"VAN" (Europe Bureau - Aleksey Vesyoliy) :: Throughout history, social scientists have suspected that there may be a link between anxiety and creativity. For a long time, this assumption was based on anecdotes only, but over the past few decades, a growing body of research suggests that there may be a link between creativity and mental illnesses.
Approximately 450 million people suffer from mental and behavioural disorders worldwide and 1 in 4 will develop one or more of these disorders during their lifetime. There are growing concerns about current rates of adolescent depression and anxiety, as well youth suicide. The health status of each person in any age results from a combination of several factors and itis important to have a clear picture of the particular health condition and risks affected by biological, psychological, economic, social and cultural circumstances.
Emotional well-being is a term that has seen increasing use in recent decades. Emotional well-being refers to the emotional quality of an individual's everyday experience, for example, the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, stress, sadness, anger, and affection that make one's life pleasant or unpleasant.
Researchers in Sweden’s Karolinska Institute tracked over 1 million Swedes and their relatives using a registry of psychiatric patients. The patients demonstrated conditions such as anxiety, depression, or schizophrenia. They found that people working in creative fields, including dancers, photographers and authors, were 8% more likely to live with bipolar disorder. Writers alone were 121 % more likely to suffer from the condition. Researchers also found that people in creative positions were more likely to have relatives with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, which shows that there may be a genetic trigger for both creativity and mental illness.
Just as scientific research has found that anxious people tend to be more intelligent, there seems to also be a link between anxiety and being more creative.
A 2015 study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience found that genetic factors that raise the risk of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are found more often in people in creative professions. Painters, musicians, writers and dancers were, on average, 25 % more likely to carry the gene than less creative professionals like farmers, manual laborers, and salespeople. The scientists point out that to be creative people need to think differently, and this may be genetic.
Psychotherapists explain that anxiety is often felt by creative people even if the symptoms vary from one person to another. It’s not uncommon to learn that creative people struggle with mental health issues such as anxiety.
The main reason for the connection between anxiety and creativity is imagination. The dichotomy lies in the fact that the same brain that conjures up inventive paintings, poetry, and music can also get trapped in repetitive thoughts and dreadful worries.
Everyone experiences anxiety differently. Painter Vincent van Gogh suffered from anxiety throughout his life. He explained in a letter to his brother: “I am unable to describe exactly what is the matter with me. Now and then there are horrible fits of anxiety, apparently without cause, or otherwise a feeling of emptiness and fatigue in the head … at times I have attacks of melancholy and of atrocious remorse.”
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, who famously painted the “The Scream,” suffered from anxiety and hallucinations throughout his life. In fact, that painting came to him as a vision while he was trembling with anxiety. He wrote in his diary: “My fear of life is necessary to me, as is my illness. They are indistinguishable from me, and their destruction would destroy my art.”
Some thoughts we don’t want to say out loud and some feelings are hard to verbalize. So what do we do with them? Sometimes, when we want to express ourselves, we can write our thoughts into stories and poems and we can go beyond words and express through paintings, drawings and photographs. We can express through music, dance, and song. Self-expression involves any activity where we can transfer our thoughts and feelings into something what makes us feel better.
How does creativity can help young people to deal with mental health issues and social inclusion?
The therapeutic benefits of artistic activities come in many forms. When we express our feelings, we are better equipped to deal with them because we actually know what we are feeling instead of denying it. Hands-on tasks can soothe our minds and souls, and can free up our unconscious minds. When we get into a state of creative “flow,” our mind enter an optimal state of consciousness where we feel and perform our best. Our concentration is focused and everything else falls away, and we lose our sense of time and self. Normally, our brain is in a fast-moving state of beta waves. In flow, our brainwaves slow to an alpha state, the same as our day-dreaming and meditation mode, where we slip from thought to thought easily. Our prefrontal cortex is also temporarily deactivated, which allows us to simply create without self-consciousness or judgment. Making time to use your brain creatively can bring your brain and body the same kind of benefits as meditation: practicing mindfulness and decreasing anxiety.
Have you tried creative self expression ? Have you found creative self expression helpful?
Rihards (young person dealing with mental health issues) shares his own experience on power of animation and drawing dealing with anxiety and social inclusion.
