michael Phelps, who's won
twenty eight Olympic medals, battled lifelong severe ADHD, but he
says his first depression spell happened in two thousand and

(01:31):
four and that it pushed him to achieve, to go
after success. But he says his lowest point actually came
after the twenty twelve Games because he'd achieved his purpose
and that's when he decided I need treatment. When he
started talking about his feelings, he said, life became easy.
I now understand that it's okay to not be okay.

(01:53):
Madman's star John hamm has battled some heavy stuff in
his life. He's been open about his bouts with depression,
and he talked about the benefits of therapy. He said,
we live in a world where to admit anything negative
about yourself is seen as a weakness, when actually it's
a strength. It is not a weak move to say
I need help. Psychoanalysts say some great historical figures whose

(02:17):
depression made them more compassionate include President John F. Kennedy,
doctor Martin Luther King Junior, and Winston Churchill. Tuff's University
professor doctor Nasir Gami says, depressive people tend to be
more creative, more empathetic, and realistic. They look at themselves
and at the struggles of others more deeply. And that

(02:38):
brings us back to Abe Lincoln, who's pretty universally considered
to be our greatest president in the White House during
the Civil War, he did away with slavery, and he
held the country together. He was known to spend a
large part of his time as president reading over pleas
from just average folks and meeting with them in person
about their husbands and sons who were facing punishment, including execution,

(03:01):
because they broke military rules. And that included a lot
of teenagers who were just terrified of battle. He wanted
to understand them. He was devoted to Americans, black, white, young, old,
rich or poor. Don't you wonder what made him such
an empathetic guy. Somebody could literally feel the emotional pain
of total strangers. Well, folks who worked with him say

(03:24):
kindness and warmth radiated from him. But here's the thing.
That understanding of others was hard won. A Blincoln about
a lifelong depression. Now imagine this. You have major political ambition,
but you're not very well known, and you have little
hope and not a lot of money. Then, due to
political circumstances in the nation, your name gets on the

(03:46):
long list of possible candidates for president of the nation. Again,
it seems hopeless, but the way it plays out puts
you at the top of the list. Then comes your
introduction to the delegates. Welcome Abraham Lincoln, the rail candidate,
basically painting him as a guy who simply splits wooden
rails for a living, which he had been doing well.

(04:09):
The crowd goes nuts. This is the kind of candidate
they want, and instead of all those sort of hot
shot Ivy League guys, he was now a serious contender.
The meeting breaks up the next day, but in the
nearly empty hall, Lincoln sits alone, hands covering his face.
Someone asks if he's okay, and he tells them I'm

(04:29):
not feeling too well. He is battling a crushing bout
of depression. Now here's his backstory. As a little boy
growing up in the backwoods of Kentucky and then Indiana.
He loves learning, but his illiterate dad, Thomas isn't thrilled
with his son's passion. He wants a kid who's a
farmer or a laborer, not an academic. So in Abe's

(04:51):
entire life, he had a total of less than one
year of formal education. His dad just didn't want him
to go to school, while his Motherancy loved his thirst
for knowledge. She died when Abe was just nine years
old and his sister Sarah was eleven. They watched their
father bury her in the woods. Then a few months
later he leaves those small kids with a teenage cousin

(05:14):
in the cabin out in the woods and he goes
back to Kentucky to find a wife. For six months,
the children had defend for themselves in the wilderness until
Thomas returned with his new wife, Sarah. The kids were
completely ragged and hungry, and Sarah took tremendous care of them.
She adored Abe, giving him books whenever she could. Sidebar here. Oddly,

(05:37):
that family cabin was eventually taken apart and sent to
Chicago to be rebuilt and displayed at the eighteen ninety
three World's Fair. Decades and decades later, but guess what
it was? Lost, never to be found odd now. As
for Abe, despite literally teaching himself to be a lawyer
and becoming really successful at it, his sensitivity and painful

(06:01):
life experiences left him deeply depressed. In those days, it
was called melancholy. In fact, he told a friend, I
am now the most miserable man living. If what I
feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there
would not be one cheerful face on the earth. What

(06:24):
helped him well, He certainly spent a lot of time
alone in self reflection. But also what helped him was
his ambition, believing he had a purpose, which gave him
something to focus on, and humor. He loved to make
people laugh. He also took blue mass, which was a
drug made primarily from mercury. Kind of dangerous, right, But

(06:46):
he stopped that just as he became president, saying it
made him angry. The book Lincoln's Melancholy says depression fueled
his greatness, that it turned him into a realist without
the misguided optimism of happier folk folks. That, interestingly, is
how a lot of great folks have used their less
optimistic outlook to help them figure a remarkable way forward.

(07:27):
I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks,
the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer
is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new
episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out
to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram
at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele.

(07:50):
Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele, the
pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.