Have you ever wondered if there is a connection between creative genius and depression?

I always loved the music of Robert Schumann. His melodies and sense of fun appealed to me as a piano student. Schumann enjoyed painting pictures with his music and some of his intermediate piano works with names such as, “The Strange Man,” “Knight Rupert,” and “Hunting Song,” sing of 19th century European life situations that my youthful heart longed to see. I could imagine myself there simply by hearing the sound of his music played by my young hands.

When I was studying music history in college, I learned that Schumann had a very sad life. He struggled with mental illness and died in altogether unhappy circumstances. I remember thinking, “Why does it seem that so many creative people struggle with mental illnesses and depression? Am I just imagining that there is a correlation between the two things?”

Apparently, I am not the only one who has asked that question. An article published by Time Magazine  (Amy Dickenson April 16, 2001) discussed a study that was performed by psychologist Kay Jamison at Oxford and London’s St. George’s Hospital. Ms. Jamison wondered if it could be proven that a higher percentage of creative people suffered from emotional disturbances such as depression. Kay studied forty-seven prominent British artists and creative writers who were all winners of major awards or were members of the Royal Academy of Arts.

It was discovered that 38% of the subjects had experienced mood disorders like depression, which is a rate much higher than the general population. One thing that seemed surprising to Jamison is that of the writers that had suffered with mental illnesses, most of these were poets. Jamison said that this makes sense “because the language of poetry is more akin to primitive thought processes and psychosis and because the nature of sustained work is probably different in the two kinds of writing.”

Jamison has stated that a person doesn’t have to be inflicted with a mood disorder (like depression) to be creative. In fact she has said, “A majority of creative people are not manic depressive. On the the other hand, a mood disorder can be exploited by artists to justify outrageous behavior. People like Byron used it to get away with all sorts of activity that wasn’t acceptable for someone who is normal.”

Most of the “‘normal” people in her study reported creative highs that are similar to the highs of manic-depression. During these “high” periods, forty-two of the forty-seven artists reported having periods, lasting about two weeks ” in which they were enthusiastic and had bursts of energy and and increased abilities to be creative. In fact, Jamison reports that some artists are reluctant to get help for their emotional disturbances because, “severe emotional swings are simply the price to be paid for being creative.”

So for many people, while the pain of the illness is not to be undervalued, they feel that the creativity that accompanies their mental illness is nature trying to make up for the pain being experienced by allowing the sufferer an increased ability to express what they are feeling.

Here is a partial list of creative geniuses who have suffered from depression. What do you think?

• President Abraham Lincoln
• Dick Cavett
• Mike Wallace
• Rodney Dangerfield
• Sylvia Plath
• Winston Churchhill
• Georgia O’Keefe
• Rod Steiger
• William Styron
• Virginia Woolf
• Ernest Hemingway
• Mark Twain
• Tipper Gore
• Patty Duke
• Theodore Roosevelt
• Robert Schumann
• Ludwig von Beethoven
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Vincent van Gogh
• Margot Kidder
• Paula Cale (Joanie Hansen on CBS’s Providence)
• Carly Simon
• Amanda Lewis (MTV veejay)
• Marie Osmond
• George Friderick Handel
• Hector Berlioz
• Robert Schumann,
• Dante Gabriel Rosetti
• Eugene O’Neill
• Honore de Balzac
• John Ruskin
• F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Charles Lamb
• Byron Shelleu
• Hart Crane
• Theodore Roethke
• Delmore Schwartz
• John Berryman
• Robert Lowell
• Anne Sexton
• Slyvia Path
• William Cowper
• Thomas Chatterton
• Amy Tan
• Derrick Adkins
• Rosie O’Donnell
• Rosemary Clooney
• Margaret Cho
• Ricky Williams (New Orleans Saints running back)
• Nikki Teasley (North Carolina basketball player)
• Wendy Williams (won a bronze medal in diving in the 1988 Olympics)
• Kirk Douglas
• Kitty Dukakis

Here’s a simple stress management technique. If you find yourself experiencing a lot of stress and feel like you can’t handle things, try this simple method for calming yourself down that I learned from watching the Oprah show:

• Breath in through your nose for a count of four.
• Hold your breath for a count of seven.
• Breath out through your mouth for a count of eight.

Because you are taking twice as long to breath out and you are to breath in, your body automatically will begin to relax. It doesn’t even take very many repetitions of this stress management technique for your body to begin calming down. I have even had great success using this technique to help me deal with pain at the doctor’s or dentist’s offices.

Hope this simple stress management technique proves helpful to you!

