Acedia and Its Relation to Depression
Derek McAllister, PhD(c) , Philosophy, Baylor University
There has been recent work on acedia and its relationship to depression, but the results are a mixed bag. Mark Altschule (1) (1965), in a bid to trace the development of acedia from a deadly sin to a psychiatric disorder, seems entirely to neglect the importance of sin. Marcia Webb (2) (2017) also sees an historical continuity from acedia to psychological disorder, but she dismisses the connection of acedia with the “sin of despair” for different reasons, namely because it perpetuates the stigma associated with mood disorders. Robert Daly’s (3) (2007) concern with the recent discussion on agential freedom in depression leads him to argue that acedia is not identical with depression. Jennifer Radden (4) (2002) acknowledges that acedia is a “disorder not of the body but of the soul,” thus giving due import to its status as a spiritual affliction, yet she still situates “Cassian’s view of melancholy”--not acedia--alongside other historical authors in her history of melancholy. Finally, Stanley Jackson (5) (1981) recognizes the real complexity of acedia as well as its conceptual evolution from the monastics to the present day, nevertheless Jackson overlooks or omits some very important features of acedia. He conflates Thomas Aquinas’s distinction of acedia as a passion and species of tristitia on the one hand, with acedia as a cardinal sin, which, in the capital vice tradition, subsumed tristitia under its purview on the other hand. Jackson also omits a critical feature of acedia, from the monastic tradition to the Scholastic period: its manifestation as an aversion to vocation (calling, vocare), whether this is the spiritually imbued, meaningful work of the anchorite’s cell or it is the rightly relating to and being drawn to unity with God as we see in Thomas’s writings.
In this short piece in which I engage the recent scholarship comparing acedia with depression, I endeavor to clarify the concept of acedia using literature from other disciplines. (6) Along the way, I will show the following key theses. First, acedia is not identical with depression. Second, acedia is not merely a primitive psychological predecessor to depression, but it marks off significantly different ways of being not least because of one’s spiritual relation to God. As Lucrèce Luciani-Zidane (2009) has said, “acedia is entangled in the heart (or life) of Christian dogma.”(7)
1 The late Mark D. Altschule, M.D. (1906-1988) was Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard.
2 Marcia Webb has an M.Div. theology degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She is Associate Professor of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University.
3 Robert W. Daly, M.D. is Professor Emeritus of Bioethics and Humanities and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University..
4 Jennifer Radden, D.Phil. Oxon. is Professor Emerita at UMass Boston.
5 The late Stanley W. Jackson, M.D. (1920-2000) was Professor of Psychiatry and History of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
6 To reveal my hand, the key texts I’ll be using, other than the primary texts of Evagrius, Cassian, Gregory, and Thomas Aquinas, are: Wenzel (1960), Bloomfield (1952), Jehl (2005), Gowland (2006), Newhauser (2007, 2012), Paget (1891), and Pieper (1952), to name a few.
7 Lucrèce Luciani-Zidane (2009), p. 13, my translation.
In this short piece in which I engage the recent scholarship comparing acedia with depression, I endeavor to clarify the concept of acedia using literature from other disciplines. (6) Along the way, I will show the following key theses. First, acedia is not identical with depression. Second, acedia is not merely a primitive psychological predecessor to depression, but it marks off significantly different ways of being not least because of one’s spiritual relation to God. As Lucrèce Luciani-Zidane (2009) has said, “acedia is entangled in the heart (or life) of Christian dogma.”(7)
1 The late Mark D. Altschule, M.D. (1906-1988) was Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard.
2 Marcia Webb has an M.Div. theology degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She is Associate Professor of Psychology at Seattle Pacific University.
3 Robert W. Daly, M.D. is Professor Emeritus of Bioethics and Humanities and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University..
4 Jennifer Radden, D.Phil. Oxon. is Professor Emerita at UMass Boston.
5 The late Stanley W. Jackson, M.D. (1920-2000) was Professor of Psychiatry and History of Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.
6 To reveal my hand, the key texts I’ll be using, other than the primary texts of Evagrius, Cassian, Gregory, and Thomas Aquinas, are: Wenzel (1960), Bloomfield (1952), Jehl (2005), Gowland (2006), Newhauser (2007, 2012), Paget (1891), and Pieper (1952), to name a few.
7 Lucrèce Luciani-Zidane (2009), p. 13, my translation.