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Due to notes of support and interest, the chatroom BlockBusters is now open. If you are interested in moderating and have a calm, patient moderator personality, note me. I'll be there from time to time but definitely would love to have someone with experience and understanding of creative block, burnout, depression and so on who will be there more often. Note me!
It's been suggested by many researchers that creativity and depression are often coexistant in many individuals. Some say there is a biochemical factor, while others point to the fact that the areas of the brain that are most active during creative processes are also the areas most active during depressive episodes. Whether the emotional instability spurs the creativity or vice-versa is not certain, but what is certain is that there are many, many of you artists who suffer from manic-depression, schizophrenia, crippling depression and paralyzing burnout.
Someone very near and dear to me is suffering greatly from the inability to draw, which is how this person earns a living. What used to be a joy is now terrifying and where once they could spend 16 hours a day happily creating art, they find themself shaking and in tears at the very thought of picking up a pencil. It's surely the stress of having to please art editors and the critical public, but what I want to ask you all is this: are there any of you who also experience this? If so, what do you do? How do you get past the self-doubt and anxiety attacks to become prolific again? When all inspiration is gone, how do you push yourself through?
I hope some of you will post some of your own wisdom of experience. And I hope that any of you suffering this right now will find some comfort and guidance. I hope this can open a discourse on burnout, depression, and work-related problems. And finally, if anyone wants to open a chatroom (or join one if I open it) focusing on support for the seriously depressed (not just emo. I'm talking clinically depressed) then post a note here. I can't fix my friend. I don't have the experience to fully understand. So please help.
Articles of interest:
Brain Regions May Sap or Spur Creativity
Eccentric Artists and Mad Scientists
Defining Mental Illness
Creativity and Burnout
Anxiety Disorder
Save The World - One Click At A Time!
On each of these websites, you can click a button to support the cause -- each click creates funding, and costs you nothing! Bookmark these sites, and click once a day!
On each of these websites, you can click a button to support the cause -- each click creates funding, and costs you nothing! Bookmark these sites, and click once a day!
I couldn't recommend it enough, it sent me back to childhood where picking up a pen and drawing had no attachments beyond having fun.
I'm young, but I've had experience in severe depression; I'm on 15 miligrams of Celexa now and it's finally helping, not much else has.
From what it sounds like, your friend really needs a break. He/she needs to relax, remember that they ARE good, obviously if they're getting so many jobs (I assume so, because that would create stress) and that he or she should consider talk therapy along with changing their medications, trying another one. Tell your friend that from one crazy, depressed artist to another, I hope he/she finds peace and security.
I hope things are looking up for your friend - being blocked is a real drag! I haven't had it artistically (since I've only been back into it for a short time this time around) but I have had major "slumps" professionally (in software development - which has a large creative component that most people don't appreciate
Don't know if that's even a speck of help, but there you have it.
(On to the next journal! Away! *swoop*)
btw, I found you through them.
My husband and I have been together for ten years. In the last few years, with his insight, I've been able to see that all of these things may be interconnected. I've never really understood before why sometimes I want to write like there's no tomorrow, or at other times, it's impossible to even make a mark on the paper. And the same thing with my artwork. Sometimes I'm filled with ideas, other times, I can't face another blank page. It was he who first suggested that I might be bipolar.
After facing the possibility, I was able to see where this might be benefitting me greatly in the creative world. I did a lot of research, and came to the conclusion that if this is indeed the case, I've experienced hypomania, which gives me soaring heights of creativity and insight where I'm incredibly productive, and probably only one episode of actual mania in my lifetime (which, to the contrary, is so intense that there's no way to string two thoughts together, much less create something coherent). It would also be a good explanation why antidepressants that I was prescribed while in the depressive phase tipped me over into awful and uncomfortable periods of anxiety.
I know that the option is always out there to go in to the doctor and get an actual diagnosis, but we've discussed it at length, and come to the conclusion that the risks aren't worth it. I can't risk losing my creativity altogether, and I feel that that's what medication would do to me. At this time, if it's indeed bipolar disorder, it's relatively mild. And with both of us aware of my 'patterns' and what they mean, it makes the ground much more stable beneath our feet. I've come to recognize the signals of each mood, and most of the time can utilize the 'up' times to the best advantage, and my family understands and can deal with the 'down' times more easily when they know the 'why'.
I feel like flying when I'm up. When I write, and I'm up, it's as if I'm just a conduit for the muse, as if things just flow through the keys without my input at all. And I find that that's when I do my best, most natural, work. Does anyone else?
1. Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland
2. Fearless Creating by Eric Maisel, Phd.
3. Organizing for the Creative Person by Dorothy Lehmkuhl & Dolores Cotter Lamping.
Funny, I started re-reading these myself recently as I'm still trying to start my new years resolution! (Starting the first of Feb instead) Of trying to get back into my art again.
it's been hard with a 2 year old hanging all over me all day every day, since when I do create I have to be able to really have some time to myself since they're so detailed, I really get into it, so it's been a real struggle the last 6 months or so.
These books are really good for inspiring as well as giving some insight as to why making art can be such a struggle and some of the mental processes behind it all. My copies are very underlined and dogeared! But it seems to be a help to refresh how you think about what it is you want to be doing!
Most of the time, it takes stepping away from art and reorganizing my thoughts by reading something new (there's nothing like a good story to get me inspired again), discussing my ideas with others for some reassurance, or putting a canvas in front of me and just painting without any idea in my head at all...that's how I managed one of my best images, Dream Regent, during a bout of frustration. [link]
But if your friend is clinically depressed because of a chemical imbalance, my best advice would be to seek medication which can help to solve that imbalance. Many are afraid of medication, but they have some new ones out now that aren't so harsh on your system. If it's a way you can work and exist from day to day, it is worth it.
I hope your friend gets through it soon. Having a concerned buddy like you is definitely a great help.