“And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.” (Helaman 5:12)

Those of us who have experienced depression are well acquainted with the “mighty winds the devil shall send forth.” When we are depressed, the forces of evil seem to gather around us, creating additional chaos in both our mind and our lives. The mighty storm rages and because of our weakened mental state life events (that during better times wouldn’t faze us) send us into a tailspin.

How do these mighty winds appear in our lives?

• Our thoughts. Satan loves to add to our depressive state by feeding us thoughts such as “I can’t take it anymore,” “I’m no good,” or “I’ll never be happy again.”

• Stress. When we are depressed, we seem less able to handle stressful life events. It is no accident that sometimes, everything seems to pile on us, particularly if we are prone to suffer from this illness.

• People. Often, when we are depressed, the innocent (and yes, sometimes not so innocent) comments of people can cause us additional pain. We are less able to throw off what is said to us.

The good news is that this scripture offers us a promise. We are promised that if we build our foundation on Christ, these blasts of hot, fiery air cannot drag us “down to the gulf of misery and endless wo.” What hope this offers those who are ill! While we may suffer exceedingly, if we trust in Christ and believe Him, we will not be left to agonize forever.

How then, do we build our lives on Christ? The answers are so simple that we often cannot (or will not) believe them. “Give me some hard task, Lord,” we cry. “Tell me to sell all of my belongings. Tell me to give up sugar. Tell me to write a magnificent symphony that will make the inhabitants of the earth weep with joy when they hear it. Give me something that I really can’t do, because then I will be free to blame you for my problems.”

The Lord, in his mercy, merely smiles and then speaks to us gently through his servants. He tells us that his way is understandable. The path is clearly marked.

The answers are always the same:

• Have faith in me. I love you and will help you.

• Pray. Pray even when you think I don’t hear you. I do hear you and I need you to keep praying so that I can help you.

• Study and ponder the scriptures. The iron rod of the word of God will keep you steady.

• Keep the commandments. Do your best. Repent when you fail. Get up and try again.

• Follow the prophets. The words of my modern day prophets will show you that I still am here and that I am concerned about my children.

• Love and serve each other. The best way to find me is to “lose” yourself in the service of your fellow mankind. Keep it simple. Do what you can. Even if all you can manage on a rough day is a breath of a prayer for someone else or a small smile directed towards another person, your service will benefit both those served and yourself.

• Believe in Christ: He is there. Believe Christ: He will do what he has promised us.

• Believe him, just believe him and somehow, you will make it because he will never fail you.

Have you ever felt stuck in an emotional state, unable to deal with with your depressed or fearful feelings? You can’t seem to  heal your emotional wounds.  You don’t know how. You feel somewhat like Scarlett O’Hara as you think, “I’ll deal with this tomorrow – or later – or never…”

In her wonderful book, Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal Your Body, Mind, and Spirit, Barbara Ganim states, “There is a growing movement nationwide among contemporary artists and non-artists to use art to heal the body, soothe the mind,and transform the spirit.

Throughout the ages, artists have intuitively known what others are just beginning to discover; creating a visual image on paper  through any art medium produces physical and emotional benefits for both the creator and the viewer. Psychotherapists, medical caregivers, and educators have rediscovered art as a way to heal emotional wounds created by our internal feelings of fragmentation, as well as by our sense of separation from others.

Medical science has revealed that as we heal our emotional wounds, we also heal the wounds of the body. As a result, art is successfully used to reduce the physiological stress that causes immune system dysfunction by enabling patients to connect with negative, painful, or fearful emotions that are known to trigger that stress.

“But I’m not an artist,” you are probably saying right now. “I can’t even draw stick-figures.”

That’s the wonder of this method of coping. You don’t have to be an artist for the technique to be very effective. Any image you produce can be very healing. The image might not mean anything to anyone else, but it will be meaningful to you.

This significance can be understood by learning about split-brain research, which according to Ms. Ganim, “focuses on the functional difference between the right and left sides of the brain.” Researchers have learned that the right side of the brain processes all of our experiences and emotions as images first. The left side of the brain then takes these images and translates them into language. Our bodies respond to images before they respond to words. This pattern of response would explain why our dreams, which are mostly images, often cause such powerful physical reactions.

Ms. Ganim’s technique to access the images that will help us process our emotions involves visualizations. In her book, she teaches various types of visualizations with steps similar to this:

• Close your eyes and take three deep breaths.
• Become aware of your body and how it feels as you breathe.
• Become aware of how your body feels in its surroundings.
• Continue breathing.
• Imagine that there is a little beam of light in the center of your head. This light can illuminate whatever part of the body it moves into.
• Now focus on an emotion that you are experiencing. How does it feel and what part of your body feels it? Imagine that you are moving the light to this part of your body.
• Imagine what the emotion would look like if it you could see it. What shape would it take? What color(s) would it be? What texture would it have?
• Once you know what it looks like, open your eyes and begin to draw the image(s) that have appeared in your head. Don’t worry about making mistakes. Just draw.
• Once you have completed your drawing, put it somewhere where you can view it from a distance.
• Study your drawing until you know what it means to you. The interpretation is personal and no one can give it to you (including your therapist).
• Write your impressions down.

