Do you think that more intelligent people…

[ellencan]

are generally of lower mood, depressive tendencies etc?

I've noticed this too. Ignorance is bliss.

I don't really buy into the 'Lisa Simpson' stereotype of having more intelligence meaning being more miserable. For starters, knowing you're not as smart as other people is very likely to affect your self esteem overall.

Also, if you're unintelligent, you're more likely to be unemployed or be stuck in a low paid job. Or be bullied at school, college or work. Also (especially men) are less likely to find romantic partners if they are average intelligence or bellow.

Yes I think there's probably a weak correlation. Obviously there's be plenty of people in each camp with and without depression.

But I do think knowledge is both power and a burden.

I think "overthinking" and not switching off is probably a big one. But that's just my thinking, no idea really.

Ignorance is bliss is something I truly stand by. The more simple the life and thoughts, the better.

That is very insightful.

I think people of low socioeconomic status suffer the most. They have the least and are the least supported.

That said, I have had a ring side seat to watch extremely intelligent people be miserable despite outer privilege. Minds that get into loops and cannot stop analysing themselves.

I think the key to happiness is focussing on the world outside yourself, rather than always thinking about yourself.

No, why do you ask?

I agree with this to a point. I know that most people I’ve spoken to who had significant childhood trauma have come to a point where they eventually ground to a halt with this as their coping mechanism. Something triggers it, usually having a child of their own that they dote on.

sorry I meant to quote only the last paragraph.

One thing you can't admit to around here, though. Earning over six figures? A-OK. Being clever? Anathema.

No but I do think “ignorance is bliss” sometimes. I have friends who pay no attention to current events and they live a much happier life.

No, but I have heard that said before. I suspect it is just another way of glorifying depression.

I also heard someone suggest the opposite too, she said that being intelligent really helped her overcome her trauma after a horrific incident because she was able to work through her feelings and contextualise what happened by herself as a teenager without any outside support. It struck me as an odd way of looking at the situation but I could see her point.

My DB is the academically successful one of our family but has always had worse mental health than me. But it may just be genetic luck - my mother was a lifelong depressive and perhaps he takes after her more than I do.

This is really long, sorry, I've tried to explain though about my own depression because I think your question is very important but answering it is so loaded and complex, so I've tried to cover the bases. I'm very interested to read others opinions on this.

I have clinical depression, was diagnosed in my early teens and was given prozac at 13 (I'm 30s now, still on the sunny Ds, just a different kind) but I doubt it my life had been less horrific than it was I'd have perhaps not had clinical and just shit life syndrome, however because of my bizarre upbringing I don't think my brain is wired properly which is why I have depression now even though my life is, besides being a skint from time to time, fucking peachy!
I have a irritatingly positive outlook etc but I can still find things to wind myself up over to the point I struggle getting out of bed.
I am poorly educated, no SAT'S let alone GCSEs but I'd have perhaps been quite academic in other circumstances. I am what was known as street smart which just is a fancier term for neglected estate kid in my case.
I do think that depression can be caused by feeling sadness from others.
Say those parents on press conferences of missing children, seeing the news of the Palestine/Israel drama, I think depression can be secondary almost.
So your life can be as rosy as Kate Winslets cheers in titanic and if you're someone who feels hurt on the back of world injustice or sadness, depression will worm its way into your mind and make itself very comfortable, like a squatter with an oodie. And be just as hard to shift.
I think people who are susceptible to feeling pain of others, regardless of their academic abilities are the ones more likely to experience depression.
Because even when things are going great for you, it's hard to witness the world around and it not cause despair.
I know for myself personally and I speak only for me here, but I can be having the most wonderful day, the things that fill me with joy can be surrounding me and yet I'll see something that is categorically not my fault, my problem or my business, eg homeless person and I can't shake the guilt and sadness then that they're living such a poor life when mine is going swell.
It can lead to manic episodes then, so I'll have to buy homeless people selection boxes and hot drinks and I can spend my last ten quid doing it and it won't help, I'll just feel despair that I haven't done enough. So often my depression can just spiral. I never ever let anyone outside see that, I have it well hidden, I'm as present as a mum, partner, friend I can be, but inside it takes so little to send me into crushing sadness and I know logically that it's an illness, that probably the homeless wouldn't want me crying in bed about them (I've been homeless so it's a massive trigger) but it's harder to pull myself out of the mindset than I admit.
I'm not really bright, not really dim, so I'm not sure if it makes a difference, I agree with what CurlewKate said. But I'm still not sure if ultimately intelligence is a factor, but I think you'll be judged on your depression with your social economic status.

