The Link Between Depression and Creativity

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsPopular Artists and Mental IllnessArtists and Mood DisordersMental Health Benefits of ArtBipolar Disorder, Schizotypal Traits, and Creativity

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Table of Contents

Popular Artists and Mental Illness

Artists and Mood Disorders

Mental Health Benefits of Art

Bipolar Disorder, Schizotypal Traits, and Creativity

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The notion that depression and other forms of mental illness go hand-in-hand withcreativityis so prevalent that it gave rise to the terms “tortured artist” and “mad artist.” But is this idea just a stereotype, or does it actually contain a grain of truth?

This article explores the paradoxical association between creativity and mental illness. It also discusses some of the potential mental health benefits of creativity and artistic pursuits.

Van Gogh sent an 1888 letter to his brother Theo explaining, “I am unable to describe exactly what is the matter with me. Now and then there are horrible fits of anxiety, apparently without cause, or otherwise a feeling of emptiness and fatigue in the head… at times I have attacks ofmelancholyand of atrocious remorse.”

Plath also wrote about her mental illness, referring to herself as neurotic, depressed, and suicidal in her 1963 semi-autobiographical novel “The Bell Jar.” In the book, she wrote, “I didn’t know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of the throat and I’d cry for a week.”

Plath and van Gogh were just two of a very long list of suffering artists. Edvard Munch, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and Frida Kahlo are also said to have suffered from depression.

Tortured artists are a group so fabled that researchers have set out to discover if there’s a verifiable link between mood disorders and artistic ability, but the results have largely proven inconclusive.

Some types of artists are reportedly more likely to be mentally ill than the general public, while others are less likely than non-creatives to suffer from mood disorders and psychological problems. Moreover, certain mood disorders appear to have stronger links to creativity than others.

Mood Disorders and Artistic Ability

In contrast, creativity was not associated with persistent depressive disorder (PDD), also known asdysthymiaor low-grade depression.

Symptoms of PDD are less severe than they are in major depressive disorder (MDD) but typically last longer, up to five years on average. Yet, people with MDD tend to be more creative than those withmild depression, the research suggests.

Although major depression and bipolar disorder are associated with creativity, evidence does not indicate that having a mood disorder enhances an individual’s artistic ability.

Rather, the high-pressure and hectic lifestyles of many artists may lead to depressive symptoms, as tight deadlines, high expectations, fierce criticism, and intense travel are common for such individuals.

Creativity and Mood Disorders: Similar Symptoms

Such behaviors also often occur when a person is in a state offlow, a mental state where people become highly focused and creative. During this time, people also exhibit intense and focused concentration as well as a distorted sense of time.

In the end, Taylor’s review raised more questions than it answered. She suggested that her investigation is a guide for future research rather than a conclusive study. That’s because asking “if creativity is related to mood disorder is too general to yield constructive answers and may lead to faulty or overgeneralized conclusions,” she explained.

And previous studies did not pose more specific questions, which generate a “vague maybe” rather than a definitive yes to that inquiry. That said, a large study conducted before Taylor’s review also indicates that a link exists between psychiatric disorders and creativity.

The Benefits of Art on Mental Health

On the other hand, creativity can be a positive outlet for people in mental distress, with art therapy increasingly prescribed for victims of trauma. Research has found thatwriting about painful past eventsmay even temporarily boost one’s immune system.

Since creativity can be healing, people with mood disorders may instinctively turn to art to help themselves cope or heal. Some potential benefits of art and creativity for mental health include:

Reviews of the available research suggest that the connection between creativity and mental health is nuanced and complex. One theory, known as the dual-pathway model of creativity, suggests that creativity is the product of cognitive persistence and flexibility.

Creativity can have a positive effect on mental health, allowing people to develop skills and strategies that both improve creativity and maximize mental well-being.

10 Psychological Tricks to Help Boost Your Creativity

In one study, researchers examined 40 years of research on approximately 1.2 million Swedish people and determined that creatives had a slightly higher rate of bipolar disorder diagnoses than the general population.

The incidence of bipolar disorder in this group was small, however. People with the disorder were just 8% more likely to enter the arts.

The researchers determined that writers were 121% more likely to suffer from the condition, and about 50% more likely to take their own lives than the public overall.In contrast, dancers, visual artists, and directors were less likely than the general public to suffer from a mental illness.

Interestingly, the study also found that close relatives of people with disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and anorexia nervosa disproportionately worked in the arts.

Research indicates that the non-psychologically disordered family members of people with schizophrenia tend to have moreschizotypal personality traitsthan the general population. Schizotypal traits include having poor mental boundaries between the self and others, engaging in impulsive nonconformity, and unusual perceptional experiences.

Creative personalities with unusual perceptual experiences and impulsive nonconformity rated themselves higher on a creativity scale than others. A 2013 study suggested that the mental processes that occur during the creative process are similar to those that occur in “psychosisproneness.”

