Are Creativity and Mental Illness Linked?

[David Baxter PhD]

I think that's an important point: You are who you are -- that may be partly a "disorder" but you are far more than that.

Tauri Hall has a short article on the distinction in the case of eating disorders: see http://blossom.psychlinks.ca/more-than-this-disorder.html .

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I think that's an important point: You are who you are -- that may be partly a "disorder" but you are far more than that.

Tauri Hall has a short article on the distinction in the case of eating disorders: see http://blossom.psychlinks.ca/more-than-this-disorder.html .

 

[stargazer]

So far I've only had time to skim the article, but it looks good. I agree that to identify oneself too closely with one's disorder can cause indignity and loss of self-worth. I've bookmarked the article, and I will take a look at it a little later on. This week I am starting a new job (music teacher, grades K-8, at a small school district in the South Bay.) I need to zero in on that for a while. I'm also music-directing a children's theatre program there, so it will be quite engaging. Hopefully I can pull this off without having another episode.

 

[stargazer]

So far I've only had time to skim the article, but it looks good. I agree that to identify oneself too closely with one's disorder can cause indignity and loss of self-worth. I've bookmarked the article, and I will take a look at it a little later on. This week I am starting a new job (music teacher, grades K-8, at a small school district in the South Bay.) I need to zero in on that for a while. I'm also music-directing a children's theatre program there, so it will be quite engaging. Hopefully I can pull this off without having another episode.

 

[stargazer]

Regarding my last post, I do have a better job now, but earlier tonight I experienced a professional rejection having to do with the musical I wrote. This has prompted much thought, and discussions with others who are involved both in treatment and in the arts. So I feel compelled to post once again, while these thoughts are fresh in my mind.

I decided to write a musical play while having a manic episode. The decision to write the musical was a result of that episode. I would not have begun writing the musical had I not have been having the episdoe. Now, the nature of the episode was such that I did not know I was having an episode. Therefore, I resisted the suggestions of my therapist and psychiatrist that I was at all "manic." In fact, the very idea that I was being regarded as mentally ill at a time when I thought I was at my most creative and productive was something that I found highly offensive. I could not understand why the therapist and psychiatrist would not even listen to the music before judging me to be crazy. It seemed as though they viewed my desire to compose music as only a part of my delusion, and this angered me.

However, as time passed and I began to recover from the episode, I slowly realized that a lot of the content of the piece was so tainted by the mania in which it had been conceived, that the product itself actually did appear to be rather insane. So, as recovery progressed and sanity returned, I began to rewrite the same piece laboriously and repeatedly, continually seeking the support of other writers, musicians, and theatre people.

After ten such revisions, some people now like the script; more people tell me the music is good; and most people don't tell me anything at all. It's hard for me to believe that anything conceived in mania could be of artistic merit, but it's even harder for me to let go of a project that has involved so much work and sacrifice on my part.

I don't know that creativity and mental illness are linked. What I do know is that, had I not been mentally ill, I would never have gotten the idea into my head that I was a person who could, or should, write a musical. I would have continued to go to work in the morning, teach my music classes to the gradeschool kids, play piano in church on Sunday, and lead a quiet life. Life might have remained somewhat boring and uneventful, but I would not have forsaken my emotional and financial stability for the sake of an artistic endeavor of dubious value.

So that's all I know: my personal experience. I have since met many people with serious mental health conditions who have found meaning and purpose in their lives by involving themselves in artistic efforts, such as poetry. Whether the quality of their art is good or not is almost irrelevant; the point is that they have found an identity in a society that has in a sense made them outcasts.

Although many of these people consign themselves to a life on disability, I personally have not made that choice. After a long and arduous recovery, and while still in treatment, I am working again as a music teacher for a small public school district, and as a musical director for a children's theatre. But my entire orientation toward life has changed as a result of that episode. My spirituality is different, and my values are not the same as they were when I wrote this piece. So, even after all the contrived corrections and efforts to remove its insanity, it does not in its current condition reflect the person who I now am. It is almost as though it was not written by me, but by some other entity.

And yet it sits there, a full libretto and a complete musical score, still begging for production and recognition, while its composer-librettist regards it as little more than a product of his insanity. Perhaps it will continue to sit there as a kind of monument to the person who I was, the person who I never want to be again. Or perhaps someone will pick it up and produce it, however posthumously. All I know is that unless I have another episode, I am unlikely ever to write another musical. I have been unable, in 52 years of living, to equate my creativity with sanity.

This doesn't mean that there isn't hope. Many artists and writers live balanced, healthy lives, putting their art into perspective and context, and becoming quite successful with it. Perhaps I need not be bound by my past experience, and I might find a way to write again. Perhaps my work will then be more valuable. I'm not giving up. But what I need to say is that the association between creativity and mental illness cannot possibly be entirely mythological. Despite the romanticization, the images of a tortured Beethoven sublimating his frustration through brilliant symphonies, and so on and so forth, there has got to be a kernel of truth to this notion. If there isn't, then I personally have no way of explaining what happened to me in 2004.

