Sometimes I wonder if human intelligence is a curse as much as a blessing. Is there not a correlation between intelligence and depression? -yuri
I'm sure they do. I've seen documentaries where killer whales get extremely distressed with separated from their family. And to add a personal story - the last 10.5 years I've had 2 brother pitbulls. Litter mates - so they were born at the same time, same Mom/Dad. Been together since birth. The smaller one past away suddenly two weeks ago. His brother barely eats now, I usually give him some human food just so he'll eat. He won't bark or guard the house either. It's like he just doesn't care about life as much anymore. Seems pretty depressed to me.
Yes.. they do. And there have been a few studies that link mental illness, including depression, to intelligence and/or creativity.. but then again, there are studies that show no link.. but more studies seem to say yes than they do no. My theory behind it all is that people who are depressed or emotionally detached don't or physically can't use brain power on emotions.. so more processing power gets devoted to logic and abstract thinking.
I think animals can get depressed and I think that intelligence makes you more susceptible to depression.
Animals get depressed too. Obviously, certain animals would be more prone to getting depressed than others, but it does happen and i've seen it many times with my own eyes. The saddest thing though, is when an animal is depressed because he's at the mercy of a human that is dumb and neglecting the animal.
Absolutely. I worked with quite a few higher order mammals that suffered from depression, but it's very common in the animal kingdom. However, it's MUCH more frequent in captivity.
As far as animals go, they absolutely do, for various reasons. As a personal example, I have witnessed cats going full on emo for months at a time every time a new cat was introduced to the habitat. Each time it was going from 1 cat to 2 and the original cat becomes visibly depressed. As far as humans go, several studies, like this one suggest that intelligence can be a "burden". (Published 4/15/2015) http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150413-the-downsides-of-being-clever Everyone grows up hearing "ignorance is bliss" yet usually not paying it too much mind. If you look at how many things simple minded people can get genuinely excited about, it seems fairly obvious that is the case. Already in Roman times existed the concept of "Panis et Ludi". The ruling powers realized that as long as you give bread and games to the simple masses, they will be placated. It is usually the more educated/aware individuals who continue to question and challenge authority and existence. By default, this comes with a varying dosage of isolation since "the dull masses" will always vastly outnumber that person. Humans also tend to focus on their fears. The more aware/intelligent an individual is, the more potential threats he/she will be aware of. It could be argued that part of intelligence is disambiguating between realistic and unrealistic threats, but the sheer consideration of the plethora of things that could simply go wrong and come out of left field can be burdening enough.
I feel like dogs do, they get stuck in the house, they are so full of energy and can't unleash it. I have a golden retriever and we love her to death, love seeing her run without a leash and just be free. Wish I could do that more. She will be coming on many nature walks this year with me.
You can't group animals into one category. Dogs have intelligence far superior to that of a mouse. I do feel that most larger animals do in fact have depression. But depression is just an emotion like being happy or angry. So if the animal shows emotion as in happiness then I'm pretty sure it can also be sad and depressed.
There's maternal depression in animals. Tiger mothers sometimes die of starvation if her cubs suddenly die.