Editor's Introduction

Melancholy is a concept that has existed for thousands of years, but the definition has not remained static. Nowadays when someone refers to the term melancholy, most people immediately think of the adjective “sad.” However, melancholy had a much different meaning in the past. It was labeled as an illness that people suffered from and was characterized by a sense of despondency, sorrow, and delusions. The term “depression” has now served to replace the general notion of melancholy. People suffering from melancholy often experience feelings of self-hate and inner conflict deriving from a sense of nihilism. This in turn affects various aspects of their life, ranging from performance in work all the way to harming relationships with others. The following exhibit delves into the background of melancholy and how its meaning has changed over time. Starting with exhibits demonstrating symptoms of melancholy and moving onto possible causes and treatments, this archive walks viewers through what melancholy is, how society has been impacted by melancholy, and efforts to treat it.

Initially a person suffering from melancholy could show a wide range of symptoms, extending from hallucinations or paranoia to insomnia, mania, or depression. Each person was thought to be made up of four different humours: phlegm, yellow bile, black bile (melancholy), and blood. The humours were meant to exist in a balanced state within the body. However, if there was an excess or shortage of one or more humours, this could cause a person to become ill, melancholy being a potential illness that stemmed from this. A practice to relieve people of melancholy based off this belief was bloodletting, which involved draining the blood through leeches or another method. By draining the body of a certain amount of blood, physicians believed they could balance out the humours and in turn cure people of melancholy.

The notion of the four humours was eventually disproven, and instead a correlation between melancholy and religion took over in the years following, ascertaining that melancholy was a punishment sent from God and was determined to be a sin, as melancholy caused sloth, also known as laziness. A subtle differentiation was made around this time between the depressed melancholic state and mania, in which manic states were very energetic and experienced hallucinations, while the depressed melancholic was lethargic and unmotivated. Those suffering from melancholic delusions were deemed “crazy” and sent to asylums or were thought to be witches, in which they were sometimes even burned at the stake.

Following this period, a transition toward taking on more humane treatments of melancholic or insane patients occurred. From this humane approach stemmed recommendations of bathing or exercise to help relieve people of their melancholy. While much of the causes of melancholy were still inaccurate, these treatments are something still seen today. Now people, especially women, will mention doing “self-care,” which implies doing a variety of things such as taking a hot bath or putting on a clay face mask to help clear up skin, in order to feel better. Doctors and therapists will also still recommend exercising or going for a run in order to help improve one’s mood. A few objects in this exhibit illustrate how remedies to help with melancholy symptoms that existed decades ago are still in practice today, such as those mentioned above. While technology has changed drastically, these things show how certain practices transcend generations. Another aspect of treatment for present-day depression that has been taken into consideration is the use of psychedelics, which will be seen in one of the following exhibits. For centuries, indigenous populations would use psychedelics in religious practices to become more self-aware and in-tune with the world around them, allowing them to be more grounded. Recent scientific studies have investigated these effects of psychedelics and found properties to reduce symptoms of depression and the effects of PTSD as well. As more research goes into the potential curative properties of psychedelics, scientists may be able to find additional answers on how to lessen the severity of depression or other mental illnesses that people suffer from. This would be extremely helpful, especially when taking into factor the causes behind melancholy that people experience. These causes are portrayed through several artifacts in this exhibition that consist of a mix of paintings, machines, statues, and tangible objects.

One cause of melancholy that has remained consistent throughout the years is the development of melancholy from being faced with a task in which there is no end to. This exhibition contains an interactive machine exhibit titled Can’t Help Myself. This machine is faced with the task of sweeping a dark red liquid into a perfect circle. However, the liquid continuously seeps out of place and the machine must sweep it back up again. Over time, the machine would display gestures similar to that of a human who was frustrated and then eventually hopeless. Melancholy can also be caused by being around other people battling mental disorders, as caring for people who cannot care from themselves is difficult and often disheartening. Other causes stem from stressors put in place by society, such as school, work, and social media. Social media instills the constant need for people to compare themselves with others, creating a pressure to be like the people online who seem to live this perfect, desirable lifestyle. These pressures develop the needs for people to look “perfect,” excel academically, participate in many extracurriculars, go to college, and get a good job, among other things. It’s impossible for a person to do this all, especially when it is adolescents facing this pressure to perform well in all these different aspects. Moving from this overcommitment onto a job that consumes adulthood, without a break due to the interconnectedness of society resulting from technology, often leads people to feel like they are wasting their lives away. It may also make people wonder what the purpose of life is, since all that they’ve been taught is to go to school to get a good job. This doesn’t always leave a person feeling satisfied with their life if they aren’t doing something they enjoy. It can be extremely overwhelming and create a feeling similar to how the machine in the Can’t Help Myself display appeared to feel.

Adolescents that experience symptoms of melancholy will sometimes turn to self-harm to escape or rid themselves of these feelings. This is an intriguing concept, as humans are built with the instinct of self-preservation. Studies have shown that people hurt themselves to express emotions that they often have difficulty expressing otherwise. The physical pain from self-harm also gives people an outlet to emotional pain, as physical pain is much easier to handle/deal with than emotional pain. Cutting is a form of self-harm in which the self-injurer draws blood. Two of the artifacts in the archive are compared with one another, discussing the topic of self-harm and comparing/contrasting it with the practice of bloodletting as a treatment of melancholy in the past.

All these artifacts demonstrate society’s interaction with melancholy throughout the years. Analyzing these interactions and comparing society’s views of melancholy in the past versus the present allows viewers to gain a thorough understanding of what melancholy is, what can cause it, and the progress that has been made over time in finding treatments to improve mental health.

"At the heart of all great art is an essential melancholy." -Frederico Garcia Larco

Images taken from Wikimedia Commons