 

[ThatLady]

I don't know about the connection between creativity and mental illness. Perhaps, such an association exists; perhaps, one does not. However, I do know that those who write poetry, or music, or novels, or simply tell stories in their minds are artists. That, I'd think, covers just about all of us, at one time or another. The poetry doesn't have to be profound. The music doesn't have to be shattering, nor does the novel have to be on the best-seller list for the artistry in them to exist. The artistry exists within the heart of the person who created the art; therefore, their creation is imbued with that artistry.

You've come down a long path, and your journey has changed you. Although the musical play may have been written by the person you were, as opposed to the person you now are, the music still sings in your heart. Let it sing without question. Give it voice and it will live.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

And yet it sits there, a full libretto and a complete musical score, still begging for production and recognition, while its composer-librettist regards it as little more than a product of his insanity. Perhaps it will continue to sit there as a kind of monument to the person who I was, the person who I never want to be again. Or perhaps someone will pick it up and produce it, however posthumously. All I know is that unless I have another episode, I am unlikely ever to write another musical. I have been unable, in 52 years of living, to equate my creativity with sanity.

But of course, there are a couple of logical errors here, stargazer.

1. Whether or not your work is ever "picked up" and produced for the stage, it exists as a creative work which examines, in a humorous way, some of the blurry lines between "sanity" and "insanity", or between "normal" and "'abnormal". I haven't heard the music yet but remember I did read the script. There are many creative works that never see public performance and many others which are not seen as meriting the necessary financial investment until long after the artist's death. This is not a measure of worth but one of popularity and consumerism - and sometimes not even that but only one of the estimate of potential popularity as assessed by those (usually conservative) people who make the decision to promote or not to promote a new idea. Look at the world of television and movies: For every even slightly new and creative idea, those industries produce countless imitators, apparently in the belief that if we liked one story about X we will love 10 stories that are more or less the same.

2. You are also confused about the link between mania and creativity, I think. I don't think mania in itself creates creativity. I think the tendencies toward grandiosity during a manic episode give the creator almost unlimited confidence. The ability or capacity to be creative was there all along but until your manic episode you would likely have pushed it aside for all sorts of logical and practical reasons or to give higher priority to more mundane tasks. If you consider the history of the creative arts, it is quite remarkable how closely linked are depression and hypomania to creative output. Beyond the self-confidence factor, I think this also reflects the intensity of focus and of the emotions that drive the creative process, which are often related to the mood state of the creator at the time. Perhaps that's why so many of the most memorable popular songs are about sadness and loss or about new found love -- the inetnsity of the feelings which accompany those experiences give rise to creativity. It is a rare person who can sit down on a day-to-day basis and knock out novels or songs like an assembly line.

 

[stargazer]

________________
David, thank you for elevating then level of communication up another notch here. This is helpful toward my clarifying this issue within myself.

For the record, I did not remember that you had read the script. The last I recall is that you had begun it, but had not yet finished it. So I had never received an assessment of it from you until now. Although in first reading your reply, I was a bit puzzled by the observation that there were some gaps in my logical reasoning here, I now have re-read your reply, and I see your point of view. I guess what I had failed to state was my long-standing (if irrational) belief that a work of art barely exists without a listener, a reader, an audience, or a viewer. Whether it is a painting, a play, a symphony, or a novel; the creative endeavor is not fulfilled until it reaches an audience base and, ultimately, moves those people in some way.

However, I do see the illogic of that. What you are suggesting is actually a higher and more transcendent view of Art. It's true: I did write a complete musical play, for the first time in almost two decades of deferring to prohibitive practicalities, so to speak. It does exist, however unknown. It is also true, and telling, that even if "picked up," that doesn't serve to validate its artistic worth, especially in the conservative and more-or-less philistine society in which we find ourselves these days. So thank you for reminding me of these realities: I will take this as a compliment, and leave it at that.

About the link between mania and creativity, I don't feel that I am quite as confused as you might think. I'm simply failing to express myself clearly on what seems a complex issue. There is, as you pointed it out, a difference between creative ability and creative output. I'm already aware of that distinction, and I did try to say that in the "mania," the creative product was not nearly as good as it might have been had I decided to "create" while I had all my wits about me. I probably failed to communicate that I fully acknowledge that it was the grandiosity of the mania that caused me suddenly to acquire the "unlimited confidence" that motivated me to proceed with this project. So I am not equating mania with creativity--at least I do not mean to do so.

What I am equating is the mania with my creative output, just as you suggest the true link to be. I would be a liar not to admit that I had always been a creative person, and an artistically inclined individual, since early childhood. But what I have yet to access is that part of me that believes that I can produce artistic work of value while at the same time functioning in mainstream society. My skepticism toward my ability to do so is based entirely on my past experience, not on my view of my potential, and not according to faith or hope.

In a way, you who don't even really know me have more faith in my creative ability than I do myself. You've probably encountered other similar personalities in your field. So, I am somewhat painfully aware that I am going to need to change lifelong patterns and belief-systems in order to fulfill myself artistically and at the same time be a human being who functions well and has integrated himself within society.

About the music, I'll send you a CD in the mail. I might need to be refreshed as to your postal address, and you may PM me on that one if you like. Thank you for your interest--I know you are a busy man.

