Do you think that more intelligent people…

[ellencan]

are generally of lower mood, depressive tendencies etc?

Bertrand Russell was a philosopher. He can't comment on biological illness like PMDD, PPD, bipolar, schizophrenia etc.

Stopping McDonalds and getting daylight doesn't cure a schizophrenic.

There's someone being a bit sad and someone being biologically mentally ill.

Tbh London suits me more - although I have a garden still and it’s probably not the total city vibe he meant as not central

Still, I don’t hanker for countryside for happiness

More the opposite. The less you know and the more oblivious you are - the more likely you can just get on with things.

Ignorance is bliss.

But knowledge is power and it’s all about how you use it.

I think a higher level of intelligence tends to lead to a more pessimistic outlook on life. Clinical depression. I’m not sure

I had a serious mental illness a long time ago and spent a month in section. Whilst the stats speak for themselves I also think there’s an extra factor in play that those with less get less.

I remember the people I met in there. All kinds. Sadly there was a kind of ‘lost cause’ approach to those of lower education/ income. The ladies in there told me straight away you need to get a psychologist (the gold dust that most were never offered). The doctor also said as much; Literally ‘you don’t belong here’.

They threw the kitchen sink at me for which I am very grateful and made full recovery against quite poor outcome stats. I did get the psychologist straight away, daily mh visits at home and psychiatrist weekly for as long as I wanted it. The nhs were incredible with me. I don’t think many of the ladies had the same.

That's false. Anyone interested can look into it for themselves.

I think depression is more to do with personality type than intelligence. I'm a scientist and work with a lot of very intelligent people. Some of the most intelligent people I know are also very positive and cheerful, they feel lucky to have all the opportunities they have had in life and love what they do.

I think the popular linking of intelligence with overthinking and depression is as valid as the idea that intelligent people have no common sense or aren't good at sports or are socially awkward. Or that beautiful people and sporty people are thick or aren't funny. I think all these ideas are borne out of jealous. Most people don't want to think that some people have way more advantages than them, they prefer to think that nature somehow compensates by balancing out these gifts. In reality that's not true and people who are more smart tend to also be more sporty, more beautiful, more funny, more capable at life etc etc. Life is not fair and some people are very lucky and many are not.

Yes and no

They can end up in careers that are harder on your mental health.

I would say it's an equal split between those with mental health issues, those with no issues at all and occasionally has issues

@Pollyputhekettleon I wish I had your confidence of conviction that there is no such thing as structural inequality or confirmation bias.

You're the one arguing that this issue is settled (when it isn't) so the onus is on you to present the evidence, not to tell us we can find it if we care to look for it. Respectfully, your making an unintelligent argument about intelligence. It isn't something you can really gauge with a measuring stick.

No

Absolutely more intelligent people are generally more miserable. Lots of things are objectively shit. If you're an analytical person, you can see things for what they are and it brings you down. The people who think less and are slightly oblivious are definitely happier.

By the way, the notion of emotional intelligence is an NT concept that is offensive to me as an ND person. I am not emotionally unintelligent because my emotional responses are different to those of the NT majority. Indeed, I find a great deal of NT behaviour distressing. My point is that any view one person has of the intelligence attributes of another is entirely subjective, laden with bias, and opinion. There are no set facts of what intelligence is. IQ tests and the like, in my view, are just how a lot of people like to imagine that their subjective opinions are evidence based.

I'm not sure if you're being serious or ironic, but this is a very sad way of looking at the world if you actually mean it.

Yes, lots of things are shit. But lots of things are wonderful too. It's mainly about where you choose to put your focus. You'd think that all the analysis that intelligent people do might help them to see that, but that doesn't seem to be how it works.

I think some people just have a more positive way of looking at the world than others. Whether that's nature or nurture, I don't know, but I definitely don't think it's linked to intelligence and I've seen no evidence to back that up.

I don't mean to offend at all, and am ND myself. I do think that emotional intelligence is a thing though, and I disagree that it's a purely NT concept.

I do think a slight obliviousness helps people be happy. Its why I rarely enjoy myself at parties or hen nights...I will just it there analysing things whereas I see what I call the whoopers enjoying themselves and letting loose. I assume they are not thinking very much...

Sounds more like the result of poor discipline in your thinking habits than intelligence per se.

I'm a massive overthinker but I have developed strategies over the years to get it under control, and I'm much happier for it.

My best friend is bipolar and also has (clinical) depression. In contrast, I am so ridiculously positive that I sometimes wonder if I have the opposite of clinical depression. I have low moments, of course I do, but it's like something kicks in that means I can't help but develop some resilience and bounce back. I'm eternally grateful for it seeing how much my friend has suffered in contrast.

I haven't had things easy. I've lost both parents, experienced domestic abuse, been homeless and was a single parent living on such little money that at one point I'd sit in the dark and ate dried weetabix for a week to save money (that was one of those moments where my natural positivity almost ran out). Today, however, I'm happily married, my grown DC are thriving and I have a great job with a very good salary.

My friend has experienced physical and sexual childhood abuse, grew up surrounded by horrific DA and left home only to end up living with a man who nearly killed her before he eventually killed himself. Her children bear the scars and are adults with depression themselves. Despite all this, my friend is one of the kindest people you could meet. She considers herself stupid because she has no qualifications whatsoever and her conditions mean she lives on benefits. I think she could be a CEO in another life where she hadn't had to use all her mental energy on surviving.

To this day I remain convinced that one of the biggest reasons for the different paths our lives took is our childhoods, not our intelligence. The incredibly happy and stable home I had until 18 when my mum died provided me with the resilience to meet life's challenges. My friend's childhood whittled away at hers from the moment she was born.

Children may be born equal but they certainly don't get equal opportunities. That's why I'm such a passionate advocate for things that level the playing field for our young people and wish the government would do more to support disadvantaged kids to do more extra curricular activities and go on school trips.

No, I agree with the poster who says it doesn’t discriminate.

Maybe “more intelligent” (which can mean different things and isn’t 100% objective anyway) people are more likely to talk about it, have a blog about it, publicise etc so we think they’re more affected.