Do you think that more intelligent people…

[ellencan]

are generally of lower mood, depressive tendencies etc?

No, but I do think very creative people seem to be bipolar. I don't have any statistical information though just a vague thought from Van Gogh to Robbie Williams.

I’m fine - I went to a London RG university. Funnily enough its not something I felt the need to tell people once I graduated. You went to Cambridge - I love that for you. Glad you let us all know.

Is Robbie Williams Bipolar?

@Snoeberry Apparently so. https://www.buzzfeed.com/mariahjeanbaptiste/bipolarawarenessday

Not exactly but I guess more intelligent people are probably more aware of how screwed up the world is and that's depressing. No blissful bubble of ignorance!

Yes.

Yes

Do you have any proof or stats to back up these assertions? I can think of intelligent people who are introverted and awkward in social situations who struggle to find partners. From my limited observations at the Red Lion up the road, the not-highbrow types who are a bit more sociable and happy-go-lucky are the ones who have no trouble getting partners.

I saw a psychiatrist who said this.

No - but maybe personality.

I wish I had a sunnier disposition. I think to deeply about life which leads me into dark places.

That's all been considered for over 60 years and non-verbal type tests have been developed.

This will be controversial but I do believe more intelligent and career driven women struggle more with post natal depression.

But I also think very career driven men can avoid depression through their determination to do well in the workplace, that's not to say they don't get stressed.

I suffer with depression and take ADs, I think I suffer not because I'm intelligent (although I'd say fairly intelligent) but because I am very sensitive and aware of problems and emotions etc.

Not necessarily, but highly intelligent children often have a very difficult time in primary education, and commonly end up growing up with anxiety and finding social relationships difficult as their peers do not share their interests. It's not a great start to an adult life of good mental health.

Yes

Difficult to say, I will say however that the year group friends I have from the well known boarding school I attended, there have been much more suicide and drug problems. Not putting that on intelligence, but accessibility to extra funds and more time, probably also the fact that some of those poor people were shipped off age 6-8 to boarding school ( 😢) all the ones that committed suicide (5 in my year group of 110 alone ) were in that category.

i can compare it ( anecdotally obviously) as I also attended a inner city school and retain good friends from both school experiences.

I actually don’t think this is necessarily true… (and it also reads very chippy - let them live!) did my first undergrad at a competitive RL university and it was largely full of quite hard working dulllards + well polished wealthy kids on a three year pub crawl. Many of my friends at Oxbridge or overseas existed in a culture that centred academia + academic conversation much more. I do think it’s a different experience.

• just to add to my post, the ones who attended from teenage years or at least post 12 years old seem to be much more rounded and happy.

Wish my postgrad studies had protected me from severe depression and anxiety

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow so sorry to hear that. I also apologise and for going off subject….but what’s with your wonderful username ? 😆

Conditions like bipolar and ASD often coincide with higher IQ. That's biological, not environmental.

No. I think there's no causation between intelligence and mental health.

Yes. I think it's been proven? The higher your IQ, the more likely you are to experience depression

Makes sense to me tbh

No. Bertrand Russell wrote a fascinating book on happiness. He argued that people think they're unhappy because of 'existential despair' when in reality it's because they live in an overcrowded city, don't take any exercise, don't get enough natural light, and don't eat properly. That triggers depression, which then colours everything they look at. All they really need to do is move somewhere peaceful, go for a walk in the countryside and stop eating McDonalds.

In my experience, what counts is your personality type, not your IQ. The unhappy people tend to be highly sensitive, socially awkward, unassertive and unable to cope with stress.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-open/article/childhood-iq-and-risk-of-bipolar-disorder-in-adulthood-prospective-birth-cohort-study/CB393CF3243B726B095182F2B893F6EB

High childhood IQ is associated with increased risk for developing bipolar.

It hasn't. Racial/cultural bias still hasn't been adequately removed. Well educated and intelligent are two different things.

It depends on how you are defining depression. As said most people's are shit-life-syndrome. If you are less intelligent then you'd have less tools available for self help.