---
Around this time of year, 123 years ago, a young painter entered a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence in Southern France. He was known by his neighbors in the town as “fou roux" (the crazy redhead). Having been troubled with mental illness throughout his life, a few months prior he had reached a crisis point and during his breakdown rushed to a brothel. There he handed his friend - a prostitute named Rachel - a small wrapping of newspaper telling her to “keep this object carefully.” Unwrapping it she was shocked to find the freshly cut and still bloody lower portion of his left ear!
Vincent van Gogh holds legendary status in Art and his influence has crossed cultures and eras. To gaze onto the vivid colors and hypnotic swirls in his work is to be transported into another world - a morphed view of reality that can only be seen through his eyes. There is a tendency to romanticize van Gogh’s mental illness, which most respected psycho-biographers believe was bipolar disorder. The notion, however, that there is a fine line between creative genius and “craziness” is not new and has existed since ancient times. Most of this has focused on Bipolar Disorder (previously called Manic-Depression) and many famous figures have been speculated to have suffered it: Beethoven, Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Victor Hugo, Charles Dickens, Edvard Munch and many more. Today we see this pattern with an established diagnosis in many celebrated actors, poets, painters, musicians and others of artistic temperament. Yet, despite our modern methods illuminating the “line” or “link” between mental illness and creativity remains elusive.
The famous theory in popular culture (illustrated above and known in neuroscience as the Hemispheric Lateralization Theory) that so called right-brained individuals are more artistic and creative while left-brained people are logical and better at the sciences and maths has been disproven. Not least because it is possible to be profoundly creative in the maths and sciences. New theories are now being studied and several are promising. Read more here if interested in the neurobiology.
One theory I have found useful comes from the elegant scientific work of one of my mentors Dr. Terence Ketter and his group at Stanford University. They demonstrated that individuals with bipolar disorder when tested with rating scales of simple and abstract images tended to like abstract images more than the average individual. Seems intuitive enough right? Well here is what surprised Dr. Ketter and his team: When looking at the “dislike” ratings, people with bipolar disorder DISLIKED the simple images drastically more than the average individual. So then that DISCONTENT with the simple may actually be the “mother of invention” or the drive to creativity. Unfortunately this negative emotion may also underlie some of the symptoms seen in this disorder.
The message to mental health is clear in my mind: we should attempt to treat highly-creative individuals with mood disorders with all the latest advancements including medications. BUT we should listen carefully and work with our patients to understand what effect treatment is having on their creative drive. Perhaps some individuals need some degree of discontent to “kindle the creative fire” and we should step up to the challenge of helping them achieve a tolerable and productive balance.
At the young age of 37, after a fit of creative production of many paintings, Vincent van Gogh walked into an empty field outside the home where he was staying, aimed a loaded revolver into his own chest and pulled the trigger. His famous last words as he lay dying in his brother Theo’s arms were "La tristesse durera toujours" (the sadness will last forever).
Perhaps had he not suffered some degree of sadness you and I would have never heard of van Gogh. Perhaps if he had lived longer his influence would have been greater. Perhaps the next van Gogh or Beethoven or Poe will walk into my clinic next week suffocated by their sadness yet possessed by creative inspiration. The questions are complex scientifically, ethically and philosophically. But I believe that a balance can and should be reached (or at least approached) and that tragic endings can be re-written.
Profoundly respectful!
ReplyDelete