There are many more techniques for dealing with your emotional wounds in Ms. Ganim’s book, including techniques for changing negative images into something that produces a positive, healing effect.

When I first read Art and Healing, I was experiencing severe stomach pains. I was also having difficulty deciding what to do about a situation in my life. I couldn’t seem to move ahead. I felt stuck and was aware that I needed to do something, but had no idea what that might be. I became frustrated with myself and began to feel depressed.

Then I found Art and Healing in my local library. I decided to try Barbara’s suggestions, as I was feeling quite desperate for a solution.

After I made my first drawing, I instantly knew what it meant. The object the figure is holding is fear. The stomach pains were the physical manifestations of this fear. I suddenly heard myself say, “Why don’t you stand up and drop that thing? Walk away from it and get on with your life.”

I was shocked at how mad I was at myself for allowing this fear to control me. My drawing showed me that not only had I been holding on to the fear, I was grasping onto it very tightly.

Almost immediately, my stomach pains went away. I began moving forward with my plans. I didn’t feel overwhelmed. To this day, I can’t quite get over how dramatically my drawing changed my life.

There are many useful techniques for dealing with our emotional wounds. Pick something and start trying. You don’t have to be like Scralett O’Hara any more.

As with any technique provided on this blog, if you find yourself unable to deal with what you learn about yourself on your own, please seek appropriate medical or psychological help.

Feeling stressed? Here are a few tips that may help lower your stress-temperature.

1. Exercise. Exercise releases endorphins that make us feel good. Leave the building you are in and take a short (10-15 minute) walk around the block. You might be surprised at what an effective stress management technique you have discovered. If you add some rhythmic breathing (breathe in and count to four; breathe out and count to four) while you are walking, you will increase the benefits.

2. Breathing techniques. Here’s a good one: Breathe in for a count of four, hold for seven counts, and then breath out for eight counts. This method is a well-known relaxation technique and is a very effective stress management technique. It also works when you are dealing with pain. Try it!

3. Laugh. Search online for funny jokes.

4. Eat something healthy. Often, stressed feelings are caused by poor eating habits. When you are feeling tired and anxious, don’t reach for something loaded with sugar and caffeine because you’ll experience a rebound crash an hour or two after you’ve eaten it. You’ll end up feeling worse than you did. Instead, eat some protein with some complex carbohydrates or dairy.

5. Pray. Research has shown that people who pray and have a relationship with God handle stress better.

6. Take a mental vacation. Find a place where you can be alone for about 10 minutes and imagine that you are in a place where you feel relaxed. I like to imagine that I’m sitting on a beautiful beach. Then I imagine that I hear the sound of waves hitting the beach as the surf comes in and out. I feel the breeze blowing through my hair. I feel the comfortable warmth on my skin. I hear the sounds of birds in the tress. I feel the sand on my feet and legs. Just writing this has transported me and the stressed feelings I had are melting away.

7. Pet a small animal. Research has found that stroking an animal is a very soothing stress management technique. There are now programs that allow volunteers to take their trained pets into hospitals and convalescent homes.

8. Make time for fun. Play a game or watch a funny movie.

9. Do one thing at a time. Do you try to talk on the phone while answering email and eating lunch? Bad idea. Contrary to what some people think, multi-tasking isn’t good for you. Not only are you less able to focus on the task at hand when you multi-task, your stress level will rise over time. Allow yourself the luxury of accomplishing something – one item at a time – and avoid this particular brand of stress altogether.

10. Do something for someone else. A simple, but underused, form of stress management is serving others. So go ahead… get out of your own head and look around for something you can do to help someone else. You don’t have to do something big. Even small acts of kindness – such as giving someone a compliment or thank you – can help minimize the effects of stress.

11. Be a human. That’s what you are, you know. Dump the Superwoman or Superman cape you’ve draped over your shoulders. The pressure you are unnecessarily putting on yourself to become perfect could be the single most important thing you do as you increase your stress management skills.

