Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “creativity”
Is it true that people with mental illness, particularly mood disorders, are more creative? Or do creative people more often develop mental illness? Does the medication given for mood swings dampen creativity? Are there different types of creativity that manifest themselves during heightened, depressed and normal moods? What is creativity, anyway? These are hotly debated questions but clear guidance is …
A link between creativity and mental illness has been a long-standing area of conjecture, and there have been some recent attempts to research such a link, with varying results. The first major problem is that there is no real agreed-upon definition of “creativity”, and therefore no way to pinpoint people in the general population who have it (or more of …
“How can I get my creativity back?” One of my patients, who has been wrestling with depression for quite a while, asked me if I could think of anything that might help give her creativity a boost. My quick, off the cuff, reply was “go running again” (she was an avid runner before she got depressed), in part because of …
I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to pace yourself so that you can capture some of the energy and creativity associated with being mildly energized while not getting so involved that you burn out or edge into full-fledged mania. There’s nothing quite so exciting as entering a time of increased energy and ideas after a long …
I am happy to let you know about an upcoming performance from Joshua Walters. Several years ago, Josh was a facilitator for the Depressive and Bipolar Support Association of San Francisco (DBSASF) Young Adults Group. Josh was one of a handful of finalists in a TED Talks search for new talent with his talk “On Being Just Crazy Enough” which has …
Bipolar books are coming out with greater frequency. I’m hoping to focus on some of the more creative examples in this site. I’m happy, once again, to post a sample of a wonderful book by Ellen Forney called Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me. This is a delightful cartoon book that was a New York Times bestseller. I’m hoping that …
Several of the people that I saw this week have been struggling with a loss of motivation. A lack of motivation can be one of the most prominent symptoms of a major depression, but there were other aspects of their loss of motivation that I found fascinating. I asked one of these patients, a man in his 40s who is …
A very talented writer who we’ve been seeing for about six months has noticed that her creativity seems to be way down. Creativity is a fundamental part of her view of herself. She is very upset. Her concern is that the lithium she has been taking might be the cause. However, she has been quite depressed for the last month. What …
Farmers will sometimes leave a field “fallow” – they won’t plant anything in it but rather let native plants grow in it – as a way of rejuvenating the land. Then when they do plant the field it is often very productive. We were talking with one of our clients this morning about the topic of seasonal variability in mood …
