Creativity and mental illness

"I know that if I could really understand mental illness, then it would be appropriate to make a big career shift. I would become a therapist and a leader in terms of mental illness. But I'm not in the position."   John Forbes Nash, Jr.

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News about mental illness has become the rage these days with regard to the plethora of mass shootings in the U.S. Every time there is one of these events, the dreaded mental illness card is played. "If mental illness was better treated..." "If mentally ill people couldn't get guns...." "If there wasn't such a stigma about mental illness...."

There remains a stigma about mental illness. It's not something that anyone really brings up in "polite" conversation. The question, "How are you today?" does not really ask for an honest answer because no one really wants to know how the mentally ill person is feeling. S/he might be holding on for dear life but is so good at appearing "normal" that people are shocked when that person suddenly snaps.

It's often been posited that mental illness and creativity go hand in hand; there may be more truth to this than we're willing to admit. Of course, the "famous" examples like Robert Schumann and Tchaikovsky immediately come to mind but certainly there are many more. How did their depression, mania, or other psychological malady adversely affect their creative output? Or did it actually help it along the way?

Peter Illych Tchaikovsky

Dr. Richard Kogan writes of Schumann's bipolar disorder, "Schumann demonstrated both the creative advantages and disadvantages of mental illness. During his episodic depressive periods, he composed virtually nothing because he had difficulty in concentrating and was seized by the delusional conviction that he was a worthless composer. But when he cycled into hypomanic states, he was prolific. He made use of the increased energy, sharpened imagination, and decreased need for sleep to create original musical masterpieces. The arc of his career reveals episodic bouts of staggering creativity. He composed 3 string quartets in a 2-week period and completed 140 songs in 1 year. Many clinicians have noted that bipolar individuals can be resistant to compliance with treatment regimens because many of them do not want to give up the creative “highs” associated with their mania."

Robert Schumann

Beethoven's deafness turned him into an angry man and its certain that he suffered from acute depression. This and considerations of suicide are well chronicled in his "Heiligenstadt Testament." But music kept him from the abyss, "it seemed impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt called upon me to produce, and so I endured this wretched existence."

Kogan on Beethoven: "Ludwig van Beethoven suffered from a variety of psychiatric symptoms, including persecutory delusions, volatile moods, ex-plosive rages, and suicidal ideation. But I believe that he is most compelling as the quintessential example of a characteristic of mental health, specifically, resilience or the capacity to cope with adversity. Deafness, a hardship for anyone, is a catastrophe for a musician. But Beethoven ultimately embraced the loss of his hearing as an opportunity to fulfill his artistic destiny. Locked in the silent world of his imagination, Beethoven created a musical language that was different from anything that had previously existed. He anticipated the sonorities of the modern piano, writing sonatas such as the Appassionata and the Hammerklavier, which vastly exceeded the capacity for resonance of the instruments of his era. And he wrote works such as his renowned fifth and ninth symphonies, which begin with dramatic conflict and end in triumph and transcendence, paralleling the narrative arc of his own life story." 

While it has been proved that, among the causes of Beethoven's death was lead poisoning (probably because of compounds used in the wines of the day), many composer's were true alcoholics. The most significant would have to be Modest Mussorgsky, probably the most gifted of the "Mighty Handful". He would certainly occupy a more prominent place in the pantheon of music history if it weren't for the disease that took his life at age 42.

Peter Warlock, aka
Philip Heseltine

Among others suffering from acknowledged depression include Sergei Rachmaninov, Orlande de Lassus, Carlo Gesualdo, John Dowland, Hector Berlioz, Mikhail Glinka, Anton Bruckner, Anton Arensky, Hugo Wolf, and Charles Ives. Berlioz, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Wolf tried to kill themselves and failed. Jeremiah Clarke succeeded by shooting himself and Peter Warlock decided to "overdose" on carbon monoxide.

Clarke, the REAL author of
"Trumpet Voluntary"

But again, is there a correlation between creativity and mental illness? Examining the lives of Van Gogh and Sylvia Plath would lead to that conclusion, but for now, I'll let Kogan have the last word.

"Creative people tend to see the world in novel and unconventional ways, and they often seek out intense and destabilizing experiences. Creative ideas are frequently generated during chaotic mental states characterized by loosening of associations that resemble the psychosis of mania or schizo-phrenia. 

The mystery of creative genius has long been one the most fascinating problems for those who seek to understand the mind. Freud once remarked that the essence of artistic genius was beyond the comprehension of psychoanalysts. Neuroscientists and brain researchers today are striving to unlock the mystery and complexity of the creative process."

John Forbes Nash, Jr.
Nobel Laureate