This overlap doesn’t mean that mental illness fosters creativity but supports the idea that a brain engaged in a creative pursuit may closely resemble the brain of someone with a psychiatric disorder.

A Word From Verywell

While studies and observations have shown a connection between depression and creativity, there is no conclusive evidence that someone suffering from depression would be “more creative.” However, it’s worth noting the similar traits that are associated with both mood disorders and creativity.

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9 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Adams William Lee.The dark side of creativity: Depression + anxiety x madness = genius?CNN. 2014 Jan 22.The Bell Jar Quotes. Goodreads.Taylor CL.Creativity and mood disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2017;12(6):174569161769965. doi:10.1177/1745691617699653Hammond Claudia.The puzzling way that writing heals the body. BBC. 2017 June 2.Regev D, Cohen-Yatziv L.Effectiveness of art therapy with adult clients in 2018—what progress has been made?.Front Psychol. 2018;9:1531. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01531Zhao R, Tang Z, Lu F, Xing Q, Shen W.An updated evaluation of the dichotomous link between creativity and mental health.Front Psychiatry. 2022;12:781961. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.781961Kyaga S, Landén M, Boman M, Hultman CM, Långström N, Lichtenstein P.Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study.Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2013;47(1):83-90. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.09.010Kauffman SB.The real link between creativity and mental illness.Scientific American.Fink A, Weber B, Koschutnig K, et al.Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective.Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2014;14(1):378-387. doi:10.3758/s13415-013-0210-6

9 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Adams William Lee.The dark side of creativity: Depression + anxiety x madness = genius?CNN. 2014 Jan 22.The Bell Jar Quotes. Goodreads.Taylor CL.Creativity and mood disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2017;12(6):174569161769965. doi:10.1177/1745691617699653Hammond Claudia.The puzzling way that writing heals the body. BBC. 2017 June 2.Regev D, Cohen-Yatziv L.Effectiveness of art therapy with adult clients in 2018—what progress has been made?.Front Psychol. 2018;9:1531. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01531Zhao R, Tang Z, Lu F, Xing Q, Shen W.An updated evaluation of the dichotomous link between creativity and mental health.Front Psychiatry. 2022;12:781961. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.781961Kyaga S, Landén M, Boman M, Hultman CM, Långström N, Lichtenstein P.Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study.Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2013;47(1):83-90. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.09.010Kauffman SB.The real link between creativity and mental illness.Scientific American.Fink A, Weber B, Koschutnig K, et al.Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective.Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2014;14(1):378-387. doi:10.3758/s13415-013-0210-6

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Adams William Lee.The dark side of creativity: Depression + anxiety x madness = genius?CNN. 2014 Jan 22.The Bell Jar Quotes. Goodreads.Taylor CL.Creativity and mood disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2017;12(6):174569161769965. doi:10.1177/1745691617699653Hammond Claudia.The puzzling way that writing heals the body. BBC. 2017 June 2.Regev D, Cohen-Yatziv L.Effectiveness of art therapy with adult clients in 2018—what progress has been made?.Front Psychol. 2018;9:1531. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01531Zhao R, Tang Z, Lu F, Xing Q, Shen W.An updated evaluation of the dichotomous link between creativity and mental health.Front Psychiatry. 2022;12:781961. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.781961Kyaga S, Landén M, Boman M, Hultman CM, Långström N, Lichtenstein P.Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study.Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2013;47(1):83-90. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.09.010Kauffman SB.The real link between creativity and mental illness.Scientific American.Fink A, Weber B, Koschutnig K, et al.Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective.Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2014;14(1):378-387. doi:10.3758/s13415-013-0210-6

Adams William Lee.The dark side of creativity: Depression + anxiety x madness = genius?CNN. 2014 Jan 22.

The Bell Jar Quotes. Goodreads.

Taylor CL.Creativity and mood disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2017;12(6):174569161769965. doi:10.1177/1745691617699653

Hammond Claudia.The puzzling way that writing heals the body. BBC. 2017 June 2.

Regev D, Cohen-Yatziv L.Effectiveness of art therapy with adult clients in 2018—what progress has been made?.Front Psychol. 2018;9:1531. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01531

Zhao R, Tang Z, Lu F, Xing Q, Shen W.An updated evaluation of the dichotomous link between creativity and mental health.Front Psychiatry. 2022;12:781961. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2021.781961

Kyaga S, Landén M, Boman M, Hultman CM, Långström N, Lichtenstein P.Mental illness, suicide and creativity: 40-Year prospective total population study.Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2013;47(1):83-90. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.09.010

Kauffman SB.The real link between creativity and mental illness.Scientific American.

Fink A, Weber B, Koschutnig K, et al.Creativity and schizotypy from the neuroscience perspective.Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2014;14(1):378-387. doi:10.3758/s13415-013-0210-6

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