I don’t know. But I have never met anyone with anxiety who wasn’t also very bright. Especially kids. It’s just anecdata though.

How do you grade intelligence? Is it innate or a product of education? And is a skills proficiency an equal indicator of intelligence as academic achievement? Just flagging as the premise of the question is flawed. If you wanted to study this seriously, how would you identify your test populations of intelligent/non intelligent? How would you do that without introducing bias and error? For example, would you base this on people with high ranking tertiary qualifications? If so, all your study would tell you is whether low mood is under, averagely or over represented within that tiny microcosm. It would not be safe to extrapolate to the general population.

Intelligence is measured using IQ tests. They're a pretty good though not perfect measure. It's highly genetically heritable although environment contributes to a lesser degree.

Hypothetically, it would make more sense to take a random selection of people who were identified as being depressed and then apply your chosen measure of intelligence to that sample. The measure of intelligence is the tricky one - education level wouldn't identify people who are very bright but through choice or circumstance didn't go onto tertiary education. The only way would be to bolt on some kind of IQ test to the sample - but are people suffering from depression going to perform at their best in such a test? (This leaves aside various arguments that have been made about the accuracy of IQ tests).

I think the tropes of the happy simpleton and the tormented intellectual are very unrealistic. As other posters mention, depression can touch anyone.

There may be more of an overlap with class and depression (diagnosis) than IQ and depression (diagnosis). Lots of middle class people I know have medication for depression, anxiety etc. (and a big uptick in late-diagnosis ADHD getting medication). In my experience, working class people are more likely to "soldier on".

Before anyone piles on, no I'm not saying all working class people/middle class people. Just saying middle class may be more likely to go to a GP or have one in their social circle.

No, when I taught the lower ability kids struggled more if anything.
Higher intelligence people with depression are more likely to be in the public arena because they are more likely to write articles, blog, podcast, go on the radio to discuss it.

This gives the overall impression of the high achieving depressed person being a more common occurance but in reality its a false impression .

Yes, but correlation isn't causation. There are many factors; very highly intelligent people are more likely to be ND, for example.

Are you sure about that? What if the person sitting your IQ test was never taught to read?

This is true. Clinical depression doesn't discriminate.

"Shit life" syndrome is probably statistically more likely to affect less intelligent people I would think (on the basis that less intelligent people typically tend have more limited capacity to make money than more intelligent people (who will by definition have more life options available to them).

You could also hypothesise that intelligent people are more likely to have the intellectual equipment to take a rational approach to their depression and manage it better than less intelligent people.

But the flip side of this is that intelligent people generally tend to be more introspective and thoughtful and are potentially more likely to ruminate and internalise their own depression than people who don't overthink and just plough on with life.

Swings and roundabouts. But certainly depression can affect anyone.

Your giant shoulder chip is making you stagger.

I was actually about to tell @MrsBennetsPoorNerves not to be silly, the really clever people went to the less freezing and fenny branch of Oxbridge, but I will refrain.

I’m clever, my friends are clever, my colleagues are clever, and in my experience of a fairly wide range of clever in different situations, countries and cultures, there’s no clear correlation between cleverness and happiness levels. The key predictor that I notice is having been well-parented in childhood. If that didn’t happen, unhappiness of various kinds is far more likely, or at least work needing to be done to live well.

I think intelligent people are more likely to come across as bad tempered and dissatisfied