Search Here

It is a common notion that artists tend to suffer from some kind of mental illness. It was the case seen in some well-known artists like Vincent van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Charles Dickens, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Frida Kahlo. This common denominator resulted in the birth of the stereotypical term "tortured artist" or "mad artist."

"Madness" in the arts does not always relate to mental illness, but it refers to the state when an artist becomes so focused on their craft that they cannot be disturbed. In more modern terminologies, we can say that it means they are in the zone. However, as language evolved over time, the meaning of "madness" changed.

Mood disorders and creativity

Researchers have tried to find the link between mood disorders and creativity in past studies. Although bipolar disorder and major depression were associated with creativity, there were no results that indicated that mood disorders enhanced creativity.  

The happier side of the spectrum

While several known cases indicated a link between mental illness and creativity, the opposite seems to be true as well. Flow theory proponent Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explained in 1997 that happiness comes from a person's creativity. "Enhancing one's creativity may therefore also enhance well-being," he wrote. 

In a study from 2008, the ability of participants to ideate was attributed to happiness. Another study conducted in 2017 showed that simply listening to happy music resulted in better outcomes in divergent thinking tests.

However, in 2012, a study about how creative thinking related to mood swings showed that divergent thinking activities resulted in the participants having better moods, while convergent thinking activities resulted in the participants having worse moods. That is, coming up with multiple ideas resulted in happier participants while selecting one solution from multiple ideas resulted in unhappy participants.