…To some extent, the field of art therapy has also focused on finding meaning in various symbols and content in artwork by people with various emotional disorders; while some tenuous connections have been made, more often it’s difficult at best to link specific characteristics in drawings or paintings to a diagnostic category.
The relationship of bipolar disorder to creativity is one of the more accepted premises. Manic states may provide the catalyst for heightened creativity; I know and agree with that premise from my own involvement with art making. There are indeed geniuses who happen to also have bipolar disorder and whose creative contributions have made a significant impact on the arts, science, medicine, and other fields. The changes in brain function that occur during manic episodes are conducive to creative endeavor; artists and writers recount of periods of inspiration, euphoria, and novel associations during hypomania. Research also suggests that creative individuals do share more personality traits with people with mental illness than people who are less inclined to creative activities. (read more)
Click on the drawing to see a slide show featuring six works by Martín Ramírez.
Martin Ramirez (1895-1963) created hundreds of drawings and collages while institutionalized at the DeWitt State Hospital In Auburn, California, where he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is considered one of the self-taught masters of 20th century art, and his work often explored the same subjects: horseback riders, trains and tunnels, landscapes, Madonnas and animals
Scientists have long studied the link between creativity and mental illness, and the lines between the two are often blurred. Studies suggest that creative people often share more personality traits with the mentally ill than “normal” people in less creative pursuits. One Stanford University study compared patients with bipolar disorder with a group of healthy people. They found that graduate students in creative disciplines shared more personality traits with the bipolar patients than with their healthy but less creative peers, according to a study published last year in The Journal of Affective Disorders. (read more)
