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OT - creativity and mental disorders


Sanford

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Absolutely fascinating question and I would have to say yes at least in an annectdotal sense. However, having shared a college dormatory with many photography and art students in the late 1970's; one must also consider chronic substance abuse and age of exposure. There may be some studies concerning substance abuse and OCD in later life.

 

In the absence of OCD, domanant hemisphere brain injuries may change the expression of visual and creative skills but I would not recommend experimenting at home.

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I took up photography long before the brain damage, due to heavy cell phone use, and I only began posting when I became bored due to laziness. However, with the new drugs on the market, I feel fine, thank you, except for the blindness; and that doesn't help my photography skills. It's always a Catch 22 situation.
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Actually, studies have shown that there is a high percentage of poets that are depressed, showing a correlation there. Ergo, wouldn't surprise me if there were evidence out there that could be cross-referenced to illustrate that most artists have some sort of nut loose.

 

Of course I'm certifiably insane, so don't listen to me;)

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Obsessive and Compulsive personality traits in general, and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

in particular are usually a significant hinderance to creativity. Disorders resulting in some

degree of disinhibition, or increased productivity (such as Manic or Hypomanic states) can be

beneficial to an artist,( at least when the degree of arrousal is minimal), however these are

gross generalisations, and it all comes down to the result of many interacting enviromental

and genetic factors.

 

Regards, Nick.

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Sigmund Freud said that the difference between creativity and madness is that the creative person dips into the subconscious and returns with something useful in the real world. The psychotic dips into the unconscious, gets lost, and returns with nothing useful.

 

There was a conference--I think of the American Psychotherapy Association--in Santa Fe, two or three years ago, on creativity and madness. I didn't attend, but I wonder if there's anything on the web about what was said.

 

Creativity involves thinking outside the box. Thus the products of creativity may appear bizzare or nuts to those more conventional in their thinking. It can be difficult to tell the difference between this and the ones who really are nuts. If someone in 1955 had claimed that a computer the size of today's laptop could be more powerful than a Remington Rand Univac, which took up several large rooms, they would have been branded a crackpot. Everyone "knew" that was ridiculous. An auto focus, auto-exposure camera? Same idea. How about CT scans, MRI's ultrasound?

 

People are crazy when they don't think like you and I. And I'm not so sure about you.

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Pete wrote:

 

<<< Any hobby/interest/passion requires a level of obsession and compulsion as entry fee to be paid. >>>

 

I think that's right, and would modify only slightly to say that a hobby or interest, once it rises to the level where one describes it as a passion, absolutely requires it. May I quote you?

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