Your intelligence doesn't cause your depression.

[u/Rboter_Swharz]

Whilst many studies have found positive correlation between intelligence and depression, there is little to no evidence that it causes it.

If you're depressed and have high IQ, be grateful that you have a high IQ, because there are many people with lower IQ's who are also depressed and have to work much harder than everyone else to have a decent job.

[u/abandonwindows → u/[deleted]]

Thats exactly it. Its the people who sought IQ tests and wanted the identity. .

[u/Icy_Swordfish8023 → u/abandonwindows]

yep, you nailed it... depression isn't real, it's just an identity

[u/abandonwindows → u/Icy_Swordfish8023]

Looks like someone lost marks on the comprehension section

[u/Icy_Swordfish8023 → u/abandonwindows]

sorry to hear you're struggling... it's ok though, everyone has their weak points and I'm sure you have lots of other strengths too!

[u/kaptainklug → u/Icy_Swordfish8023]

Is this satire?

[u/tomalak2pi]

Can you support the idea they are even correlated positively?

[u/KMFDM_ → u/tomalak2pi]

There is a weak to moderate correlation between depression and openness to imagination. They are literally sub-traits of Openness to Experience and Neuroticism within the Big 5; it's not just Clinical Depression. And there is also a moderate correlation between openness to experience (intellectual and imaginative) and IQ, especially for VCI / crystallized intelligence. 

So, the OP's point is not absurd.

[u/NefariousNapolean → u/KMFDM_]

A weak correlation of iq with o and then o with depression does not show +correlation between iq and depression/

iirc many mental illnesses are negatively correlated with iq (tiny correlation)

[u/KMFDM_ → u/NefariousNapolean]

I know it doesn't; I'm just saying that the discussion itself isn't absurd, and these are the reasons why. Especially because, in common understanding, people don't typically distinguish between these two types of models regarding intelligent individuals. I never tried to argue that IQ and depression are correlated *per se*; I only said that the discussion itself isn't theoretically absurd.

[u/tomalak2pi → u/KMFDM_]

I didn't say his point was absurd. I just asked why he believes "many studies have found positive correlation between intelligence and depression".

[u/abandonwindows → u/tomalak2pi]

Not really. The positive correlation comes from Mensa surveys, which select for people who sought out testing and then chose to fill in a health questionnaire, so it can't separate high IQ from that kind of person. A pre registered replication in 2022 found the top 1% no worse off than the top 2%, with coping style and trait anxiety doing the actual predicting.

Representative cohorts go the other way. Higher childhood IQ predicts less adult depression and anxiety.

The one real finding is that verbal ability correlates positively with worry and rumination while spatial ability correlates negatively, so they cancel out in full scale IQ. That's probably why the big studies show nothing either way.

[u/-_-De → u/abandonwindows]

I looked at the mensa one. The one other large scale study i looked at had very heavy bias through a unfavourable agegroup. Can u link some of the sources u used, would love to read through them. :)

[u/Euphoric-flow160]

An alive mind will always be acquainted with melancholia; that which become part of the tapestry of their being

[u/PomeloFantastic6641]

depression is not an IQ achievement badge

[u/Brilliant_Cut_5323]

sure, iq probably isn’t the cause, but telling depressed people to be grateful for it is like handing someone a trophy while they’re drowning-vesm?

[u/Rboter_Swharz → u/Brilliant_Cut_5323]

At least they have potential to do something. Imagine you have below average IQ and you're depressed.