(Oh, and ThatLady, thank you for your comments as well. I didn't mean to ignore them, but I am on limited time at a school computer in between classes at my new teaching job. Still, I wanted to post right away, lest this all gets forgotten in a few days. Right now it all seems so vitally important, for some reason--probably related to last night's rejection. I'm considering discontinuing my web site as well as my newsletter--they are reminding me in an ugly emotional way of my earlier grandiosity, and perhaps they are perpetuating that tendency within me.)[/i]

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I actually enjoy that newsletter )

 

[stargazer]

Perhaps I am over-reacting.

 

[stargazer]

I was just going back to my lengthy reply above. Sorry to have been so long-winded. I had a hard time following it myself, even though I wrote it.

Anyway, I think I was having trouble expressing a simple point. What I was trying to say was: I'm aware that the mania does not guarantee creativity; however, I have trouble prioritizing a creative endeavor unless motivated by that "mania." Perhaps this is what you (David) meant as well?

In other words, I seem to need that sense of "unlimited confidence" in order to get anything off the ground. My hope is that I can overcome this tendency, and find a calmer pocket for Art in my life that will not lead to avoidance of the more essential priorities (food, sleep, etc.)

That's all I meant.[/i]

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Bipolar Creativity

Bipolar Creativity
March 17, 2006
by Sandra Kiume

An article from Renee Hopkins Callahan of the IdeaFlow blog links to studies about children of bipolar parents being more creative, and other studies that illustrate enhanced creativity in people with bipolar, and makes some great points in her discussion of them:

Terence Ketter, MD, said he believes "bipolar patients? creativity stems from their mobilizing energy that results from negative emotion to initiate some sort of solution to their problems. In this case, discontent is the mother of invention," he said.

The researchers also found a link between the length of a bipolar child?s illness and creativity: the longer a child was sick or manic, the lower the creativity score. It makes sense, said Kiki Chang, MD, a study coauthor, that this illness could, over time, erode one?s creativity. "After awhile you aren?t able to function and you can?t access your creativity," he explained.

It fascinates me because my personal experience has been that there?s sometimes a fine line between creativity and mood states that most professionals would call disordered. The line can be so fine that it?s down to whether the expressions are positive or negative ? if positive, call it creativity; if negative, call it personality disorder.

?I also wonder if specific training in creativity skills might help bipolar people whose symptoms don?t currently manifest themselves as the more positive creative traits. Perhaps if they knew what to do with their innate creativity, these folks would be able to live more on the positive than the negative side of creativity.

A good book related to the topic is bipolar psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jameson?s Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament. Free Press, 1996.

 

[stargazer]

I almost replied last night when I got home, but I had to bite my tongue.? This all looks great, and I'll probably order the book.? This passage, however, struck an uncomfortable chord with me, only because of my personal experience, about which I am still to some extent bitter:

"It fascinates me because my personal experience has been that there?s sometimes a fine line between creativity and mood states that most professionals would call disordered. The line can be so fine that it?s down to whether the expressions are positive or negative ? if positive, call it creativity; if negative, call it personality disorder. ?I also wonder if specific training in creativity skills might help bipolar people whose symptoms don?t currently manifest themselves as the more positive creative traits. Perhaps if they knew what to do with their innate creativity, these folks would be able to live more on the positive than the negative side of creativity."

Some of us did develop at an early age a specific training in a certain type of creativity skill.? In my case, the training was in the piano.? However, one's ability to play the piano doesn't manifest when he's sitting having a psychiatric evaluation.? I sometimes wonder if they knew I was a competent musician once in that office, they might not have locked me up against my will.

After all, the only reason I had approached the building in the first place was to ask directions to the nearby Department of Motor Vehicles.? When I found out the building was some sort of psychiatric institute, I naively asked if I could have a psychiatric evaluation, only because I was curious.? They agreed, and midway through the evaluation asked me if I had health insurance.? I said, yes, I have Kaiser.? At that, before I knew it, I was given a shot of Haldol 5 and Ativan 2, called a "5150" -- as though I were a danger to myself, and others--and after the mandatory three days, they gave me 6 more days in a place called the Cognitive Behavioral Unit, until Kaiser got tired of paying for it.

So I have to be very careful.? This forum is safe enough, and I like you, Dr. Baxter.? But my lifelong fascination with psychology and psychiatry can get me into trouble if I use it the wrong way.? I lost nine days of my life once because I walked into the lobby of a Behavioral Health Center to ask for directions.? During those nine days, I could have been sitting on the bench of a baby grand piano at the restaurant, and no one would have thought I was nuts.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

First, I want to make it clear that I don't necessarily agree with the comments in the cited article. As I often do, I posted the article because I thought it was an interesting point of view that might stimulate thought and discussion related to this thread. In this case, I'm still considering how much merit the idea of "positive" vs. "negative" has in this context.

Second, I want to make it clear that the article is discussing some comments by Dr. Terence Ketter. The book by Kay Redfield Jameson (Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament[url]) is not related to those comments but is offered as a title on the subject well-worth reading - and that recommendation I do agree with. The author also suffered from bipolar disorder and thus had very personal experience with the issue.