Creativity and Mental Illness

[Lote-Tree]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder#Creativity

http://liu.english.ucsb.edu/wiki1/index.php/Relationship_Between_Mental_Disorders_and_Creativi ty:_Research_Report

What say you chaps and chapsesses? :-)

I like creativity - art, poetry, music etc... am I mentally Ill :D

[Scheherazade]

What are your opinions on the subject, Lote?

[Lote-Tree]

What are your opinions on the subject, Lote?

I think the evidence for the correllation between Great Creativity and Mental Illness is very strong.

I don't have great creativity so I am quite safe and sane :D

What do other fellow "Creatives" on the forum think?

Regards,
Lote.

[Bakiryu]

I don't know if my creative has anything to do with any mental illness. I'm very creative thought: I draw, write both books and poems, sing, play the guitar and write musical lyrics.

I also have ADHD (is milder than it was before!), bipolar disorder and BDD (Does anorexia count too?)

I've found out that I'm more creative during my low moods and reading the article I agree with Matthew Kutz.

Are they related I wonder? If right now I was 'normal' would i still write poetry and prose?

[jon1jt]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder#Creativity

http://liu.english.ucsb.edu/wiki1/index.php/Relationship_Between_Mental_Disorders_and_Creativi ty:_Research_Report

What say you chaps and chapsesses? :-)

I like creativity - art, poetry, music etc... am I mentally Ill :D


probably. i'm not sick but i'm not well. :D

[Lote-Tree]

probably. i'm not sick but i'm not well. :D

When is it that you are most creative? High or Low periods?


Are they related I wonder? If right now I was 'normal' would i still write poetry and prose?

It was found that drug treatment for these conditions reduced the Creativity in individuals.

[Virgil]

Hey, given that there is more than one person on lit net that is bi-polar, I hope you will consider their sensitivities as you discuss this.

[Lote-Tree]

Hey, given that there is more than one person on lit net that is bi-polar, I hope you will consider their sensitivities as you discuss this.

There is no obligation on anyone one here on this forum to comment on this thread...

And if you are not happy discussing this please refrain from so.

Edit: You don't have to personalise your comments or give out personal details. This is an open discussion. And you can make it as amusing as you like or serious. But let it remain a discussion.

Thanks.
Regards,
Lote.

[Bakiryu]

It was found that drug treatment for these conditions reduced the Creativity in individuals.

Really? Last year I did a research on some medication and it also lowered your interest in daily actives, sex drive and could possibly lead to suicide or an allergic reaction.

Why would any one want to be so at risk? Art has a price.

I never knew Einstein was mentally unstable :idea:

[Lote-Tree]

Really? Last year I did a research on some medication and it also lowered your interest in daily actives, sex drive and could possibly lead to suicide or an allergic reaction.

Why would any one want to be so at risk? Art has a price.

I never knew Einstein was mentally unstable :idea:


The Greek had an idea called "Katharsis" extreme emotions leads to rejuvenation and reintegration of the self (or something to that effect). Perhaps it is a "natural" condition for some...so may be it is not an illness as such...but trait of an creative individual...?

[Mortis Anarchy]

I don't know if my creative has anything to do with any mental illness. I'm very creative thought: I draw, write both books and poems, sing, play the guitar and write musical lyrics.

I also have ADHD (is milder than it was before!), bipolar disorder and BDD (Does anorexia count too?)

I've found out that I'm more creative during my low moods and reading the article I agree with Matthew Kutz.

Are they related I wonder? If right now I was 'normal' would i still write poetry and prose?

What is normal anyways.

Well, I don't have any mental diseases. I don't think asthma counts...but thats allergy related I think. I'm not OCD, but my friends think I am...but its more habit really, thats the conclusion I've come to. Plus, I think everyone is a little OCD about certain things.

Has anyone read Diary by Chuck Palahniuk?? Well, he kinda talks about that...through pain and sacrifice comes the greatest art of all.

[NickAdams]

My wife suffers from bi-polar disorder and hasn't painted in a long time. She says she thinks I have depression, but she also wants me to go to the hospital for headaches. I do have highs and lows. When I'm at my best I feel I can progress the medium; at my worst I don't eat and want nothing more than sleep.

I am a little OCD. After I lock my front door, I jiggle the door knob. I walk down the staircase and go back to jiggle the handle. I walk halfway down the staircase and go back to jiggle the handle. If I don't do this, I am bothered by it all day. I do the same kind of thing with my pocket and satchel.

[Hyacinth42]

First you have to define "mental illness"... I really believe OCD, ADD/ADHD, and aspergers are just names for perfectionists/really neat people, people who can't focus, and people who are socially innept. Maybe the really extreme casses I can almost consider them "mental illnesses"... Anyways, mental illnesses mean you think differently (at least I think so), and so of course you're going to be creative ;) . Well, except for the aspergers syndrome, that kind of makes you less creative :P .