12. Forgive. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Dump the heavy load of anger-bricks you’ve been carrying around in your stress-backpack. You’ll feel better, I promise. If you are feeling stuck, try this technique I learned from Louise Hayes: Look at yourself in a mirror. Talk to yourself as if you are speaking to the person you are angry at. Tell them how you feel, describing how their actions hurt you. Talk and talk and talk until you feel better. You’ll probably find that a point will come that you realize it isn’t worth it to you to hold onto the anger. Tell them that you forgive them, and – if necessary – tell them that you are releasing them from your life. Wish them well as they continue their journey. Then pat yourself on the back for taking such a big step in your stress management journey.

13. Talk to someone about your feelings. If there isn’t anybody in your immediate circle that feels safe to talk to, there are many online communities with helpful and supportive members who understand your feelings. As you search for such a community, watch them a little bit before you join in to make sure the discussions move in positive, helpful directions. Get the lay of the land, so to speak, so that once you make your first post, you’ll have confidence that you are approaching them in a manner that indicates you are sincere in joining their community.

14. Throw your stress out with the garbage. Write down everything that is stressing you. Tear the paper up into tiny pieces and throw it away.

15. Look at the sources of your stress and decide if are able to do something about them. If you can take action, begin today. If you discover that someone else really owns the stress item, release it, and mentally give it back to whomever owns it. Make a statement to yourself such as, “I used to feel that _____ was making me feel stressed. I now give it back to _____, because they own it.”

Photo by Moriza.

Some people feel more comfortable using herbal remedies to ease their depression. If you decide to use natural remedies for anxiety and depression, it would be wise to purchase your herbs from a respected source such as GNC (General Nutrition Center), as herbal supplements are not regulated by the FDA. There have been some studies done by Good Housekeeping and other consumer watchdogs and the amounts of compounds actually found in the remedy vary widely in some brands. GNC seems to always have what they claim to have in their supplements, which is why they are recommended here. Here is a listing of some of the top natural treatments for depression:

St. John’s Wort

St. John’s Wort is an extract from the flowering plant known as Hypercium perforatum and has been used effectively in Europe to treat depression for many years. It seems to work in a similar fashion as some of the traditional medications used for depression, and because of this, it is not recommended that St. John’s Wort be taken with prescribed medications.

It is important that you tell your physician that you are taking St. John’s Wort, but don’t worry too much about their reaction. This herbal remedy has moved into the mainstream. In fact, I’ve been told by several doctors that they use it to treat their own depression.

St. John’s Wort doesn’t seem to cause some of negative side effects that other antidepressants cause (like reduction of the sex drive), but there are concerns about sun sensitivity, particularly if the patient is fair skinned. If you are taking St. John’s Wort, it would be especially important for you to use sun block when spending extended periods of time in the sun. It is also important that if you are going to have surgery, you inform your doctor that you are taking St. John’s Wort, as there are some concerns about it affecting anesthetics. It may be wise to temporarily stop the herb before surgery to prevent possible complications.

Ginkgo

Ginkgo can improve the blood flow to the brain, as well as function as an antioxidant. Some people have reported that ginkgo is helpful to relieving symptoms such as sluggishness and mental clouding. If you are taking blood thinners, have hypertension, or have a history of stroke, you want to be very careful with ginkgo.

Kava Kava

Kava kava can be very effective for treating symptoms of anxiety or obsessions. It may inhibit the brain enzyme that produces anxiety. It can also be helpful for people who have trouble sleeping. Because it can make you sleepy, you need to be careful when driving if you take a lot of it. Since many people who experience depression are also anxious, a combination of Kava Kava and St. John’s Wort may be very helpful to them. If you find it to be helpful and decide to take it on an ongoing basis, it would be wise to discuss its use with your physician, particularly since overuse of Kava may cause liver damage.

SAM-e

SAM-e is not a herbal supplement. It is, in fact, a chemical compound that occurs naturally. When some depressed patients are given SAM-e, they have shown increased levels of important brain chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. It is generally safe to take with other medications, and some people have reported that the use of SAM-e even has helped decrease their joint pain. I have Fibryomyalgia, and my doctor has recommended that I take SAM-e to help ease my discomfort.

Tyrosine

Tyrosine is an important element used by the body in building neurotransmitters. Stress can affect the levels of tyrosine found in the body, and the reduction of tyrosine can cause depression by not allowing the brain access to necessary levels of important brain chemicals such as dopamine. Taking tyrosine can be useful in helping the body maintain the levels of this building block needed to deal more effectively with stress. Anyone who is taking other medications needs to be cautious with this supplement, including those individuals who are taking antidepressants and antihypertensives. It would be wise to discuss the use of tyrosine with your physician.

Note: Do you have any other suggestions for me to research? Any thoughts or new information? I love to learn from you!

Photo by Michale Klick

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It is always wise to consult with your physician before you  begin taking any medications or herbs for your depressive symptoms.