creativity and mental illness

[PeterG]

I am currently an English lit. student but have always had an interest in psychology/psychiatry. I am wondering what you think about the link between mental illness & creativity. Do you think there is a link or do you feel the link is greatly exaggerated by the media? Hopefully you aren't sick of this topic yet!

I've had this discussion with my fellow classmates numerous times and I must say that I am still torn on the issue. I can see how certain types of mental illness might enhance creativity (ie. bipolar hypomania) but I can also imagine how debilitating mental illness can be. Surely no one can be creative when severely depressed, paranoid or seriously manic.

I've read parts of K.Jamison's book "Touched with Fire" but haven't managed to make it through the whole thing yet. Does anyone know other good books on the subject?

Thanks.

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[LM02]

I am currently an English lit. student but have always had an interest in psychology/psychiatry. I am wondering what you think about the link between mental illness & creativity. Do you think there is a link or do you feel the link is greatly exaggerated by the media? Hopefully you aren't sick of this topic yet!

I've had this discussion with my fellow classmates numerous times and I must say that I am still torn on the issue. I can see how certain types of mental illness might enhance creativity (ie. bipolar hypomania) but I can also imagine how debilitating mental illness can be. Surely no one can be creative when severely depressed, paranoid or seriously manic.

I've read parts of K.Jamison's book "Touched with Fire" but haven't managed to make it through the whole thing yet. Does anyone know other good books on the subject?

Thanks.

Take a look at Peter Kramer's most recent book, Against Depression. It actually challenges some of the notions of the "tortured artist," and discusses some of the same issues you are raising.

 

[mustangsally65]

I doublemajored in English and Psychology, and I think there is a lot of validity in creativity and mental illness being related. Then again, how many tortured geniuses are in institutions somewhere and never get published or discovered? Or maybe Poe didn't really write the works that are attributed to him, (same goes for Hemingway). Maybe creativity is linked to being right-brained, and this also may be an area that is more prone to mental illness if it's more active. Who knows? it's a very interesting topic, though.

 

[MDgonnabe]

i'm actually very interested in working with artists as a patient population for the reasons that #1. a lot of them have psych issues (even if it's just performance anxiety) and #2. many of them have no form of insurance so need the health care...

i strongly suspect that there is a certain amount of correlation between psychiatric conditions and creativity. the way i see it, people with psychiatric conditions perceive the world very differently than the other 80% or so of us, and perception is key in producing art. this is all on a bell-shaped curve, however. i think that once a psychiatric illness gets severe enough, production of art starts to drop off for lack of functional capacity in the real world. a perfect example of this is beethoven. he was incredibly prolific for the vast majority of his life, but there's a mysterious three year period where he produced absolutely no music. most biographers seem to think he lapsed into severe depression of some sort at this point in time, which greatly hampered his work. as a psychiatrist, i'd enjoy the challenge of helping artists maintain their unique perception of the world while at the same time making sure they never get to that sad extreme.



incidentally, does anyone here know of any residency programs which have a good crop of artists in their patient population OUTSIDE OF NYC. i'm not a nyc kinda gal.

 

[banannie]

maybe it's not so much that mental illness is inherently artistic, or vice versa, but rather that in any given time and place, what is considered mentally healthy, and who is labeled as mentally ill, depend somewhat on social, cultural, historical context, and on what a particular society deems acceptable. at the same time, in any given society, what is deemed "art" has to be at least a little bit subversive. so really, this observed relationship is not a direct correlation: it can be explained by a confounding quality that has something to do with being outside the mainstream.

 

[JMD]

There's a pretty good article about this in the latest issue of Scientific American "Mind" magazine. It's about Brian Wilson and how mental illness may have fueled his creativity for a while before totally ravaging his life.

I just discovered this magazine (published 4x/year I think) and it has some really cool articles ( well, cool to the wierdos you'd find in a psych forum )... check it out.

 

[PeterG]

Thanks LMO2 -- I'll have to check out that book at some point. Have you read his book, "Listening to Prozac"? If so, what did you think of it? I'm reading it right now.

JMD- that article sounds very interesting. Can I find it online by any chance? I guess I'd have to be a subscriber.

I really only ever hear of a link between bipolar and creativity. I never really hear about a link between schizophrenia and creativity. I'm wondering if it is because schizophrenia is such a debilitating disorder. With bipolar the patient can go years without an episode but schizophrenia sounds pretty unrelenting. You also never hear of an anxiety disorder enhancing creativity. I think it must be only the mood disorders that are linked with creativity. Am I wrong?

I can imagine that some patients would refuse meds on the basis that it impairs their creative ability. I think this would be a very frustrating situation for the doctor.

 

[pschmom1]

If you will...
Starry, starry night, paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul

Shadows on the hills, sketch the trees and daffodils
Catch the breeze and witner chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand what you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

Starry, starry night, flaming floweres that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflecting in Vincent's eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning feilds of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Lie soothed beneath the artist's loving hand

Now I understand what you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they'll listen now

For they could not love you, but still your love was true
And when no hope was left insight
On that starry starry night
You took your lovl s lovers often do
But I could have told you Vincent
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you

Starry, starry, portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can't forget
Like srangers that you've met
The ragged men in ragged clothes
Silever thorn of bloody rose
Lies crushed and broken on the virgin soil

Now I think I know what you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they're not listening still
Perhaps they never will.

Thank you Don McClean for the beautiful song and tribut to the amazing Vincent VanGogh who was a brilliant atrist and in his creative mind "suffered for his sanity" This song is beautiful along with the works from VanGogh. If you have a chance, listen to this song. If you like VanGogh, this song is captivating .