Oh, and the drugs for ADD/ADHD kids (and aspergers because the effect wanted is similar, though for different reasons), of course it makes them less creative. There are some drugs that are just criminal, it turns the kids into obedient zombies *shakes head* that's why I'm not sure about whether ADD/ADHD is a real illness (or if they should diagnose so many kids with it).

And, I think that while people with mental illnesses maybe more creative, that doesn't mean that all creative people have mental illnesses (depending on your definition of mental illness ;) ).

[jon1jt]

There is no obligation on anyone one here on this forum to comment on this thread...

And if you are not happy discussing this please refrain from so.

Edit: You don't have to personalise your comments or give out personal details. This is an open discussion. And you can make it as amusing as you like or serious. But let it remain a discussion.

Thanks.
Regards,
Lote.


Lote makes a good point, Virgil. :D calling somebody bipolar these days is not the same in the derogatory sense as calling somebody a retard, no?

[Virgil]

Hey, given that there is more than one person on lit net that is bi-polar, I hope you will consider their sensitivities as you discuss this.


Lote makes a good point, Virgil. :D calling somebody bipolar these days is not the same in the derogatory sense as calling somebody a retard, no?

Oh I didn't say he or anyone said anything wrong, but I could see how this could degenerate and somone say something that might offend someone. I was just asking people to be careful. I wasn't sure if everyone knows of the bipolar people here. You can see what I said above exactly.

[Literary_Cat]

Hmm--I'm an artistic person and tend towards a depressive personality...but my maternal grandmother had untreated clinical depression for many years...so it's rather close to impossible to say whether the art effects the disease, the disease effects the art, or whether they have anything to do with each other at all.

I feel certain enough to venture that the way I shape my identity has a good deal to do with the way I engage in my art... Perhaps everything is all in my head after all.

*shrugs*

[Demian]

The list of creative minds throughout history that have suffered great mental duress is certainly long. Those that were 'well adjusted and generally happy' were probably in the minority amongst all the greats. Well adjusted people tend to go in for more practical professions, like banking.;)

[Lote-Tree]

The list of creative minds throughout history that have suffered great mental duress is certainly long.


I think it is a trait of creativity in an individual just like some people are born atheletes or born beautiful etc...so looking at it this way...it is not an illness at all...

[Lambert]

The list of creative minds throughout history that have suffered great mental duress is certainly long. Those that were 'well adjusted and generally happy' were probably in the minority amongst all the greats.

Off the top of head: Brahms and Immanuel Kant were two creative minds who led extraordinarily dull lives.


Well adjusted people tend to go in for more practical professions, like banking.;)

T.S Eliot worked in a London bank for years. Apparently he loved the work. Well, go figure...

[chasestalling]

absolutely not. there is no correlation. one might use mental illness as a marketing ploy but the merit of a book, a painting or a composition lies exclusively in its beauty or the lack thereof.

[Bakiryu]

absolutely not. there is no correlation. one might use mental illness as a marketing ploy but the merit of a book, a painting or a composition lies exclusively in its beauty or the lack thereof.

we know art its for its own sake. But the question, simplified will be, why do most artists (writers and such included) seem always to have some kind of mental illness?

[quasimodo1]

As in so many areas, two-option thinking takes the place of real analysis and evaluation. The question itself is loaded and false because whether or not a person is creative is not a factor of "is the writer/artist mentally ill" or "if you can create, you are obviously not mentally ill". All two option thinking with the exception of mathmatics or maybe physics, is exclusive of the infinite shades of grey that exist in the "real" world. It is a matter of degrees, of fine and not-so-fine lines drawn arbitrarily around this subject. A person may just tend to be bi-polar or tend to be highly functional both logically and analytically. Between black and white there is the entire spectrum of colors. Creativity covers the entire spectrum. quasimodo1

[jon1jt]

When is it that you are most creative? High or Low periods?

high periods. but i need the highs and the lows as i find them to be part of an interlocking whole.

[chasestalling]

we know art its for its own sake. But the question, simplified will be, why do most artists (writers and such included) seem always to have some kind of mental illness?

writer's block, a dry spell, a terrible slump is bound to cause an identity crisis. who am i, why am i, etcetera...

[Bakiryu]

writer's block, a dry spell, a terrible slump is bound to cause an identity crisis. who am i, why am i, etcetera...

Something like "OH NO i GOT WRITER'S BLOG I MUST BE MANIC DEPPRESIVE" ????

[chasestalling]

Something like "OH NO i GOT WRITER'S BLOG I MUST BE MANIC DEPPRESIVE" ????

something like that. :lol: :bawling:

[Neo_Sephiroth]

I think the evidence for the correllation between Great Creativity and Mental Illness is very strong.

I don't have great creativity so I am quite safe and sane :D

What do other fellow "Creatives" on the forum think?

Regards,
Lote.

Crap! I must be in trouble 'cause I'm a FREAKING INGENUITIVE CREATIVE GENIUS!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!