Emotional Health & Creative People

Research on naps, meditation, nature walks and the habits of exceptional artists and athletes reveals how mental breaks increase productivity, replenish attention, solidify memories and encourage creativity...

Creativity coach and therapist Eric Maisel, PhD talks about “official” attitudes of many health professionals about some forms of human experience, such as depression, that get labeled as mental illness.

He says, “The mental health industry has its reasons for calling life’s challenges ‘disorders’ but we have few good reasons to collude with them.”

Other writers and psychologists talk about the presumed connection between mood disorders like depression, and creativity.

by Eric Maisel, PhD. - 'The current naming system used to describe “mental disorders” is weak and suspect and perhaps so flawed as to be both useless and dangerous… and also leads to odd and wrong-headed hypotheses, for example “because you are bipolar you are creative” or “perhaps mania accounts for the higher test scores.”

One of his books: 'Rethinking Depression: How to Shed Mental Health Labels and Create Personal Meaning'  http://goo.gl/J77pc

Photo: Stephen King has said: “I’ve taken off two months, three months at a time, and, by the end, I get really squirrelly. My night life, my dream life, gets extremely populated and crazed. It’s as though something in there is running all the time.” - From article: "Developing Creativity: Excitabilities – Our Teeming Brains" http://talentdevelop.com/1906/

Many actors say they were shy earlier in life, or even as adults, and find acting has helped them. But shyness may also be social anxiety.

According to a news story, “Shyness was an ongoing problem for Chris Cooper… While studying at the University of Missouri, he vowed to get ‘unblocked.’

“Taking dance classes at nearby Stephens College, he was one of only three men amid a roomful of women… Acting was another means of expression — ‘theater, as therapy,’ he says.

'Some of the titular outsiders featured in Alissa Quart’s new book, Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels, are crazy. That’s not a judgment; it’s a self-description: Among her diverse range of nonconforming subjects, Quart explores the “Mad Pride” movement, a group of people who reject the notion that their mental illnesses are disabilities.'

Alissa Quart’s new book: Republic of Outsiders: The Power of Amateurs, Dreamers and Rebels. http://buff.ly/169QlGx

"Lee Thompson Young in a scene from the TNT series "Rizzoli & Isles." Los Angeles police say his death is being investigated as a suicide"

Another article: 'A friend said a report linking Young's depression to his religion was "a gross mischaracterization."

'A better explanation, the friend said, is that Young was drawn to religion because he yearned for enlightenment and may have been "too sensitive" for this world.'

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/lee-thompson-young-leave-suicide-note-source-article-1.1431739

"The arts can give a life to the parts of ourselves that we often hide, or are scared to show in their most exploded forms. In a more traditional setting, like in a theater or a gallery, artistic work can give the audience a chance to escape from their own realities and give breath to the parts of themselves that feel touched or evoked by the piece."

"I still have pretty much the same fears I had as a kid. I’m not sure I’d want to give them up; a lot of these insecurities fuel the movies I make.” Steven Spielberg

There can be many flavors of insecurity, self-criticism, stress and anxiety related to being gifted, talented and creative.

The impact of mood disorders and other mental health challenges on being creative.

Many highly talented actors use and abuse drugs and alcohol, often as self-medication. Sometimes they risk addiction.

Edie Falco portrays the compassionate and competent – and painkiller-addicted – Jackie Peyton on the comedic drama series “Nurse Jackie.”

Falco has said her own experiences with addiction have been part of her dynamic acting.

By Scott Barry Kaufman |  “There is only one difference between a madman and me. I am not mad.” —Salvador Dali / "The romantic notion that mental illness and creativity are linked is so prominent in the public consciousness that it is rarely challenged. So before I continue, let me nip this in the bud: Mental illness is neither necessary nor sufficient for creativity."

Creativity coach Eric Maisel asks, "Are you creating less often than you would like? Are you avoiding your creative work altogether? That’s anxiety."

Included is a brief video with his comments, plus related articles on recognizing and dealing the kinds of anxiety creative people may feel.

Many creative people have talked about how valuable it can be to use therapy or counseling for dealing with challenges, or to enhance self-understanding.

Maggie Gyllenhaal says she began therapy without a “specific, clear, rational thing” that made her start, “but as soon as I did, everything in my life changed, almost immediately.” She continued, “There’s another part of me working that isn’t the intellectual side – the unconscious – and that was not awake most of my life. Not actively. There were times when it would push through, but now I feel I’m really honoring it.”

Is the kind of obsession many artists have a mental health problem, some sort of OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Or is it just part of creative work?

Adam Savage (of "MythBusters") relates how he collected thousands of images and documents, and crafted a beautiful museum-quality mounted skeleton of the defunct Dodo bird.

Another example: perfectionistic director Stanley Kubrick once had a photographer take pictures of every single building on a road in London, so he could lay them side-by-side in his living room.

Director Woody Allen notes he gets pleasure from filmmaking, and after decades of psychotherapy, says it is his version of basket weaving.

“I could sit here suffering from morbid introspection, ruing my mortality, being anxious. But it’s very therapeutic to get up and think, Can I get this actor; does my third act work? All these solvable problems that are delightful puzzles…"

Can Asperger's Syndrome or related conditions include neurological differences and qualities that enhance creativity?