Dancing on the Razor's Edge of Creativity

Creativity and mental health is a paradox, run a web search and you’ll see two different perspectives:

• The arts improve your mental health
• Artists struggle with mental health issues

Dig deeper, and this contradiction between wellness and struggle in creativity continues to emerge.

The wellness view comes from neuroscience, which shows that positive changes happen in our brain during creative expression. Activities like music, dance, and painting can help people overcome issues like trauma, grief, and depression (1). According to this science, artists should be some of the happiest people around!

The struggle view shows this is not true. While tragedies of film stars, writers, and musicians are sensationalized, recent research shows that artists face higher risk for psychiatric issues such as suicide and Bipolar Disorder (2,3).

From suicide to optimized well-being, the creative arts are a precarious razor’s edge.

What Makes Someone a Creator?

There’s a general difference between artists and creatives. Artists tend to be more intrinsically motivated, while creatives tend to be extrinsically motivated.

The intrinsic end of the spectrum values self-expression, like a songwriter finding the right lyrics to reflect their mood, while the extrinsic will solve problems, like a start-up team developing a service that meets a need in the market. Though motivations differ, both artists and creatives have an intent to birth something new into the world. We’ll call both of these groups creators. Many creators engage in both intrinsic and extrinsic activities, and need a healthy balance between the two. 

Creators are not casual hobbyists, they have a real stake in their need to create. Whether or not it supports them financially, they act on a commitment to the creative process.

The Creator’s Struggle

From the Renaissance to the era of AI-generated art, being a creator has always been difficult. Beyond the myths of the tortured artist or the creative genius, what struggles do creators really face?

Traits associated with creativity, such as divergent thinking and openness, are also prevalent in issues like Bipolar Disorder, ADHD, and psychosis (4). This trait overlap is a razor's edge, where the euphoric flow experiences of creativity can turn into mental health issues. How creators experience these issues is also unique:

Depression is especially harmful for the author experiencing writer’s block. Panic attacks are a greater threat for the performance artist who has anxiety. Trauma healing becomes complicated when a songwriter puts their trauma story into a song that is suddenly available to millions of people. 

Creators may be predisposed to mental health struggles, they may even choose creativity as a way to work through their issues. Yet clearly the world a creator exists in also shapes their mental health experience.

Systemic Issues in Creative Spaces

Our creative desires are often intensely personal, making us vulnerable to power dynamics and unrealistic expectations. When illusions within creative spaces collide with reality, it can be traumatic. Creators across fields may find themselves navigating:

• Physical and emotional abuse, as seen in power corruption within the film industry that led to the Me Too movement. Abuse also exists in many other fields, such as academic research programs and classical music performance

• MFA programs that lead to a post-grad experience of culture shock and financial struggle when back in the “real world”

• Music industry companies that pressure artists to engage in nonstop social media “branding” and music production, in order to keep their content stream flowing

• Toxic views towards body image within dance performance fields that contribute to high rates of eating disorders.

These issues exist alongside the American Dream ethos, that if you try hard enough you will reach success. Systemic issues within creative spaces carry a tension where this is and is not true.

Creators Lack Resources and Support

Creators experience many complex and unique challenges, so where can they go for help? There are plenty of books promoting ideas of manifestation and creative abundance. When at odds with the financial, psychiatric, and systemic realities creators face, such views become harmful.

Creators need to be truly seen and understood within their unique challenges. Finding a therapist with a creative background can be helpful. Before becoming a therapist I spent years in the music industry, experiences that help to inform my therapy approach with creators. 

I work with creators because I believe what they do is important. We’ve all experienced the benefits of film, music, and books. Stories entertain, enlighten, and inspire us. Our current digital age has made us more polarized, and we are regularly unable to agree on basic facts. Ironically, the fictional world of art is increasingly a place where we can find shared connection and meaning.

While recognizing the value that art brings to society, we also believe in our absolute right to it. We often demand free access to these creations. Yet at the same time, we throw our creators to the wolves. What if instead of a sink-or-swim attitude towards success, our society understood and validated the unique care that creators need?

The Role of Trauma in Creativity

There’s a current trend that excites me: as our world becomes more aware of mental health, so does our art. This is particularly seen in trauma narratives, stories which are helping to validate people. Yet for creators, this involves wrestling with their own internal trauma.

A trauma is a moment of shock that severely inhibits our ability to grow. When experiencing pain and chaos, our brain is good at finding the quickest way to temporary relief by telling a simple story to make sense of the overwhelm. Unfortunately, this temporary story is often one of shame, I’m a failure, or a jaded outlook in which nobody cares. These beliefs can end up defining our worldview.

Such worldviews hijack the creative process. They rob our intrinsic experiences of creative joy, or complicate the social world of our creative relationships. Yet creators have a powerful tool: the ability to reshape their trauma story. Creative expression is a way to be seen, increase self-worth, and develop meaning and coherence.

To be a creator is to inherit a burden of complexity, yet creative power has a strong ability to heal the self and others. My approach views trauma as our gateway to healthy creative flow. Our past makes up our creative core, and our creations tell the story of its mystery. Understanding ourselves through our creations can open up this flow and guide us forward. I believe in a world where creators can take ownership of their creative core, and are empowered to cultivate a healthy relationship with their creativity.​​​​​​​​​