Perspective on Melancholy

 When the word melancholy is said by an individual, it is likely to think of other buzzwords or synonyms that go along the lines of negative connotations. Words such as sadness, sorrow, mourn, thoughts of darkness, depression and a few other may come to mind. Ronald W. Pies takes a deeper look into the melancholia all the way back to the Avicenna in 980 CE creating a timeline up until now. Avicenna was one to be described as an "unhappy soul... lazy and sluggish about all manner of work..." (J. Cassian) and other unpleasant phrases of this nature. Melancholia has evolved before modern day medicine and research has said for it to be. Even before extensive research was compiled, delusions, hallucinations, and psychotic states pertaining to mania had been found to be evident in those suffering from melancholia. With keeping this in mind, somehow the off branch of psychotic tendencies has been shadowed in the years of today. A "mixed states" was named prior as the "chronic phase" named by Avicenna characterized by involuntary laughter, imagining, and increased libido. I can't help but wonder why this may be. If melancholy is so closely thought of as a subcategory of depression but has elements of psychopathy, why do we think of them as synonyms as they could potentially be far from this? Nonetheless, melancholy in terms of psychotic symptoms are present in those with other mental illnesses such as "73.8% of patients with bipolar I". So, to be quite evident in saying new discoveries have been made on the topic of melancholy is not valid but rather that certain aspects of melancholia and all that it withholds in a person has been rediscovered. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melancholy_%28Munch%29 

Comments

  1. meghanMarch 2, 2023 at 7:33 PM

    I think the dichotomy of the depressive and manic aspects of melancholia are very interesting, especially knowing what we know now about Bipolar Disorder. With the definition of melancholia and its symptoms constantly changing, it is no wonder how things that could really be caused by another mental illness completely could be associated.

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