How Can Creativity and Chronic Depression Coexist?

Posted by Mary Saville on a TEDTalks Forum:

Ever since I spent my 18th birthday in a psychiatric ward, I've struggled with chronic depression. I'm 35 now and don't feel defined at all by such an unwelcome mental companion since I have many coping strategies including medication. In this phase of life I am learning, creating and innovating at a much faster rate than in many previous years and would like to know how others handle having a mind that can rapidly sponge knowledge and churn out fun ideas one part of the day, and need to close down another part of the day.

I find that if I spend a few hours "producing" with my brain I often need a subsequent reboot of sorts - a retreat into quiet, a nap, a shutting down - before I can begin again.

Sometimes I have to stop and let sadness have a turn. Working late at night is helpful. Why? I'm not sure.

This is quite relevant to me and I would appreciate any thoughts, tips, or musings on the subject. Are you coping well with depression and still enjoying creativity? Do you have a helpful pattern of work to share?

Thanks everyone, this is a great forum.

RESPONSES

Bernd Fesel 0Reply
2 hours ago:I have no experience with depression, still I can easily agree with Aaron Nielsen co-existence thesis. I dare to take it one step further looking at Niki de Saint Phalle: She was sick of depression - and "cured" herself by making art.
Creativity might be good for more than balancing - be it troubles, sadness or depression. However - is there any research or medication of this type? I have never heard of it. creativity today is promoted and appreciated as a factor for more wealth and future, not yet for more health. Are we missing a major source and power?
Bill smithies 0Reply
3 hours ago: My age and experience of depression are seemingly very close to yours Mary. One of the most interesting experiences I have had in relation to creativity and depression was a little more than a year ago when I had my first encounter with anti-depressants; to cut a long story short I ceased to be creative at all.

I have a great many friends who are also artists and some have had the same experience upon taking medication to treat either anxiety or depression. A friend of mine came to realize that his badly depressive states were usually a precursor to coming up with a great idea, that his mind somehow needed to go into hibernation in order to devote more energy to it's maturation even if he wasn't cognizant of it at the time. Years ago I read one psychologists view that a 'healthy' depression is the minds way of telling us that we need to change, to do something differently, and an 'unhealthy' depression is when we are not able to effect that change for whatever reason and we become stuck. Your observation about the need to "reboot" struck a real chord with me and, in relation to that, I think the three observations become very valid.

My experiences with medication did not 'cure' me, but having the creative well dry up on me and then slowly come back made me more aware of the role of depressive states in my own creative process. The nature of creativity, to me, is a constant state of metamorphosis; changes in our ideas, our materials, our subject matter, the way we look at something, all are in a constant state of flux as a necessity. I don't think it takes any great stretch of the imagination to view the need for the reboot as a necessary step our brains go through in order to explore new ideas or subject matter in a wholly unconscious manner. As various other people have mentioned, this is not isolated to artists but to thinkers in general including politicians, philosophers, scientists and psychologists.

Dale Graham 0Reply
5 hours ago: Some basic assumptions seem to help my understanding of this subject. Depression is a mood that we define in order to communicate and define it to ourselves and others.
To suggest it does not serve a purpose, though we do not understand what that purpose might be, is a bit short sighted. Depression, the expression of mood, whether reactive or otherwise, brings an unintended level of what I call self-consciousness. In some personalities, this seems to be satisfying.
Creativity has various forms. I suppose if the level of depression is profound, it would be difficult to concentrate or focus the minds attention. In fact this is often the case with some forms of depression. Depression however, does take a person to a place in their thinking that is otherwise inaccessible. In that state, perhaps we find the source of inspiration for writers and other artists who are able then to express those notions in symbols.

Depression brings on a level of acute awareness- senses alert to stimuli, unable to filter the information may be a sensory overload. When in a state of heightened happiness, this seems not to occur.

Depression is as much an aspect of happiness, as darkness is of light. In fact it is essential. Such an interesting question.

Tiara Shafiq Reply
7 hours ago: Oh lordy. I've been dealing with depression for a great deal of my youth & young adult life too. I find that it's a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to creativity - it can make for good material, but that same depression is also what makes me not want to get out of bed or be motivated to do anything. The day they invent a method to do things by thinking I will be very very happy!

