Stoics and Melancholy

In Hellenistic philosophy, Stoicism is the third most important philosophical approach after Epicureanism and Skepticism. It was founded in Athens in the 4th century BC by Zeno. We can divide Stoicism into two periods; Early Stoa (Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus), Middle Stoa (Panaetius, Poseidonius), Late Stoa in the Roman Empire (Marcus Tullius Cicero, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca). Stoicism approached the existence of man from three different points; ethics, physics and logic. Stoic philosophical approaches express that the question "How to live a good and happy life?" can be achieved with a virtuous and knowledgeable lifestyle. They treat life as an art of living and an art of correct thinking. Especially the Late Stoic thinkers influenced everyone from the ordinary people of their time to the state authorities with their thoughts. They deal with the art of living with ethical understanding, living in accordance with nature, being virtuous, and being subject to fate. The practicalization of ethical understanding and the way of trying to transform oneself with thoughts are guiding.

Stoicism is based on the idea that the purpose of life and the measure of morality is to live in harmony with nature. The stoa philosophers who adopted this ethical morality as a principle exist in life in a desensitized (apatheia) way, purified from their passions and ambitions, just like nature. Thanks to "Apatheia", a person is purified from all negative emotions or passions that cause unhappiness. This causes a person to act more rationally and intelligently. Since the Stoics had a deterministic understanding, they believed in fate. Death, on the other hand, is not a bad thing in Stoic philosophy. On the contrary, the Stoics act with the principle of "he who does not know how to die well cannot live well", and they embrace death.

According to the Stoics, we are all subject to a destiny and are the chain of history. They state their understanding of freedom by stating that man has the will to choose, and that the situation they are in should be accepted and endured as it is. Epictetus argued that the individual should be aware of the experiences they can control and cannot control in their own lives, and that they should not be unhappy at the point where they cannot change the consequences. Therefore, being sad about something is not due to a function of the thing that seems sad. Rather, it is the person's judgment about that thing that causes distress. For this reason, instead of changing the event that happened, the person should accept what is as it is and be open to changing himself. In this way, man reaches freedom. Because according to the Stoics' understanding of freedom, freedom is not a phenomenon that develops outwards, but a phenomenon that develops inwards towards the human soul.

Taedium vitae, known as "taedium vitae" in Latin, describes melancholics as the state of being unable to stand still, being enveloped by sadness and dissatisfaction in spare time, the mind being stuck between passions and wandering, and the mind remaining suspended on unrealized dreams. In other words, taedium vitae is the dissatisfaction of the melancholic person with life.

In the Hellenistic period, the way of treating these passions became a therapy method with Seneca's proposal. First of all, it starts with the encouragement of the question "How to live a good life?". It should start with the person taking care of himself and "knowing himself" as written in the Temple of Delphi. The person should know what he desires and should want his desires to the extent that he can fulfill them, wanting more than he can do will bring unhappiness.

Secondly, friendship and companionship are important, so one should stay away from those who cry and complain. These people spoil the taste of the soul. Thirdly, property is the greatest calamity. It is necessary to be content and frugal and to refrain from ostentation. The aim of this therapy method is to change the person's perspective on the world, to try to transform the whole of the human soul and to enable the individual to rise above himself.