"Many people, especially young people are dealing with depression, anxiety, self worth, etc. I am dealing with all these issues myself. People with mental or/and physical illnesses are facing serious challenges to be accepted by society. I have experienced a lot, despite the difficulties, I always try to keep moving forward and fight my way through all the pain and struggle the world throws at me.
The one thing that always helped me during the most depressing of times is animation. An especially animated shows from the 90’s to mid 2000’s. Shows such as Samurai Jack, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage The Cowardly Dog, Kim Possible, Teen Titans (2003), Disney’s Recess, and many other shows that are top of my head. These shows thought me things I could never learn at school: about life, responsibility, being there for others, keep moving forward, about my past or my childhood, and facing my own fears. These are the things I learned growing up from good quality animated shows, the ones that were actually made with passion, hard work, creativity, imagination, etc. My favourite genres are of course action cartoons. Shows like Teen Titans (2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Batman Beyond, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jackie Chan Adventures, Xiaolin Showdown, etc. Most people think these shows only promote violence and nothing else. But that is far from the truth. Action cartoons tell very mature and serious stories that have legit character development and even great world building as well. These types of shows, especially in the past never talked down to its general audience and that audience are kids. But what makes me both sad and angry, is that much action oriented animated shows that have great potential always get unfairly cancelled and never end with proper conclusions, except for a few occasions such as Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformers: Prime and Generator Rex.
Transformers: Prime and Generator Rex are recent action oriented shows that were released in 2010 and both ended at 2013. Both great shows with great animation, story telling, character development, and great entertainment. The problem I have with many today’s animated TV shows is that too many shows targeted towards children decline in quality, especially with character models looking the exactly the same with the same art style and also a lot of the times get completely stupid later on with its writing, which sadly dumb down for kids enjoyment. A lot of animated shows back in the day used different animation styles and character models, to showcase that each creator of different shows have their own unique styles and creativities to inspire younger viewers to create something similar for the future. Some animated shows in the west even took inspiration from Japanese animation or better known as Anime to make certain shows in that unique style.
I always draw older animated show characters at home. I even try to create my own stories and characters using my imagination. With my drawings I try to give hope to kids that there is still creativity and originality in our depressing world. The problem is that drawing from my imagination or memory hasn’t gone so well. My dream when I was a few years younger was to work at Cartoon Network and show the world my action cartoon series to future generations. To give kids and even teens some excitement to their faces and tell a story about a main character that deals with self hate, depression and even has suicidal thoughts, but no matter how bad things are in his life, he always keeps on moving forward and do the right thing as a vigilante superhero. In the story, the main character even questions " If saving people or if people still care about real heroes?" considering the current events in the real world that are happening right now. With these drawings I try to give to future generations hope that no matter how hard things get in life, even making your dreams come true seem impossible; I always want to show that you have to keep moving forward and make your own dreams become a reality. It’s better to live life happily, then with depression. If you want a perfect example of this message, I would highly recommend watch Disney’s "Meet The Robinsons".
I also want to move forward with my life, just find some glimmer of hope and maybe live my life to the fullest with happiness and joy. It doesn’t matter if we are physically or mentally disabled, or what gender or race we are. What we all have in common, is that we are human beings with emotions and we should stride on finding the good in life. Don’t let other people defy you of who you want to be. Choose your own path. The path that makes YOU; and if there is anyone who deals with the same or similar problems that you do, then don’t be afraid to talk to these people and help them fight through it."
These are few ways to transform anxiety into creativity
• Identify what you are feeling
Name the feelings and ask yourself what is behind the feelings? For example, I am afraid of failing. When you name your feelings and what is holding you back, they become easier to face. Getting them outside of your head and onto paper makes them tangible.
• Lower your expectations of yourself
Stop being so hard on yourself. There is often a disconnect between what you want to be able to do and what you can do. You have to accept your limits. It's also important to become comfortable with failure. We learn through failure. Don’t stop moving forward after failure. Get up and move on.
• Calm yourself before beginning
Develop a daily mindfulness practice. Yoga, breathing exercises, walking etc can be helpful to help you remain grounded and focused as you begin your work.
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Publication author: Sintija Bernava
Chairwoman of the Board of Non Governmental Organisation "Donum Animus" (Latvia).
Program Manager, "Creative Workshops" Implemented by Volunteers at the Children’s Central University Hospital of Latvia
"Donum Animus" is the only Non Governmental Organisation from Latvia holding Special Consultative Status of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Please find full story with pictures at EUNetwork.lv
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