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Creativity in Spite of Disability

By: Seymour Diamond, MD Executive Chairman and Founder National Headache Foundation and Mary A. Franklin Director of Operations National Headache Foundation Chicago, IL, Headwise Volume 4, Issue 4 2015

IN HIS 1974 BOOK, CREATIVE MALADY, PICKERING DESCRIBES A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO THRIVE CREATIVELY ALTHOUGH THEY ARE DEBILITATED BY CHRONIC ILLNESS.

One of this group is the renowned biologist, Charles Darwin (1809 to 1882). Darwin persevered in his scientific writings although he was plagued by migraine since his early twenties.

Reportedly, Darwin suffered a severe headache only a few days prior to his marriage to his cousin, Emma Wedgewood. He said that it was not the upcoming marriage that precipitated the headache but rather the actual nuptials, “As the excruciating moment drew close, Charles’ usual symptoms appeared.” He wrote to his fiancée, “My last two days in London, when I wanted to have most leisure, were rendered very uncomfortable by a bad headache, which continued two days and two nights, so that I doubted whether it ever meant to go and allow me to be married.”

For those experiencing migraine, this scenario is truly believable. How often has a migraine attack appeared immediately before a stressful event, such as an exam or a significant ceremony (ie graduation)? For example, Charles Darwin was not able to attend his own father’s funeral because of a severe headache. The fear of an impending attack will impact a happy event, such as a child’s wedding. Many migraine sufferers will report that they made it through the event only to be sidelined later with a severe headache.

Throughout Darwin’s adult life, he would experience a migraine attack that was triggered by a deviation in his normal routine. His family, including his wife and 10 children, learned to adapt to life with a migraineur – “a pall settled over his family. The children played in a depressed hush.” Seven of his children lived to adulthood, and three inherited his headaches – something he feared for them. Darwin described his migraines as his “hereditary weakness.” As we know, up to 70 percent of migraineurs will report a family history of similar headaches. Research continues into the identification of genomes associated with migraine subsets, including familial hemiplegic migraine.

Based on Darwin’s writings, some researchers have theorized that the scientist was suffering from depression. Darwin wrote to one correspondent, “We have just returned home after spending five weeks in Ulswater; the scenery is quite charming, but I cannot walk, and everything tires me, even seeing scenery. . .What I shall do with my few remaining years I can hardly tell, I have everything to make me happy and contented, but life has become very wearisome to me.” As Pickering noted in his book, Darwin – unlike other depressed patients – was able to perform tasks during those reportedly “depression” periods. Although living as a recluse, Darwin was quite productive in his writings, including the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871).

His productivity in writing despite his disability could be attributed to the care of his wife. Following their marriage, Darwin became an invalid. He stopped attending scientific meetings and social events at friends’ homes. With Emma’s help, he was also able to avoid visitors to his own home. Emma was his shield from social interactions which made him ill, and also served as his caregiver. It appears that Mrs. Darwin enjoyed caring for invalids, and Charles became more dependent on his wife. This process has been described as the “concubine syndrome” which is most often seen in female patients. The patient’s chronic illness, including headache, is used for secondary gain by a significant other, such as a spouse, parent, lover, or child. Emma was a facilitator for Charles’ disability.

Darwin’s illness improved as he aged, a scenario often seen in migraine. He became more productive during the last decade of his life. On April 19, 1882, at age 73, Darwin died of coronary heart disease. He had suffered a heart attack several weeks earlier and lingered. However, his headaches continued through this last illness. In a letter to Thomas Huxley, his son Frank wrote, “He remained in a condition of terrible faintness and suffered very much from overpowering nausea, interrupted by retchings. He more than once said, ‘if I could but die’.” According to Emma’s memoirs of his last years, Darwin’s final words to his family were, “I am not the least afraid of death – Remember what a good wife you have been to me – Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me.” And while Emma rested, he repeatedly told his children, Henrietta and Frank, that “It’s almost worth while to be sick to be nursed by you.”

Darwin’s story reflects not only his productivity despite illness, but also the impact of chronic illness on an entire family. His recurrent headaches altered the roles of his wife and children, and their social interactions. The headaches had a life of their own within the family dynamics.

Because of his headaches, Darwin no longer ventured far from home and did not return to his scientific voyages. Who know what levels of learning would have been achieved if he had not been disabled by migraine? Despite his illnesses – headaches and possible depression – our own scientific knowledge has been enhanced because of Charles Darwin’s scientific explorations and publications.