January 21, 2004
Writers and depression.
And via
The New Pages Guide to Weblogs I found this great literary blog by
Maud Newton. Lots of interesting and well-written reflections. I was particularly struck by her thoughts on
depression in writers and artists.
If believed, statistics cited in "Manic-Depressive Illness and Creativity," an article from the January, 1995 issue of Scientific American,
establish that the incidence of clinical depression among writers and artists may be as much as ten times greater than it is in the general population.
She goes on to discuss the reasons for this, along with the argument of a well-adjusted friend of hers who objects to the stereotype. She links to an article in the Globe and Mail by Rebecca Caldwell,
To be or not to be? That is the clich´ on the recent suicide of writer Spaulding Gray that also discusses the topic.
I don't know myself. I'm an artist and writer. Maybe I'm depressed a bit. But I'm also infinitely more optimistic than most people I know. I think one reason for this may be that people who are more satisfied with life as it is don't feel compelled to add anything to it.
But my own work stems out of a desire to create beauty, not to hide ugliness. I create for the same reason that a bird sings, or that a fruit tree bears fruit. Because that is my nature. And it is my belief that this is not "abnormal", but "normal". That if you are healthy and well-adjusted you will create. And if you don't, _then_ there is something wrong with you. Not the other way around.
And I believe that this notion that artists must "suffer" for their art is absolute nonsense. A stereotype created by people who spend their lives doing something they hate, and need to convince themselves that they have no choice, who need to believe that it is just too difficult to be an artist, or to follow their dreams, or to do something great with their life. People love to see other people suffer. It makes them feel better, and it makes it is easier for them to justify their own failures and lack of persistence and courage.
And the saddest part is that so many artists buy into this stereotype themselves, particularly the notion that there is no money in the arts. Which is self-defeating. I've seen this a thousand times. They start off with the assumption that they can't make money, so they don't try. They don't invest the money in it that any business requires. They label themselves "non-profit" and then wonder why they don't make any "profit." Duh!
If this was true before, it's not true anymore. Now the arts are the fastest growing and most profitable industries in the world, and artists are well on their way to being the highest paid profession of them all. Modern technology has vastly expanded the ways in which they can reproduce and market their work, and the explosion of higher education, greater leisure time and income, and many other developments, have entirely changed that.
And nothing has changed things more computers and the internet. In so many ways. In making it so much easier to word-process, print and even self-publish works for one thing. But mostly in making it possible to connect to a world of other people doing the same things, to find encouragement, to see examples of other peoples' works, to find places where you can send your work. To be able to go to someone's weblog and find someone dealing with the same problems that you're dealing with. It empowers individuals more than can ever be imagined. Such a joy and wonder.
