“The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye

The story of love is hello and goodbye

It was no secret that Jimi Hendrix was a great musician. It was also no secret that Jimi Hendrix was a very troubled individual. Throughout much of his life Jimi was a victim of depression. Jimi Hendrix used music as a way to relax and channel his negative energy; this is evident in his lyrics. One song that stands out is “Manic Depression.” By comparing and contrasting Sigmund Freud’s and Carl Rogers’s theories of personality and applying it to the song “Manic Depression”, one could explain why Jimi Hendrix was experiencing depression in his song.

Jimi Hendrix was born Johnny Allen Hendrix at 10:15 in the morning on November 27th, 1945 in Seattle, Washington. Jimi grew up listening to his father’s record collection. It wasn’t difficult for his father to see that Jimi was obsessed with his records and on his16th birthday, Jimi’s father bought him his first guitar. Jimi’s most famous band, “The Jimi Hendrix Experience” was formed in 1966 and they soon came out with th

Manic Depression is catchin’ my soul”Jimi obviously knew something was wrong. According to these lyrics he was suffering symptoms of depression. Jimi is unsure of himself and is unable to “feel.” He talks about “manic depression” taking over his soul. Carl Rogers would attribute his depression based on a disruption of his “actualizing tendency.” Jimi knows what he wants but he doesn’t know how to get it. Rogers would say that “it is in our nature as living things to do the very best we can”(Boeree 2), so by not knowing how to achieve something he cannot develop into the best person that he can be. Carl Rogers “sees mental health as the normal progression of life, and he sees mental illness, criminality, and other human problems, as distortions of [the] natural tendency [in a person]” to be good or healthy. Rogers would say that Jimi is just experiencing a normal distortion of his true good and healthy self. It is the gap between his ideal self and his real self that are causing incongruity, and thus he feels depression.

“Manic depression is touching my soul.

eir first album: “Are you Experienced?” The eighth song on that record was the song “Manic Depression.”

In this last verse Jimi is telling us how he defends himself against his problem of love. He removes himself from others to be alone. He feels that he is of no use; worthless. Jimi seems to be dealing with low self-esteem. According to Rogers, “when you are in a situation where there is an incongruity between your image of yourself and your immediate experience of yourself (i.e. between the ideal and the real self), you are in a threatening situation” (Boeree 6). Jimi’s incongruity is blocking out or denying the situation, which according to both Freud and Rogers is a defense mechanism. Freud says “if some situation is just too much to handle the person just refuses to experience it” (Boeree 6) and withdraws from the situation.

Carl Rogers believed that as an individual we “instinctively value” (Boeree 3) positive regard. That is, we want love and attention. Similarly, Freud’s “clinical experience led him to view love as much more important in the dynamics of the psyche than other needs” (Boeree 5). Freud believed that love was instinctive. Every life organism needs love and attention. Jimi Hendrix seemed to have been missing it. In the fifth line of the second verse Jimi

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