While visiting family over the holidays, we stopped at the Lincoln museum in Springfield, Illinois. I was intrigued about references to President Lincoln’s “melancholia.” With the luxury of hindsight and improved techniques for mental health diagnosis and treatment, what do professionals now say about the state of Lincoln’s mental health?

Abraham Lincoln, the16th President of the United States, was a complex figure. He had no formal education, and he was not affiliated with any formal religion. He was paid a salary of $25,000/year during his Presidency.

Lincoln was serving as our President when work began on Saint Louis State Hospital on Arsenal Street in 1863; however, he was assassinated before construction was completed in 1869. Lincoln struggled with depression throughout his life; some of the depressive episodes in his adult years may be attributed to the death of his first great love, Ann Rutledge. Other historians have documented that Lincoln’s depressive episodes were triggered by gloomy weather, suggesting he suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder. These issues are explored in a recent book by Joshua Shenk titled Lincoln’s Melancholy:  How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness. Shenk has personally battled depression, and this personal experience informs his biography of Lincoln.

Lincoln’s family history illustrates the genetic basis for depression. In addition, early experiences can contribute to the development of later depression, and we know that Lincoln’s mother died when he was only nine years old. It is unlikely that the treatments of the day (bleeding, purging, ice baths and mustard rubs) would have been efficacious even if Lincoln had sought out treatment for his depression. However, today there are a large number of antidepressant medications that have been shown to be effective in the treatment of depression. In addition, depression often responds to cognitive behavioral treatment programs in which clients are taught to reexamine and confront the “automatic thoughts” that are so often linked with depression.

While Lincoln never actually overcame his depression, he did learn how to cope with its symptoms, and he did not let it interfere with what is unarguably a remarkable life. 

Danny Wedding, Ph.D.
Director, Missouri Institute of Mental Health
Professor of Psychiatry, University of Missouri-Columbia

Editor’s note: In an ongoing effort to educate the public and dispel stigma about mental illness, the National Mental Health Association has partnered with The History Channel for a special presentation of “Lincoln.” The program, which airs on Monday, January 16, 2006 at 7:00pm, honors the remarkable accomplishments of our 16th President despite his life-long struggle with depression, which the film argues was the driving force behind his ultimate transcendence from modest origins to the American Presidency.

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