DARWIN WAS MENTALLY ILL
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Darwin's many lifelong and serious illnesses have been the subject of much speculation and study for over a century. Darwin's health problems began when he was only six years old, and became incapacitating around age 28. Darwin became a reclusive mental case and confined himself to his home for over forty years. He had many phobias--being in crowds, being alone and was afraid to leave his home.
Darwin had an impulse for sadism. He loved killing animals. He would get so excited while hunting rabbits that he went into uncontrollable spasms. He also liked killing beautiful birds. The more colorful and unique a bird was, the more he would become obsessed with killing it. His excitement was so great that he had much difficulty in reloading his gun because of the trembling of his hands.
Darwin was clearly a very troubled man and suffered from severe emotional problems for most of his adult life, especially when he was in the prime of life. The exact cause of his mental and many physical problems has been much debated and may never be known for certain. Since Darwin wrote extensively about his mental and physical problems, we have much material on which to base a reasonable conclusion about this area of his life. The diagnosis of the cause of his mental and physical problems includes a variety of debilitating conditions, but agoraphobia with the addition of psychoneurosis is most probably the cause.
Unfortunately, most writers have shied away from this topic, partly because many scientists and others now idolize Darwin. To understand Darwin as a person and his motivations, one must consider his mental condition and how it affected his work and conclusions.
Darwin had an impulse for sadism. He loved killing animals. He would get so excited while hunting rabbits that he went into uncontrollable spasms. He also liked killing beautiful birds. The more colorful and unique a bird was, the more he would become obsessed with killing it. His excitement was so great that he had much difficulty in reloading his gun because of the trembling of his hands.
Darwin was clearly a very troubled man and suffered from severe emotional problems for most of his adult life, especially when he was in the prime of life. The exact cause of his mental and many physical problems has been much debated and may never be known for certain. Since Darwin wrote extensively about his mental and physical problems, we have much material on which to base a reasonable conclusion about this area of his life. The diagnosis of the cause of his mental and physical problems includes a variety of debilitating conditions, but agoraphobia with the addition of psychoneurosis is most probably the cause.
Unfortunately, most writers have shied away from this topic, partly because many scientists and others now idolize Darwin. To understand Darwin as a person and his motivations, one must consider his mental condition and how it affected his work and conclusions.
