Creativity
noun
1. the state or quality of being creative.
2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.
3. the process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.
Source: Dictionary.com
Creativity
Creativity is associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
It's difficult to get my head around Irish psychiatrist, Patricia Casey's latest offering in the Health & Living magazine. In fact, there are two problems in writing about her article, 'The Curse of Creativity', Problem
1. She may instruct her lawyers to send me an intimidating letter for daring to oppose her opinion,
and
2. I may be diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for offering a creative response to her written work.
On a recent trip to London Patricia Casey ventured inside the National Gallery, in particular Room 45, which houses amongst others, paintings by Vincent Van Gogh .
Casey writes:
The information on the paintings noted that many were painted during his time in the Saint-Paul asylum near Saint-Remy, in the Provence area of France. They showed his genius, evident even in the throes of major mental illness.Over the years there have been many psychiatrists that use Van Gogh's apparent mental disorder/s as an argument when in truth none of them can actually prove that he did have a mental disorder.
Van Gogh was born with a brain lesion and, as a result suffered from seizures, he also frequently drank absinthe, a drink that was, back then, associated with violent crimes and social disorders.
It is documented that Dr. Gachet, one of Van Gogh's physicians, was thought to have treated his epilepsy with digitalis. This prescription drug can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots.
Far be it from me to diagnose someone from all those years ago but the above would suggest that he may not have had a mental illness at all, in fact his brain lesion, enjoyment of absinthe and medication could have made the white-coated head-shrinkers believe that he was mentally disturbed. It's a valid argument is it not?
In fact, a critic once had this to say about Absinthe:
Absinthe makes you crazy and criminal, provokes epilepsy and tuberculosis, and has killed thousands of French people. It makes a ferocious beast of man, a martyr of woman, and a degenerate of the infant, it disorganizes and ruins the family and menaces the future of the country. [1]
Anyway, back to Casey's article...
In the case of Van Gogh I could oppose Casey's take on the study and put forward the argument that his creativity could have been down to the use of Absinthe [which, back then, was known to cause hallucinations]. Absinthe included a toxin called Thujone and when taken in high doses [quantity] can cause one to see objects in yellow. Or maybe it was the digitalis prescribed to him by his doctor, a drug that can cause one to see in yellow or see yellow spots. Is it just a coincidence that Van Gogh loved the colour yellow whilst being creative with his work?
If one's creativity is associated with a mental disorder then what hope do we have? It beggars the question what Casey believes about the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM], a book based on psychiatrists and their own creative minds in what should be deemed a mental disorder or not. There is no science to what they write, it's all based on creative thinking and judging by what they deem to be mental disorders one can only assume that they have all been on an Absinthe drinking binge.
In years to come I anticipate that the DSM will be placed in the National Gallery of London. Do they have any rooms for Fantasy?
Casey's article can be read in full HERE.
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