Such a sensitive soul

[TheEarl]

Is it something about artists that attracts problems with depression and mental illness? I know that there is a quite literally scary number of Litizens who have suffered, or do suffer from this. Hell, just look at the sheer size of the thread that people always bump in times of need.

Are we great writers because we've suffered? Or do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing?

The Earl

 

[impressive]

http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/byrd.html

http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/story.php?article_id=699

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/10/031001061055.htm

http://www.namiscc.org/Research/2002/Creativity.htm

 

[ABSTRUSE]

I'm the self appointed Queen of Pain. I let myself fall into the starving artist thing, now I'm in the anguished author thing.
I think we are overly sensitive to the world around us.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Is it something about artists that attracts problems with depression and mental illness? I know that there is a quite literally scary number of Litizens who have suffered, or do suffer from this. Hell, just look at the sheer size of the thread that people always bump in times of need.

Are we great writers because we've suffered? Or do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing?

The Earl

I'd rephrase those questions, but perhaps it's just me ...

Is it something about Internet bulletin boards that attracts problems with depression and mental illness? (Yes, clearly. I'm here.)

Are we great writers? (Not personally, but there's some hope of being passable in the long run. All good things take time and effort.)

Do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing? (Quite possibly. Personally, I suffer because of the characteristics of my writing, and I suspect others do as well. )

Shanglan

 

[Alex756]

Its not just artists, if you want to see a VERY interesting comparison take a look at the really theoretical of the physicists.

Links to high IQs also abound

They're the same coin.

~Alex

 

[Guest]

I'm the self appointed Queen of Pain.

*snicker*
hell, i refuse to say im depressive...mainly because i hide behind humor.
there are days when i could just scream
today has been a rollercoaster ride that i can hardly explain...(*please dont let this be hormonal)
so my theory behind the depressive creatives...
when we cant find an outlet for our emotions...when it seems like what we need to communicate cant be done, its like tying a cinder block around our ankles and down we go. outlet is my secret...finding a venue for my expression helps so damn much.

um...
ok, thats all i have to say about that. time to party.

 

[elsol]

*burp*

You're making the wrong correlation. Depression is actually a liberal tendency, comes from trying to fix an innately flawed world.

If more artists were conservative, there'd be less medicated artists.


Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[scheherazade_79]

I'm a sensitive soul, but I think I'm too fucking stubborn to crack up under it. I'm like Vella in that I hide a lot behind humour. If that doesn't work, there's always self-pampering... and I'm VERY good at that Sometimes, when the going gets super tough, there is nothing in the world that's too good for me - hotel suites, expensive restaurants, the latest games consoles and, more recently, a sports car.

Why? Because I'm worth it

 

[elsol]

Are we great writers because we've suffered? Or do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing?

I'm a good writer because my brain is wired in a way that the written word is my most natural form of communication.

I build sentence structures and put words together differently than other people.

I also told 'stories' since I was three.

I haven't suffered... and I'm not depressed.

Then again, I'm probably on the dark side of the artistic spectrum... the one with only one mistress, my writing.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[mack_the_knife]

I'm not an artist, I'm a craftsman.

 

[Liar]

I don't suffer a bit, that's all I know. But I don't consider myself a passionate artist. More a wannabe reinessance man.

 

[CharleyH]

Is it something about artists that attracts problems with depression and mental illness? I know that there is a quite literally scary number of Litizens who have suffered, or do suffer from this. Hell, just look at the sheer size of the thread that people always bump in times of need.

Are we great writers because we've suffered? Or do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing?

The Earl

No. I am quite a fine artist, and other than a little eccenticity and a whole lotta I don't care rebellion, I have no depession out of the ordinary. However, I used to think, when younger, that only manic states could really make you feel, and that translated you could only be manic-depressive to be an artist? Maybe its not artists that are depressive, but rather people hang out on forums because ... ?

I dunno, I'm not depressive.

 

[AppleBiter]

Is it something about artists that attracts problems with depression and mental illness? I know that there is a quite literally scary number of Litizens who have suffered, or do suffer from this. Hell, just look at the sheer size of the thread that people always bump in times of need.

Are we great writers because we've suffered? Or do we suffer because of the same characteristics that turn us onto writing?

The Earl

I think I've suffered depression because both of my parents did and do and it's hereditary. I honed my writing skills because when I'm down, I often write. But, depression didn't make me a writer. I've always loved to write and I write whether happy or sad. The two are connected on the level that I find writing soothing when I'm depressed, but it really goes no further than that.

 

[ABSTRUSE]

No. I am quite a fine artist, and other than a little eccenticity and a whole lotta I don't care rebellion, I have no depession out of the ordinary. However, I used to think, when younger, that only manic states could really make you feel, and that translated you could only be manic-depressive to be an artist? Maybe its not artists that are depressive, but rather people hang out on forums because ... ?

