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The psychology of Martin Luther King's leadership... and his depression. Read More
Positive Maladjustment match to Dabrowski's TPD
An excerpt for comparison and interest:
"Given their genuine (authentic) prosocial outlook, people achieving higher development also raise the level of their society. Prosocial here is not just support of the existing social order. If the social order is lower and you are adjusted to it, then you also reflect the lower (negative adjustment in Dąbrowski's terms, a Level I feature). Here, prosocial is a genuine cultivation of social interactions based on higher values. These positions often conflict with the status quo of a lower society (positive maladjustment). In other words, to be maladjusted to a low-level society is a positive feature."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_Disintegration
All Too Human Heroes
Nassir,
Re: "in his personal life and his politics, such that - to the rest of us normal, non-depressed humans - he seems almost superhuman, like the 30 foot monument of him recently erected in Washington DC."
I have immense respect for Dr. King as a genuine American hero, but his personal life was a mess. At that level Martin Luther King was entirely too human. He was caught up in a web of adulterous personal behavior that was totally incongruent with his Christian sensibilities.
Moreover, his wife Correta Scott King was heroic in her own right, given her unwavering support of Martin's work and his movement. The guilt from cognitive dissonance that Dr. King had to have felt must have been enormous.
So about the basis for Dr. King's depression. There was a lot going on there beyond the marches. And perhaps his note of "maladjustment" was really an oblique reference to his self-recognized character flaws. But who knows?
BTW, the Martin Luther King memorial statue is unfortunately a Stalinist catastrophe.
Regards,
Steve
Being Human but idialistic
No expert, but could be one point why he was so depressed.
He was idealistic and wanted to change the world but was human and had to face the natural struggle to try to live up to his ideals and also succeed in achieving change. That sounds like a lot of pressure on someone. Think his MB is ENFP which plays on that too.
People prefer to conform because it is less painful and one does not get scrutinized as much for being human when you are part of mainstream. I believe that was a key part of his courage, to take on the challenge despite the resistance from society and the turbulence in his own life.
At the end we are lucky that neither he nor his wife gave up on their ideals.
How interesting that
How interesting that Universities, which used to be sanctuaries for the creatively maladjusted, seem now to be homes for people who do intellectual business well.
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