Are Artists Really Mad?

Dear khalid sohail
If the artist is not a Mad,then is not a real artist cos the art is so big and the Life is very short.
Ahad

Re: # 28
Dear Ahad....I agree with you that creative personalities and artists have an imagination

larger than life. But that imagination has to translate into a disciplined work of art.

Unfortunately mental illness can hinder it and they might not be able to put on paper what

they have in mind. I worked with artists in psychiatric hospitals who were so frustrated with

their inability to share their talent with their dear ones and needed professional help.

sincerely sohail

>>>Creative thinking is non-traditional thinking that leads to giving birth to a creative product

You`re defining the item in terms of itself. `A metal is a metallic substance`.
Standalone definitions are hard granted :)

It seems to me that ALL thinking is memory linked. Memory being always old (stored images from the past) there can be no `creative` thinking, only modifications/rearrangements of the past.

IOW, we mistakenly imagine a link between creativity and thinking.

Re: # 26
Dear HD....can you share how do you feel creativity changes when the medium changes. A

poet creates a poem but a photographer just takes a picture and a scientist spends twenty

years to discover something that even surprises him...

I am fascinated with the complexity of the process as well as the mysteries of the

personality. sincerely sohail

Is creativity the ability to `think differently`, `laterally` and all that?

Before we get to that, we must answer `what is thinking`?

Some thought is simply recollection of memory. Playing it back exactly.

Other thought is playing back memory with `modifications`.
For example if my boss yelled at me today and I listened petrified, later when I recollect that scene I will imagine answering him back, suitably defending myself. 90% reality, 10% fancy.
Another example in this category would be a young man/woman having romantic thoughts about someone they know, which will be 90% fancy, 10% reality
:)

`Work thoughts` are when we`re given a problem to solve and the mind churns through acquired knowledge in memory to find a solution. Either a direct solution or a solution using combination/permutation of memory items.

Is this last item so-called `creativity`?

Re: # 24
Dear HD...thanks for your interest in the subject and article...

In my opinion

Memory.....has three parts....Registration....Retention.......Recall

you are right if the incidence is emotionally charged the recall might be modified.

Creative thinking is non-traditional thinking that leads to giving birth to a creative

product...poem, play, painting or a scientific discovery.

If the poet recalls the beautiful face of the charming lady he saw and composes a

wonderful ghazal...we will call it creative otherwise just a fantasy....smiles...sohail

Creativity in itself has nothing to do with madness. But creativity is a hard task for those who are already psychologically weak. A creative mind actually produces new mental contents that need to be properly organized. Those creative persons who are systemetic and logical, cannot become mad ... because they can systemetically arrange all the newly created mental contents in mind in such way that all the mind-set is always kept in internal harmony. And to maintain internal harmoney sometimes requires great psychological courage also ... especially if deep rooted beliefs are disturbed by the newly generated mental contents.

Thanks!

It is worth noting also: about 1 in 4 people will need psychiatric help at some point in their lives....take a look around your office or family/friends (but be careful or, people will start to look at you in that way too)

And can we really define creativity any more than we can `normalness`??

William Styron died recently, thought that might be of interest.


I tend to agree with chalta and abskii; the human condition is inherently wired for all kinds of madnesses, just as it is creativity-and yet not everyone develops their artistic ability nor do they seek diagnosis.

I also disagree that creativity is linked with addiction any more than it is linked with diabetes, or hypertension, etc. These are constructs we use to mystify the very mundane and laborious process of making art.

I thought that the creative and insane people were alike only in as much as both of them were abnormal - different from the ``normal`` generality of the population - but they were not quite the same. Their abnormailities were of different genre.
John Nash, nobel laureate, had done his monumental creative work before he suffered from schizophrenia. Once he became schizophrenic, he didn`t (couldn`t?) do anything creative. In this sense, Nash, the normal being, was creative and Nash, the schizophrnic being, was not.
``All poets are mad`` is an extreme statement lacking empirical evidence. I can let it pass if it is stated only figuratively. Were Ghalib, Iqbal, and Faiz actually mad? If they were, we need to define madness, insanity, and creativity differently than what is commonly understood.
There is a difference between creativity and insanity and that difference howsoever small is all important. The article is thought provoking and Dr. Sohail needs to be commended for bringing the topical theme out in the open.
Mohammad Gill

Re: # 18 Possibly the ability for abstract thought is why Nash experienced his schizophrenia in such a way, allowed the flight of ideas. The schizophrenics I know can express the most fantastical thoughts at times - and all of them are quite intelligent - but their schizophrenia, like is for many, is heartbreakingly debilitating.

Before anyone defines `mad` they must ask what is `normal`.

And if one REALLY, deeply, examines what one assumes to be `normal` i.e a normal life, one cannot escape this conclusion that its these normal that are truly mad.

Re: # 17
dear HD....I enjoyed your subltle message....why be normal? and smiled,,,...sohail

Sohail Sahib,

It is not only unfortunate that mental illness is so poorly understood but what is even more unfortunate is the stigma attached to it.

While there may be great sympathy for someone with diabetes or cancer, both organic illnesses; there is very little knowledge or sympathy amongst the masses for people with mental illnesses such as lets say schizophrenia or depression. Mental and Physical ailments are both organic in nature, yet physical ailments elicit a sympathetic reaction in most people whereas mental illness revulsion and blame towards the person afflicted..

Now that`s Unfortunate! Dont you think?

Depression is usually called the ``writer`s malady`` but most people think that clinical depression on its own or as a component of manic depressive illness is something that one can just snap out of.....

People say, ``If you are depressed, just snap out of it``. There is no such thing like that for clinical malingering depression.

Sohail Sahib,
I appreciate that you have recognized that the title of your article maybe percieved as insensitive.

``The idea that creativity and insanity are inter-related..`` indeed they are...

prime example creator God and His insane Universe -- as Naqshbandi sahib would surely agree......or an insane God with His creative Universe as Dr. Gill would probably concur......:)

great piece Sohail sahib as usual!

#12> In fact, there is a school of thought that suggests everyone has a tendancy to some sort of mental disorder to a greater or lesser extent. This often presents itself in times of stress or breakdown.

What constitutes madness is somthing perpetually under debate, -generally a level of dysfunction that causes the individual, property, or the onlooker harm or distress. (personally not something I believe, but it`s a basic threshold).