Did Enid ever get depressed?

[honesty]

The movie shouldn't be used to judge the real Enid, as it took several large liberties with fact.

Hmm, I guess you right Fiona, but I think that EB got depressed in the last fews of her life...

[Nair Snehalatha]

Enid was depressed the last few years of her life.Her father leaving home was a very big blow for Enid when she was very young.But her writing gave her solace..Perhaps the bitter feelings she had for her mother and the fact that she never visited her mother at all after she left home ---she did not attend her mother's funeral.These thoughts may have haunted her and lead to her dementia.But she died very peacefully---as she was wont to--in her sleep.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Enid Blyton suffered a bitter blow after the death of Kenneth--- her second husband. In Barbara Stoney's biography it is written about Enid's entry in her diary on 27th September 1967--- ''My darling Kenneth has died.I loved him so much .I feel lost and unhappy.'' She never recovered from Kenneth's death., and died a year later.--- but Enid Blyton lives on forever and ever in all our hearts and I see her in all her books.

[Fiona1986]

I'm sorry but dementia is not caused by grief or negative thoughts

[Julie2owlsdene]

''My darling Kenneth has died.I loved him so much .I feel lost and unhappy.'' She never recovered from Kenneth's death., and died a year later.--- but Enid Blyton lives on forever and ever in all our hearts and I see her in all her books.

It's probably true that Enid, missed Kenneth so much and one never knows if people in this situation die of what they call a 'broken heart', it seems that they just give up and fade away. But there is nearly always a medical cause for someone ones death, and as Fiona has mentioned in this case it appears that Enid suffered from dementia.

[Nair Snehalatha]

Yes, perhaps Enid died of a broken heart.---- the demise of Kenneth Darrel Waters, whom she loved so deeply- must have been a blow from which she never recovered.Added to that the fact that she not been very good to her mother may have also haunted her.She never visited her mother after she left home ,when she was just nineteen. most of her holidays were spent with Mabel Attenborough-- her closest friend from school--or with Mabel's friends-- the Hunt family at Seckford Hall. Nothing at all is said about Enid's younger brother Carey.---- except that that Enid thought him '' too young to understand her needs.''

[deepeabee]

I'm sorry but dementia is not caused by grief or negative thoughts

No one is sure how dementia is caused. It could be due to certain thought patterns.

[Katharine]

I've heard there is a link between aluminium and Alzheimer's. I think there's also been a health scare link with Mercury fillings in teeth. Then there's a suggested link between footballers who regularly head the ball.

I suspect that although all the above may increase the risk in some people, that it's one of those conditions which has many causes, some preventable, some genetic, some just bad luck.

[Deej]

I'm sorry but dementia is not caused by grief or negative thoughts

And you have proof of that post?

I personally don't think either would help reduce the onset of dementia personally. Afterall negative thoughts and grief are sometimes linked to mental illnesses such as depression, and dementia is a mental illness.

No one knows for sure because so little is known about dementia.

[Katharine]

I would have thought that depression, negative thoughts and dementia are a little like the chicken and the egg question. Which comes first? Does depression cause dementia, or can it be a symptom of it in some people? The brain is so complex.

Enid Blyton does strike me as having been fairly young to have suffered in that way, but maybe her wonderful brain just burned itself out?

[Deej]

Like I said in my previous post, no one knows for sure but from my own experience of depression, I wouldn't think sometimes feeling like wanting to stare into nothing all day because you feel that demoralised and lacking in energy and motivation (to the point that you can actually cry and want to sleep all day) can be very good for your memory or brain. Although I would argue that many people with depression have overactive brains where they are thinking too much.

As for Blyton, I agree that she would have been very young to have dementia at such an early age. However, depression can effect anyone of any age. I would argue younger people are more likely to get it. I also think you can probably make the case for depression being a genetic condition for some people where it runs in a family or can be triggered by a certain physical or chemical defect within your body. It's not always through mind set or a bad event in life.

[Tony Summerfield]

There are some very muddled thoughts in this thread, particularly from Snehalatha. It is pure speculation to say that Enid suffered from depression, and she certainly didn't die from a broken heart. Her dementia was caused by hardening of the arteries which restricted the flow of blood to her brain, and the onset of this occurred some time before Kenneth became ill, she was already having severe memory problems several years before her death. This is not my opinion, it is a statement of fact from one of her doctors.

Other facts that are wrong in above posts are that Enid did not go to school with Mabel Attenborough, but with Mary Attenborough and she certainly saw her mother again after she left home. A diary entry from 1926 talks about going round to dinner with her mother at Westfield Road and Enid was then 29 and married.

[Katharine]

That's interesting Tony, I was under the impression that Enid never saw her mother after she moved out. I thought I'd read somewhere that Gillian and Imogen had no idea their grandmother was still alive. So did Enid continue to see her mother, but not take the children with her, or did contact cease sometime after the dinner visit in 1926?

Or have I got it wrong that the children never saw Enid's mother?

[Moonraker]

A look here might be of help to understand the possible causes of dementia and Alzheimer's. As Tony has said, there is some pretty muddled rhetoric in this thread. My mother-in-law has Alzheimer's, she was always happy and cheerful, and to my knowledge, never played football.

[Katharine]

Interesting link Nigel. As I said before, there doesn't seem to be one specific cause of dementia. I did notice that right at the bottom of the list of possible causes was head injury. This I would put under the category of heading a football.

As your mother-in-law has Alzheimer's, that's would appear to be a different form of dementia to that caused by a head injury.

I was interested to note that in cases of vascular dementia, that Type-1 diabetes, high blood pressure and smoking are all linked to an increased risk. Sadly the diabetes is unavoidable, but the other two are conditions that most people can do something about. I'm surprised more isn't done to make people aware of these risks.

I'm not sure if any of those risks would have applied to Enid Blyton though, as I was of the impressed that she only smoked occasionally, and not a diabetic. I suppose she might have had high blood pressure, but she never struck me as being overweight, which I believe is usually responsible for that problem.