Editing Groucho Marx (section)

=== Depression, Misunderstood Affect, and Aging ===
In later life, Groucho suffered from depression and disillusionment, especially after the deaths of his brothers. However, he did not process these events through emotional sharing. Instead, he became more rigid, more obsessive in conversation, and '''increasingly dependent on ritual and nostalgic repetition'''.

He often repeated the same stories in identical phrasing, a trait I associate with '''Asperger cognitive narrowing''' in older adults. He struggled with flexible thinking, and interviews became increasingly scripted.

Observers mistook his flat affect and literal language for decline or bitterness—but in fact, they were consistent with a '''lifelong pattern of emotional minimalism, pragmatic miscalibration, and affective displacement'''.
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