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Abraham Lincoln and the stigma of depression WASHINGTON (February 12, 1998 5:42 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) -- Abraham Lincoln most likely suffered from a mental disorder, a federal agency says. The president who preserved the union, freed the slaves, wrote and spoke some of the wittiest and most inspiring words of any American leader likely was -- during the time of his greatest achievements -- a manic depressive. This claim comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Abraham Lincoln is an inspiration to everyone who is living with depression and/or bipolar disorder," the agency says. An estimated 17.4 million Americans are similarly afflicted, and many are reluctant to seek treatment because of the stigma associated with mental illness. So the agency is using Lincoln as a historical poster boy for the mentally ill. "Most Americans are aware that Abraham Lincoln held the country together throughout the Civil War," the agency says. "Many Americans, however, are unaware that through most of his adult life Abraham Lincoln was fighting yet another war -- the war within himself." That Lincoln's wife Mary was schizophrenic is widely accepted today both by historians and medical experts. But Abraham Lincoln? Is Honest Abe to be remembered now as Moody Abe? "From the time he was a teen-ager," says the agency, "Abraham Lincoln lived with what today some people think might have been depression and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a mental illness involving episodes of serious mania and depression." As evidence that Lincoln "might" have suffered from a bipolar disorder, the agency cites six references. One is from Encyclopedia Americana: "Abraham Lincoln is believed to have lived with alternating moods of hilarity and dejection." Another from Collier's Encyclopedia: "Abraham Lincoln, in December 1836, is reported to have had an episode of severe depression after the sudden death of Ann Rutledge, with whom he had fallen in love." (Some historians now discount the idea that Lincoln was in love with Ann Rutledge.) The four remaining references all come from the same source, "Moodswing," a book by Ronald R. Fieve. One states, "Abraham Lincoln's recurrent states of despair and exhaustion, alternating with periods of hard work and very effective functioning, were what I would consider a mild form of bipolar manic-depression (now referred to as bipolar II)." John Lang is a reporter for Scripps Howard News Service. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Scripps Howard janet paterson 50-9 / sinemet-selegiline-prozac almonte-ontario-canada / [log in to unmask]