Mad genius?
artists.
Through the process of pathography writers and researchers have begun using evidence like autobiographies, interviews, and other first and second-hand evidence to determine the possible mental disorders of deceased figures. With this research, they are able to make inferences as to how these illnesses affected the deceased and what it could mean for similar people or those who aspire to follow in their footsteps. The opinions from researchers are somewhat divided on the accuracy of these posthumous diagnoses, but for the following artists their indisputable diagnoses have become as much a part of their narratives as the art they created.
about.
Creativity and mental illness are powerful, personal, and overwhelming forces in the lives of many artists. It’s easy to argue that, as stated so eloquently in “La La Land,” a “bit of madness is key,” but to what extent is this true? Given the many fantastical works that have emerged from artists suffering from mental illness it can become easy to attribute their artistic creativity and success to their illnesses (Roberts). Could Edgar Allan Poe have written “The Raven” if he weren’t depressed? Would Edvard Munch have painted “The Scream” if he hadn’t been bipolar?
The romanticism of mental illness is a relatively new trend, but the concept of the creative genius dates as far back as the ancient Greeks (Missett). This view of creativity and artistic originality as being born out of the suffering of the artist is a dangerous and enabling outlook. So many creatives view their illnesses as a fundamental aspect of their creativity, but don’t grasp that the symptoms of their disorder are a hindrance to their potential. Great artists, as argued by Dr. Rothenberg, are successful because they have minds that think differently and make unnatural correlations and interpretations of the world in ways that can’t be attributed to mental illness. This is to say that a manic episode is not what fuels you to complete a difficult painting and it is not your depression that gives you the introspection to compose complex literary works. The view of mental illness and creativity as interrelated is to put them in a codependent relationship. A union in which they feed upon the symptoms and shortcomings of the other. But, like all unhealthy relationships, it will eventually come to a head and it is the artist who will be left to pick up the pieces.
What makes this relationship so unhealthy for the artist himself is the way mental illness disguises itself as so integral to the creative process and the artist’s being. Because depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder are not bruises on an arm but imbalances in one’s brain it’s easy to view them as a piece of one’s self. In a study conducted by Karleen Weber, in which eight artists were monitored during their process of recovery from their mental illnesses, many identified that their artistry came from a need to understand and identify their sense of self. The artists expressed that their disorders were a key component of their personal identity and it was therefore difficult “to discover a unique self-identity or to “know who me is” beyond predetermination of mental illness.” (Gwinner)
If the artist can create for himself an understanding of his identity as independent of his disorder, then his artistic self-exploration could ultimately be so much more significant.
Dear Creatives,
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Society and history have made mental disorders out to be a part of the job description in the creative field. They are not. Nobody should be made to feel that they are a slave to the imbalances in their brain or dependent on their illnesses to be capable of creating unique and meaningful art. Mental illness is not the paint that colors the blank canvas of your mind, you are. Your personality, imagination, experiences, and emotions give life to your work and to attribute that to your mental illness is to further enable it.
Because mental disorders do not surface as bruises on your body or breaks in your bones, it’s easy to get lost in where they end and your independent mind begins. Mood disorders especially, like depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder literally change the way in which you process your thoughts and emotions, spinning them up like a web until you are immobilized by your own mind. It is in this state that people burrow further into themselves and their minds, further entangling themselves. Art therefore can be a productive means of navigating this entrapment. If used as a tool of recovery, it can help “individuals make sense, manage, and negotiate conflicting ideas of identity and experiences of illness in the context of day to day living. (Gwinner)”
While helping eight artists, in a study meant to monitor their recovery from mental illness, Karleen Gwinner witnessed the struggle they experienced to identify a sense of self outside the labels of their disorders. Many cited that they felt that their sense of self relied on being an artist first and a patient second, and believed that their “mental illness was inseparable from personhood.” One particular patient named Paul gave the following insightful explanation which I believe many creatives can identify with:
I label myself as my illness because it happens in my head space… it effects my perception and the way I encode information...events. My interior space is mine, I can’t let go of this place, I made it, I constructed it....I mean I’d like to get a little bit more better, and maybe if I focus on what the illness is a bit, and try to describe it in pictorial terms, (this) might give me more insights. I might find some better ways to cope with it…. [But,] my illness… is real to me. Your system, to me, is madness. My construct is beautiful. I don’t want to give it up. I’m glad to be mad (Gwinner).
While his perspective is understandable and holds its own type of beauty, it validates the manipulative nature of mental illness. Parasitic in nature, it ensnares itself so much in its host that they lose themselves in it. That is why it is so important to seek help and work to form an independent understanding of oneself outside of mental illness. With that foundation, art can evolve from a selfward pointed mirror, which reflects and deflects endless images of an unchanging self, to outward facing one which can depict the beauty of an eternally adapting world.