A teoria dos humores da medicina hipocrática e sua correlação com o Problema XXX,1 de [Aristóteles] : origem da melancolia

Abstract

A link between depression and artistic or scientific genius has been studied since antiquity. Hippocrates already dealt with the relationship between black bile humor and melancholy. The accepted term for this condition, “melancholia” comes from the Greek words: melan, meaning black, and cholis, bile. From the beginning, it was assumed that melancholy was based on the finitude and anguish inherent to the human condition and fueled thinking and philosophizing about the existential enigmas of humanity. In Problem XXX,1, attributed to Aristotle, the author corroborates the Hippocratic model, adding that while an excess of black bile results in serious states of mental illness, a smaller amount or a less pronounced imbalance can result in a melancholic temperament. In this line of thought, the author goes further, maintaining that there is a relationship between inspiration, brilliance achievement with melancholy. In Problem XXX,1, one wonders why all those who have become eminent philosophers, politicians, poets, or artists have a melancholic thought? For [Aristotle], black bile offers a melancholic nature to all the states of drunkenness (since wine also can shape character). The melancholic is essentially polymorphous, that is, he has within him all the characteristics of all men, and this raises the possibility of human creativity. In this sense, I understand that current society places the depressed individual in a condition of inferiority, when in fact it should, through the rescue of the Aristotelian text, bring the understanding that this individual has great creative potential, which must be valued. Rescuing this Aristotelian text today opens doors for the development of new proposals on how to deal with depression, a disease considered to be the evil of the century.