The tortured artist: the connection between creativity and mood disorders

It has been commonly accepted in society that the typical artist is, more usually than not, a tortured soul. From renowned painters to famous writers and poets, the extraordinary lives reflected in biographies usually narrate a multitude of dramatic events.

While it is certainly difficult to establish what effects creativity has on mental health and vice-versa, it is clear that there is a connection between them.

As studies show, creative individuals are more likely to suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, or alcoholism. Some famous figures such as Kafka, Hemingway, Dostoyevsky, Van Gogh, or Darwin suffered from mental disorders. According to Charles Darwin, whose theoretical and scientific studies also explored the field of depression, even if depression may seem contrary to his theory of natural selection, the truth is that it can actually turn out to be helpful to the survival and improvement of the specimen. Depression is characterized by self-criticism and feelings of worthlessness and never being good enough. It is necessary to do more, do better. Those feelings empower the artist once the initial declines are left behind.

The main reason why artists tend to suffer from depression is that creative people think more and also tend to think about their thoughts. Rumination is one of the main characteristics of the creative type of people that needs to deeply explore both the world and their thoughts in order to create. However, the creative person who spends a lot of time thinking about the past and analyzing and reliving painful past experiences, is more likely to suffer from depression. This part of the creative process forces artists to think and analyze both their own life and existence itself, and the risk of falling into a spiral of negative conclusions is very high.

Suffering from a mental illness does not make someone creative.Instead, the artist is more likely to develop depression or another mental disorder.

It is also important to note that some parts of the creative process can be confused with some traits present in mental disorders. For instance, manic episodes in bipolar disorder (characterized by excitability, sudden mood changes, and productivity) are very similar to the support artists feel when they are in a creative state. For this reason, it is hard to analyze historical figures and their possible mental illnesses based solely on their biographical episodes, since it can lead to confusion in diagnosis.

Apart from this, the lifestyle of an artist is usually a stressful (and many times also an unhealthy) one. The mix of high expectations, thight deadlines, criticism, long travels, and the use of drugs may lead to developing depressive symptoms.

Gustave Courbet: The Desperate Man (1843). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gustave_Courbet_-_Le_D%C3%A9sesp%C3%A9r%C3%A9_(1843).jpg

The lifestyle of an artist is usually a stressful (and many times also and unhealthy) one.

It must be accepted that mentally ill people can do amazing things despite their suffering . Artists such as Vincent Van Gogh have gifted us some of the greatest works of art of all time, partly inspired by his mental disorders. Nowadays, people in general and artists in particular who suffer from mood disorders continue to do so. In a world that has turned its back on them for centuries, it is time to value the great contributions they can offer to society.

SOURCES

Nittle, Nadra. (2021, February 5). The Link Between Depression and Creativity. Verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-link-between-depression-and-creativity-5094193

Christensen, Tanner. (2013, July 13). The link between depression and creativity, and how it can be good for you. Creativesomething. https://creativesomething.net/post/55508909341/the-link-between-depression-and-creativity-and

S. Pavitra, C. R. Chandrashekar, and Partha Choudhury. (2007, January). Creativity and mental health: A profile of writers and musicians. National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2899997/

Hammond, Claudia. (2016, 25 February). Does mental illness enhance creativity? BBC Future. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160225-does-mental-illness-enhance-creativity