I received an interesting email today from a former student.
Her question:
“I was wondering if perhaps the way people handle or express their depression is connected with their level of creativity. For example, some people’s form of escape is delve into an imaginary world with things like fairies and vampires and dressing “goth.” Other people seem to delve into reality, such as gang members or people who choose a life of crime. I do realize there are many reasons for this variation such as environment, anger, opportunity, ect., but I thought maybe perhaps the people who seem to float away from reality are a bit more on the creative side. This is just a jagged thought that popped into my head at 11:30 at night, so it’s not very well thought out, but I would like your opinion if you have the time. Thanks for your time.”
My Response:
“Before I answer, I want you to know that this is just a total guess. It will be based on what I know about creative personalities and the relationship between mental illness and creativity but it is just an inference and may be totally incorrect.
Remember the “Big Five” personality traits (Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and Neuroticism/Emotional Stability)?
Creative individuals tend to score higher than normal individuals on Openness to Experience. This means that they are more open to trying new things, thinking new thoughts, appreciating art and culture and (relevant to your question) they are more prone to enjoy and engage in fantasy.
Creative individuals are also tend to score low on emotional stability which means they are more likely than normal individuals to suffer from mental illnesses (especially mood and anxiety disorders).
The above is actually fact. What follows is a guess on my part.
Because creative individuals have personalities that are high in openness to fantasy and imagination, I think your hypothesis that they may deal with depression by escaping into fantasy worlds is right on the mark. People that have little tolerance for fantasy worlds or imagination are unlikely to seek them out when troubled. Such thoughts and activities would provide no comfort to them and appear to be stupid, useless or irrelevant. People that score highly on Openness to Experience actually ENJOY fantasy and imagination so imaginary worlds would provide them with good feelings, distract them from their problems and would actually be comforting to them.
It is also very likely that creative individuals will handle or express something such as depression in creative endeavors. They might do this by escaping INTO fantasy and creating alternate worlds and universes (through drawing, writing, programming….). Even creative scientists might deal with their depression by developing new theories or creating experiments to test theories. You almost have to escape into a world of imagination to create something new. ”
As I stated earlier, I am just guessing as to creative individuals’ propensity to escape into fantasy when psychologically or emotionally distressed. However, it is a guess based on scientific findings so I am thinking it is a pretty good guess and, hopefully, it answers your question.
