A Link Between Introversion and Depression?

My first husband was introverted, and the marriage obviously didn't work out. The two of us never went anywhere or socialized with anyone other than our families. My second husband pushes me to meet new people and sets up social engagements for us. As much as I grumble sometimes about fulfilling the engagements, I think it's much healthier to be with someone who gets me out of the house once in a while and puts me in touch with new people.

Oddly enough, our son seems to be a mix of the two of us. Ever since he could talk, he had no problem going up to other children and saying, 'Hi. What's your name?” He never had the “phone shyness” that most children do and he says goodbye to his classmates at preschool by booming, “Goodbye, everyone.” However, he prefers to have one “best friend” and just play casually with other children.

He, and I, might be what Marti Olsen Laney refers to in her book “The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World” as a “lively introvert.” Carl Jung believed that we all fall somewhere on a continuum between very extroverted and very introverted, so we will have aspects of both personalities in us.

Now, shyness and introversion are not the same thing. For instance, introverts, in general, simply prefer staying home to attending a large party, but the thought of a large party will make a shy person break into a sweat.  They will actually fear that type of situation, whereas the introverted person would just rather be home with a good book.

I've noticed that depression and introversion seems to go hand in hand fairly often. John McManamy conducted a survey that seems to bear that out. But the question is, does being in a state of depression bring on the inclination toward introversion, or are more introverts born with a tendency towards depression? Since only one study explored the relationship between depression/bipolar disorder and introversion, for the most part the answer is still unknown.

By the way, guess what I went to college to study? Yes, I chose my college based on its Library Science program. If the professor (an extrovert) whose Shakespeare class I took hadn't persuaded me to follow an English Literature major, I'd probably be a librarian somewhere, happily surrounded by books and quiet.

For more information on introversion and extroversion, check out Extroversion, Introversion and the Brain.