The University of Texas at Austin, USA.
Lancaster University, United Kingdom.
J Affect Disord. 2020 Apr 1;266:482-491. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.098. Epub 2020 Jan 21.
To help shed light on the peculiar circumstances surrounding the death of the famed macabre and mystery writer, poet, editor, and literary critic, we explored the potential role of depression in the life and death of Edgar Allan Poe via his written language.
Using computerized language analysis, we analyzed works from Poe's corpora of personal letters (N = 309), poems (N = 49), and short stories (N = 63), and investigated whether a pattern of linguistic cues consistent with depression and suicidal cognition were discernible throughout the writer's life, particularly in his final years. Building on past work, language scores were collapsed into a composite depression metric for each text. Data from each work type was subsequently compiled and graphed into a single plot by year, with scores exceeding the 95th percentile (p < 0.05) considered statistically significant and treated as potential depressive episodes.
Significant, consistent patterns of depression were not found and do not support suicide as a cause of death. However, linguistic evidence was found suggesting the presence of several potential depressive episodes over the course of Poe's life - these episodes were the most pronounced during years of Poe's greatest success, as well as those following the death of his late wife.
Given the sampling method, it is not possible to establish direct causality; results should be considered informed but tentative.
This investigation demonstrates the utility of language analysis for capturing disruptive/maladaptive emotional responses to life events.
为了帮助揭示这位著名的恐怖和神秘作家、诗人、编辑和文学评论家死亡的特殊情况，我们通过他的书面语言探索了抑郁在埃德加·爱伦·坡的生活和死亡中的潜在作用。
我们使用计算机语言分析，分析了坡个人信件（N=309）、诗歌（N=49）和短篇小说（N=63）的语料库中的作品，并调查了在作家的一生中，尤其是在他的最后几年，是否存在一致的语言线索模式与抑郁和自杀认知。基于过去的工作，将语言得分合并到每个文本的综合抑郁指标中。随后，将每种作品类型的数据编译并按年绘制成单个图表，得分超过第 95 个百分位数（p<0.05）被认为具有统计学意义，并视为潜在的抑郁发作。
没有发现明显一致的抑郁模式，也不支持自杀是死亡的原因。然而，有语言证据表明，在坡的一生中存在几次潜在的抑郁发作——这些发作在坡最成功的几年以及他已故妻子去世后最为明显。
鉴于抽样方法，无法建立直接的因果关系；结果应被认为是有根据的，但仍存在不确定性。
这项调查表明语言分析对于捕捉生活事件中破坏性/适应不良的情绪反应是有用的。
