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firemonkey
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03 Jan 2018, 6:54 am

Posted by Alex Fradera January 3 2018

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There’s a stereotype that mental distress is an almost inevitable part of being highly creative. But is there any substance to this idea, or have we been misled – by biographers drawn to artists with colourful and chaotic lives, and the conceits of cultural movements like the romantics?

Scientific attempts to resolve this question, which have mainly focused on disorders of mood, have so far struggled to reach a definitive answer. However, in a new review in Perspectives on Psychological Science, Christa Taylor of Albany State University has applied surgical precision to open up the existing body of research and lay out what we currently know.



https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/01/03/he ... epression/


I wonder what our creative types think.



SaveFerris
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03 Jan 2018, 8:36 am

Creative people have a gene which is also linked to psychosis and depression - neuregulin 1


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Spycraft
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04 Jan 2018, 6:24 am

Sometimes I can be creative when depressed. I used to write poetry or song lyrics when I was depressed. I really come alive during manic episodes though.



MindBlind
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17 Jan 2018, 12:08 pm

I agree that many creative types are possibly more prone to mental illness but I can’t say for certain if depression aids in creativity.

I feel as though my creativity suffers because of my depression. In fact it’s something I’m dealing with right now. Making art just seems to futile and I don’t get that catharsis that others sometimes get from self expression. I kind of resent those that are creative during depressive episodes. I feel like a fraud because I can’t call myself an artist if I don’t make art and even other artists make stuff when they’re depressed.

I’m most creative when my mood is elevated. I’ll have periods where I just feel excited about ideas and art just seems to pour from my fingertips. These moments are somewhat rare and fleeting so I try to squeeze as much as I can from them and get very frustrated when asked to slow down. It’s made me wonder if I in fact have some mild form bipolar disorder but I can’t say for certain at this point.

I just hope that one day I’ll have the cognitive fortitude to be creative in my darkest moods.