Bipolar 2 From Inside and Out

Posts tagged ‘art’

Bipolar Creativity

Does bipolar disorder enhance creativity or hinder it? That’s the question, and it’s one I want the answer to as much as anyone. After all, I am a writer, blogger, and editor. (And if you don’t think being an editor is creative, you’re probably thinking of a proofreader. I’m one of those, too.)

BP Hope magazine recently published a series of articles on the topic. In one, writer Francisco X. Stork wanted to say to a mother who reported that her son refused to take his bipolar meds, fearing that they would stifle his creativity, “If her son truly has bipolar disorder, then whatever he thinks he’s doing while in its grip is not art.”

That’s harsh, but I have an inkling of where he was coming from. Stork says that what he wrote under the influence of mania and even hypomania was “gibberish.” He points to his four published, well-received novels as being products of his creative powers while medicated properly for his bipolar disorder.

I think the operative words there are “medicated properly.” Stork adds, “Does medication affect my work? Yes. But not nearly as much as the unfettered symptoms of bipolar disorder do.”

I’m not saying that medication is necessary in order to be creative. There are no doubt and no doubt have been many creative people who were unmedicated or improperly medicated. Most of them we don’t know about because they lived before bipolar was a diagnosis or proper medication existed.

Stork’s opinions bear out my own experience. I write two blog posts of around 500-800 words each, almost every week since 12 1/2 years ago. I’ve been told by others and seen for myself that when depression or hypomania creeps up and attacks me, I lose not the overall ability to write, but the ability to write well. When I’m depressed, I write depressing things or have a hard time writing at all. I usually force myself to do it, but it’s certainly not my best writing. And when I’m hypomanic, I’ve been told (and believe) that my writing is unfocused, rambling, and/or poorly structured.

BP Hope ran another article by Donna Jackel. The key takeaways included these:

  • Mild hypomanic traits, like extra energy and fast thinking, may boost creativity, while severe symptoms can hurt it.
  • Mania may spark ideas, but mood stability can make it easier to focus and follow through.
  • Treatment doesn’t mean losing creativity, and stopping medication to protect it can carry serious risks.

Those points, I feel, are important. Jackel reports that “A review pooling 13 studies and nearly 1,900 people found a real, but very small, connection between bipolar disorder and creative-thinking scores — one that showed up mainly when people were feeling stable or had mild symptoms, and disappeared during depressive episodes. Mood state, in other words, may matter just as much as the diagnosis itself.”

Kay Redfield Jamison has also addressed the question in her many books. One question she has asked is “Does hypomania cause creativity, or do the two simply run in parallel?” And one answer may come from Sheri L. Johnson, PhD, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, who studied people who self-identified as highly creative and living with bipolar disorder, and found that “More than half the participants described unique states of creative thinking that benefitted their work.” More than half also “considered creativity central to their identity.” She hopes that these findings will help reduce the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses.

The links between bipolar and creativity are complex. Other research has shown that “People with stronger hypomanic traits came up with more ideas overall, but when judges rated how good those ideas actually were, they scored lower on average….A flood of ideas during hypomania, in other words, isn’t the same as a flood of good ones.”

Painter Missy Douglas recommends performing other creativity-related tasks while manic or hypomanic, such as running errands and preparing her materials. “I come up with a lot of complex, involved ideas for new projects in the studio during these times, but bringing them to fruition doesn’t normally happen until I’ve calmed down, if ever,” she adds.

Creative activities can help mitigate bipolar symptoms, however. Art therapy that includes sketching, painting, and even ceramics and making collages is a way to experience emotional release. Writing and journaling are good for mood management. Other people find music and movement good as coping tools, or use expressive dance for emotional regulation.

All in all, bipolar disorder may not be good for creating art, but creating art can be good for bipolar disorder.

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mental health

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Why People Don’t Believe in Mental Illness

Some people just don’t believe that mental illness exists. There are reasons for this. Not good reasons, but reasons.

I recently saw a meme that blamed mental illness on capitalism. There was no mental illness per se, only the toxic effects of a culture that compels us to put up with overwork and underpay, exploitation and inescapable drudgery. The stress of dealing with these conditions is what causes us – an increasing number of sufferers – to feel depression and anxiety.

There may be something to this, sort of. Environmental conditions that lead to stress and anxiety can certainly make mental illness worse, particularly those like bipolar disorder and other mood disorders. And, while capitalism may or may not be the cause, the majority of us are working harder with less to show for it than ever before. But the majority of us are not mentally ill.

My mother may have bought into this philosophy. She knew I had mental troubles, but she thought that if only I got a better job, I would be all better. Admittedly, finding a better-paying job that was less stressful would improve anyone’s mood, but it can do little or nothing for a clinical mood disorder.

Then there are people who seem to “believe” in mental illness, but really don’t. These are the people who acknowledge that mental illness exists, but think that it is a “choice” – that any person can choose happiness, health, or sanity merely by an effort of will. Those of us who can’t “pull ourselves up by our bootstraps” are simply not trying hard enough. The “choose happiness” people don’t seem to get that for most of us, our only choice is whether to get help from someone else – a doctor who prescribes a psychotropic, a therapist or counselor who listens or advises, or even a friend who reaches out.

And, of course, there are people who acknowledge mental illness, but think it is a good thing, the fount of creative brilliance. They point to Vincent van Gogh and his amazing art. They forget about the suffering, the self-harm, and the suicide.

But, romanticizing mental illness and even revering it do nothing to help people who actually have psychiatric conditions. It’s true that some people with mental disorders – Sylvia Plath and Dale Chihuly, to name two in addition to van Gogh – have created works of great art, beauty, and significance. But it’s certainly valid to wonder what they would have produced if they had not had the trials of mental illness to deal with. Would their work have been less inspired or more? It’s impossible to say. Personally, I believe that mental illness interferes with creativity more often than it enables it.

But the most common reason, I believe, that people don’t recognize the existence of mental illness is that it has never touched their lives, isn’t a part of their perceptions. A relative of mine once watched a talk show where women recounted dire experiences of having hysterectomies. “Those women are such liars,” my relative said. “I had a hysterectomy and it was nothing like that.” Her perception of reality – her personal experience – was extended to the whole world.

Similarly, when someone has no direct experience of mental illness, either by having a disorder themselves or by knowing someone very close to them with the disorder, the reality of mental illness itself comes into doubt. “No one I know has it, so no one does.”

Sometimes people who believe such things are capable of changing their minds, though. If a woman goes through a profound, long-lasting exogenous depression after the death of her husband, she may have more sympathy and understanding for people who have profound, long-lasting endogenous depression, or major depressive illness, as it’s more commonly known. Or a dear friend’s struggles to help a schizophrenic son may awaken her to what mental illness truly can be. Once it touches her life in some way, mental illness becomes real.

And since, according to statistics, one in four or five Americans will experience some type of mental or emotional disturbance in their lifetimes, the odds increase that people’s personal experience with mental illness will also increase accordingly.

In the meantime, those of us in the mental health community can help spread the word that mental illness does exist, that it affects the lives of millions of people, and that even people who are not directly affected need to understand how easily it can happen to someone they know.

Blaming mental illness on capitalism, overwork, or an insane world may be easy and may make us feel better by comparison, but it will do nothing to address the actual problem.

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mental health

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