I dunno, I'm not depressive.

No shit.

 

[SeaCat]

Damned if I know. I'm not a depressive type personality. Nor am I manic, Psychotic, (please ignore the bodies, it's for an art exhibit.) or Bi-Polar. In other words while I have lived a little harder than some my coconut is just fine.

On the other hand I am an old fashioned somewhat romantic individual who believes in freedom to live and love however one wants. There must be something wrong with me.

Cat

 

[CharleyH]

No shit.

BELLA! Only your shit matters, otherwise scat is definately OUT!

 

[Mari J]

http://www.personalityresearch.org/papers/byrd.html

"Kaufman and Baer (2002) further propose that those with mental illnesses are more likely to be drawn to poetry rather than to other forms of prose due to the personal nature of poetry."

Uh oh.



Anyway, I'm manic depressive, and I find that it interferes with my writing instead of enables it. It's true that manic states give me a sudden confidence to write, but later I have to repair the nonsense I wrote at those times. Writing is a craft; for me it's a job. So I would rather approach it from a state of mental health instead of illness.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Decadent literature: "a new and interesting and beautiful disease."

Here's to Arthur Symons. A great man in his day, and a beautiful voice still.

 

[cloudy]

please ignore the bodies, it's for an art exhibit.

*coffee spew*

 

[Alex756]

Normally I am -really- good at google searching, especially when I know what I am looking for.

Stories of 'atists' with odd schizo type personalities are a dime a dozen.

Stories of physicists with the same are much much harder. the clearest case I know of I was unable to find reference to. I know the details, I know the incident is published, I know its somewhere in some of my piles of history of physics stuff.

Why is it? its almost flauted as showing the genius of literature, but have it applied to a wave theory of matter and it's hush hush?

OK it's late, I should be sleeping, but did no one write of Schrodinger's breakdown on the train to madison Wisconsin?

Genius whatever it is applied to seems to cause something to be 'off' , and ElSol I am with you on suspicios of the whoel spectrum thing. I don't recomend any writer take any of those tests, the results can be ... disconcerting. Then again I almost ended up being a theoretical physicist, if only the allure of my true love subject hadn't interferred.

~Alex -- past her bed time

 

[yui]

I don't know that I think artists (whatever the medium) are necessarily more prone to mental illness or depression; I think it is more a case that they have an more visible avenue, and a desire, to express those feelings. Perhaps the painting, the writing, the sculpture, the knitting, is what actually keeps us all "sane."

Luck to all,

Yui

 

[Samandiriel]

BELLA! Only your shit matters, otherwise scat is definately OUT!

She makes me wet.

 

[SylphOne]

Normally I am -really- good at google searching, especially when I know what I am looking for.

Stories of 'atists' with odd schizo type personalities are a dime a dozen.

Stories of physicists with the same are much much harder. the clearest case I know of I was unable to find reference to. I know the details, I know the incident is published, I know its somewhere in some of my piles of history of physics stuff.

Why is it? its almost flauted as showing the genius of literature, but have it applied to a wave theory of matter and it's hush hush?

OK it's late, I should be sleeping, but did no one write of Schrodinger's breakdown on the train to madison Wisconsin?

Genius whatever it is applied to seems to cause something to be 'off' , and ElSol I am with you on suspicios of the whoel spectrum thing. I don't recomend any writer take any of those tests, the results can be ... disconcerting. Then again I almost ended up being a theoretical physicist, if only the allure of my true love subject hadn't interferred.

~Alex -- past her bed time

Hmmm, I don't know that writers are anymore prone to depression than other individuals. I used to be involved in psychological research and i never came across this particular correlation. There has been some correlations made between IQ and mental illness, but then u get into the whole question of what IQ is actually measuring.
I would suspect that the average ( or exceptional ) writer has highly developed verbal skills ( one would hope anyway). This being true, it seems much more likely that they would put their individual expeirences into words....to verbalize the problem more so to speak. This does not mean that they actually are suffering to a greater extent from mental illness than any other section of the population.
Not to drone on about this, but u need to be careful of other variables that could be effecting your perception of the 'data'. For instance 'Lit' is an anonomous web forum in which many people (who have verbal tendencies) are free to vent their most intimate thoughts and experiences without having to truly reveal themselves. Of course this would make for a greater level of disclosure of depression a frequently negatively viewed illness in the real world.
The rest of us non-writers here on Lit are more than likely sexually frustrated
( kidding), causing yet a greater level of depression to surface here, lol

Sylph

In case u missed the point of all that it was this :
Writers...being writers of course are going to document there own illness, far more than any physicist. Doesn't mean the physicist isn't suffering too.