Was Lincoln's Depression a Blessing?

[David Lockmiller]

(08-16-2018 09:51 PM)L Verge Wrote:  "...Many researchers today, looking afresh at Lincoln's melancholia, are grateful that he was not 'cured.' From his chronic depression may have come the coping skills, the realism, the wisdom that steered the nation through its greatest crisis. What strengths may depression have bestowed on our greatest president?

During the dark days of 1862, the Honorable Mr. Ashley, of Ohio, had occasion to call at the White House early one morning, just after news of a disaster. Mr. Lincoln commenced some trifling narration, to which the impulsive congressman was in no mood to listen. He rose to his feet and said: "Mr. President, I did not come here this morning to hear stories; it is too serious a time." Instantly, the smile faded from Mr. Lincoln's face. "Ashley," said he, "sit down! I respect you as an earnest, sincere man. You cannot be more anxious than I have been constantly since the beginning of the war; and I say to you now, that were it not for this occasional vent, I should die."

(F.B. Carpenter, "Six Months at the White House," pp. 151-152.)