Chandrakanth Natekar Reply
13 hours ago: My dear friend, all forms of human creativity is an outcome of particular space and time where particular pressure will electromagnetically work in our brain cells and will emerge as a negative or positive power. This is the cosmic cycle in which the human mind is caught for ages. Here, the creativity of the so called evil and good, hatred and love, truth and untruth are also magnetically related with the particular space and time which moves based on the nature spectacular law of equilibrium..

Indeed, the great Renaissance of the 18th century was associated with the attractive character of capital and its birth time gravity. The forthcoming Renaissance of the 21st century will be associated with the repulsive character of capital and its death time gravity. In other words, the law of repulsion is connected with the law of detachment.

In the forthcoming days, the strong compressive wave of financial repulsion will give birth to a sudden change in the psychological velocity, density, pressure and temperature of the entire humanity and will spiritually move towards the long awaited Utopian dream of commune way of living.

It is the space-time that generates idea, not the human mind. Whenever the human mind or nature witness inner energy crunch it will cross the threshold of chaos and will emerge in the form of a dynamic force or an idea in correspondence with the particular space-time.

The most brilliant ideas in the history of mankind are also an outcome of the particular space-time. When the time is ripe it emerges through particular individuals with the force of revelation. William James says, "An idea, to be suggestive, must come to the individual with the force of revelation".
Eron Eron +1Reply
15 hours ago: Make friends with depression. I've had my highs and low but I had two major Lows of note. I7ll skip the story there, but after that, I realised it was worth "learning" from the experience.

Until i hit my third one.

If you can, work with the methods by everyone else. Use mine if nothing else works.

I didnt bounce back from the third. It's been a year now. I gave up, stopped figthing. From this dead place, not a place of productivity, get used to the scenery. Find a way to express this dead weight. I can't play piano but I pluncked away at one. Music felt like the best way (i didnt care about writing or performing at the time, my best strengths.) I tried to give depression another voice. Experience it with other senses. It was sad, soetimes it sucked but I got used to the scenery here. New sounds came out too. (someimes angry. Very angry.) Sometimes I still hit lows, and sometimes I'm VERY volatile. But a little like what Anna mentioned...little shoots are starting to appear.

Give the depression it's voice. It deserves to be respected.
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Now I'm going to ruin that poetry by adding more.
Examine Process psychology, developed by Arnold Mindell. (I recomedn "Riding the horse backwards" or "working on yourself alone. ") You'll find other methods to give depression (or any kind of setback) its voice. Theres a message there but sometimes we need to tranlsate it through a medium we understand. If you feel depressed...how does it sound? Play it. Roleplay.Puppets. Or draw it.
Examine the process described in "Hero with a thousand faces" by Campbell. (It's NOT a simple breakdown about how to be a hero and fight dragons.Its about submiting yourself to the intolerable, letting yourselfget eaten by this terrifying experience.

I didn't want to mention this but I'm in Japan, 1000km south of tokyo. We're unaffected but it reminded you how easy life can be wiped out. (I have a yong son too, that's hardest.) My third low though prepared me for this so we're staying.
Aaron Nielsen +2Reply
5 days ago: I don't think that the coexistence of depression (or some other mental malady for that matter) and creativity in one person is very unusual--there are plenty of examples throughout history of famous artists and other great men who have managed to be wonderfully create in spite of, or perhaps because, of their ailments.

I've never been in ward before, and I don't take medication, but I am often sad. My depression is more the result of life circumstances rather than biological predisposition, so maybe there are differences between your situation and mine; still, the pattern you described of "producing" and then "rebooting" is familiar to me. I am a very energetic person, and sometimes I get these great flashes of inspiration where I will write and write for hours on end--afterward, I may be pretty tired or have to stop because my mind is simply worn out. During this down time, I never nap; instead I usually eat or travel or do something physical for a while, but it's important that I'm not using my mind to do anything strenuous. I'm functionally on auto-pilot during this time, which lasts for several hours sometimes, and afterward I have to wait until I get inspired again before my brain feels up to tackling some new project.

I've been pretty prone to sadness since I was like 11 or so (I'm 18 now), but I feel like I cope well with it because by now it's just so familiar and normal for me. When I'm doing something or socializing, my sadness usually goes away, so it's not like I don't like relief. I feel like some amount of sadness in life is totally appropriate, and even helpful, especially when it comes to contemplating or working on art. Maybe that's just a weird thing with me, but I feel like it grants me a new perspective or dimension on things--like without my sad spells, I would not be able to fully appreciate or understand things.