(First published in Psychology Tomorrow
Magazine)
When I was thirteen years old, I
bought a wall hanging depicting neon-yellow lemons converging into a sea of
lemonade. Emblazoned across the cloth was the now-clichéd phrase: “When life
gives you lemons, make lemonade.” At the time, I thought it was one of the most
profound things I had ever heard. I would stare at those words, listening to
Joni Mitchell, my young, teenage self just knowing that Joni’s exquisite music
would not exist without a deeper anguish beyond what her already self-revealing
lyrics divulged.
Though it’s been some four decades
since my melancholic youth, I understand even more now that artists struggle
with a higher-than-average rate of anxiety (as well as other mental and
emotional issues). Our culture has even normalized the tormented artist
syndrome, with drugged-out, depressed, and on-the-brink-of-nervous breakdown
characterizations of musicians, painters, and writers in movies and books as a
kind of anguished-soul archetype. But that torment isn’t just about the
artist’s ongoing struggle of creating in a world that may or may not appreciate
that person’s talent. It also stems from both the pre-existing anxiety and
creativity—which can, in turn, further fuel the anxiety.
Co-founder of the Midwest Center for the
Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression (http://www.stresscenter.com/), Lucinda Bassett notes in her bestselling
book “From Panic to Power” that anxiety-sufferers tend to be highly creative
people with fantastic imaginations. Bassett explains that this innate
creativity can also exacerbate the anxiety. By using their imaginations to create
the worst—and sometimes quite irrational—fears, people who suffer from anxiety
may know that they are creative, but are unaware that their talent is actually
stoking their fears.
Interestingly, a study by The Surrey Institute
of Clinical Hypnotherapy (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10439696.htm) released on February 17, 2013, notes a higher
propensity for anxiety amongst people who believe that they are creative in
some way. Paul Howard, an anxiety specialist at the Surrey Institute of
Clinical Hypnotherapy, surmises that creative people may be more prone to anxiety
because they’re so talented in imagining quite vibrant visualizations of the “what-ifs.”
Howard’s sentiments are in clear agreement with Bassett’s, with many
anxiety-sufferer’s first-hand accounts in articles, blogs, and books attesting
to the same finely-tuned talent in imagining the worse.
The October 17th, 2012 edition of
the BBC news (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-19959565) by health editor of BBC News online, Michelle
Roberts, touches upon the question of what kind of treatment options are the
most beneficial for someone who may be suffering from emotional issues and at
the same time is highly creative. Roberts notes that lead researcher Dr. Simon
Kyaga suggests that disorders should be viewed in a new light—with certain
traits actually being beneficial or desirable. Roberts quotes Dr. Kyaga as
saying, “If one takes the view that certain phenomena associated with the
patient’s illness are beneficial, it opens the way for a new approach to
treatment.”
With this in mind, perhaps when artists engage
in their work, what is happening beyond the outward expression of creativity is
an inward kind of practical self-medication. And when creative people do not actively
channel their abilities, their talent can turn on them, a rush of what-if
imaginings flooding their minds with anxiety. The challenge for anxiety
sufferers is to be able to acknowledge their creativity, then actively use it
in whatever ways they can so that their talents become a positive force rather
than a negative drain. As the renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell reminds us,
the greatest weakness that a hero struggles with—and then overcomes—may very
likely become that hero’s greatest strength.
Tracy Shawn, M.A. lives and writes on the Central Coast of
California. Her award-winning novel, The Grace
of Crows, is about how an anxiety-ridden woman finds happiness
through the most unexpected of ways—and characters. Dubbed a “stunning debut
novel” by top 50 Hall of Fame reviewer, Grady Harp, The Grace of Crows has won
the Jack Eadon Award for the Best Book in Contemporary Drama, Second Place for
General Fiction for the Readers Choice Awards, and Runner-Up for 2014 General Fiction
with the Great Northwest Book Festival.
