Churchill's Black Dog? The History of the Black Dog as a Metaphor for Depression

The dog and man have a long and complex history of interaction, full of ambivalent and contradictory significations. Both classical and contemporary iconography and symbology — as represented in art, literature, popular culture and the images of ancient mythologies — feature a myriad of canine incarnations, figures whose presence resonates with a significance beyond the contours of their physical form. In the competing and complementary representations of classical mythology, dogs menace, defile, and patrol borders, both earthly and supernatural, but also heal, protect, purify, and act as symbols of loyalty and fidelity. In modern parlance, we let sleeping dogs lie; we go to the dogs or die like a dog; we dog someone at every turn, or compete in a dog-eat-dog environment. And when we put a name to our depression, increasingly it is that of the black dog, lurking behind us, or clinging tenaciously to our backs. The statesman and politician Winston Churchill drew upon this image to conceptualise his own struggle with depression, and it is with him that the metaphor is generally associated. Indeed, so firmly linked are the man and the image in contemporary usage that some references make the man an integral part of the metaphor. When an Australian band sang about fighting depression, they talked of making peace with ‘Churchill’s Black Dog’, and the phrase became the title for a popular song. 1 In a similar process, The Black Dog Institute of Australia takes as its logo Churchill’s famous ‘V for victory’ sign casting a shadow in the form of a black dog. Contemporary representations such as these both reflect and perpetuate the popular belief in Churchill as the originator of the phrase, solidifying the association in the minds of the public.