depression : page 3......... .Talent Development Resources --..home page...site map

depression and creative expression

Depression is not about pain.  Depression is about the absence of pain, the absence of feeling. Depression covers anxiety and fear like a fog.  Once depressed, I was no longer anxious about my children.  If I drank a cup of coffee, my mood was not enhanced; if I went to a party, I didn't feel better. If I read poetry, my soul no longer blossomed as it had in the past.  No feeling is what depression is about, and the condition created a barrier between me and my children, my husband, my friends. Depression is not about pain: it's about everything gone away. ... Women in each generation of my family endured lives of poverty; they passively suffered the births of many children, yet they knew there were other lives they could have lived.  They were afraid to look. ....

.. .. At an early age I learned that things stand for other things. ... I have had to look at my life.  And I have escaped from madness by understanding transformation, how each thing transcends its own reality.  I either go mad or I learn about metaphor. from "Thorazine Shuffle" by filmmaker Allie Light --  ...in the book Out of Her Mind: Women Writing on  Madness, ed. by Rebecca Shannonhouse

~ ~ ~ ~

 

The cliche is that creativity and depression go hand-in-hand. Like many cliches, this one is quite true.  But creators are not necessarily afflicted with some biological disease or physiological disorder that causes them to experience depression at the alarming rates that we see.  They experience depression simply because they are caught up in a struggle to make life seem meaningful to them.  People for whom meaning is no problem are less likely to experience depression.  But for creators, losses of meaning and doubts about life's meaningfulness are persistent problems -- even the root causes of their depression. ... Virtually 100 percent of creative people will suffer from episodes of depression.

.. .. Why virtually 100 percent? Because every creative person came out of the womb ready to interrogate life and determine for herself what life would mean, could mean, and should mean.  Her gift or curse was that she was born ready to stubbornly doubt received wisdon and disbelieve that anyone but she was entitled to provide answers to her own meaning questions. ...from The Van Gogh Blues -  by Eric Maisel, PhD

~ ~ ~ ~

.. .. The next afternoon we meet Dr. Wallenstein in his Park Avenue office. ... He feels strongly that I am a good candidate for electroshock therapy and that it will improve my condition...  There is something about ECT that sounds adventurous, like a scary ride at an amusement park, and even glamorous --  I am reminded of celebrities like Vivien Leigh, Gene Tierney, Frances Farmer, and Ernest Hemingway, who were locked up in insane asylums and jolted... We're about to make a decision together about my having electroshock therapy the next.. and we know very little about it.

.. .. It's as if I'm being asked something as simple as how much milk I want in my coffee.  Just a drop, please. I'm so dulled that I can't even feel how frightened I really am... ...from Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania by Andy Behrman Vivien Leigh: A Biography - by Michelangelo Capua Gene Tierney autobiography: Self Portrait Vivien Leigh, left [1913-1967]; Gene Tierney [1920-1991]

~ ~ ~ ~

 

"Acting gave me a safe environment where my passions could spill over appropriately," says Olympia Dukakis, 72, who admits she attempted suicide while in college.  "I was using uppers and downers in the '50s, but that suicide crisis made me pull myself together.."  She chronicles her personal and professional growth in an autobiography, Ask Me Again Tomorrow      [Parade, July 6 2003]

**related pages:......addictions..........intensity / sensitivity..........

  ~ ~ ~ ~

I'm definitely a melancholist. I think there's beauty in being the life of the party, but I just don't understand it. Rachel Griffiths ... [Entertainment Weekly ew.com 13 September, 2002 - posted on rachelgriffiths.net] photo: as Brenda Chenowith in "Six Feet Under" Rachel Griffiths wrote and directed the short film Roundabout -- "about a man who is having a breakdown," she said in a BBC Online interview in 2001. "The whole male depression thing is a real big issue in Australia at the moment. We have the second highest male suicide rate in the world. I think Australian men are even less likely to talk about their problems than English men. I found English men do talk more to each other, and not just about football and shagging." The film was partly funded by beyondblue: the national depression initiative [Australia]

~ ~ ~ ~

.. .. We all must hold the cups of our lives. As we grow older and become more fully aware of the many sorrows of life - personal failures, family conflicts, disappointments in work and social life, and the many pains surrounding us on the national and international scene - everything within and around us conspires to make us ignore, avoid, suppress, or simply deny these sorrows.  "Look at the sunny side of life and make the best of it," we say to ourselves and hear others say to us.

But when we want to drink the cups of our lives, we need first to hold them, to fully acknowledge what we are living, trusting that by not avoiding but befriending our sorrows we will discover the true joy we are looking for right in the midst of our sorrows. daily meditation - May 10 2003 - "Holding the Cup"  by Henri Nouwen [1932 - 1996] - from nouwen.net ...Henri J. M. Nouwen. The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey  Through Anguish to Freedom Nouwen, Catholic priest and popular author (The Wounded Healer, 1972), hit a six-month spiritual and mental crisis at the end of 1987 during which he "wondered whether I would be able to hold on to my life. Everything came crashing down - my self-esteem, my energy to live and work, my sense of being loved, my hope for healing, my trust in God... everything." This book is his personal journal written during his time of anguish. [Publishers Weekly review]

~ ~ ~ ~

Accuracy of perception is not an evolutionary priority. Too optimistic a world view results in foolish risk-taking, but moderate optimism gives you a strong selective advantage. "Normal human thought and perception," Shelley Taylor writes in her book Positive Illusions, "is marked not by accuracy but by positive self-enhancing illusions about the self, the world, and the future. Moreover... these illusions are not merely characteristic of human thought; they appear actually to be adaptive." As she notes, "The mildly depressed appear to have more accurate views of themselves, the world, and the future than normal people. [They] clearly lack the illusions that in normal people promote mental health and buffer them against setbacks." from "Anatomy of Melancholy" by Andrew Solomon - from articles page of his site ...The Noonday Demon : An Atlas of Depression - by Andrew Solomon Positive Illusions : Creative Self-Deception and the Healthy Mind - by Shelley E. Taylor, PhD

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

...from book : I'm in the Tub, Gone - a compilation of dozens of suicide notes  collected by homicide detective Richard Carlson > Please put me in a nice comfortable coffin with lots of pillows. Jeff, You got your wish that I kill myself and if there's a God I hope [you] burn in hell. > I am doing this because I love you and [our] sons a lot. You don't need anymore heart aches From or about Me. > Sorry this is how / I have to go / I only wanted to love / Or be loved but was not / Good enough to let it show > Make up your mind / Us or alcohol / I told you that you were / Wearing me down, I guess / You didn't believe me. Maybe / It's for the better.

 

~ ~ ~ ~

The research.. should put a new imperative on treating people who seem born sad. "The message here is very good. Even if you've been depressed for seven years, you still have an excellent chance of recovering," said Dr. Lorrin Koran, a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University. The findings challenge the popular notion that people who have long been depressed cannot change. ... "It was really thought that these individuals had a chronic lifelong down-in-the-dumps personality that was their nature," said Dr. Martin B. Keller, a Brown University professor of psychiatry.. And, said Dr. Michael E. Thase, another coauthor of the studies: "This used to be called 'neurotic depression.'  Neurotic implies an aspect of one's character. In the public's view, these are people who are gloomy, pessimistic, the Eeyores of the world. Well, poor Eeyore probably had a treatable disorder." from article New Signs of Hope for the Chronically Depressed

According to Michael Thase MD of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: Between 50 and 70 percent of those who have experienced one episode of major depression will experience another at some later stage.  The risk of subsequent episodes or recurrent depression increases from 50 to 70 to 90 percent across the first three depressive episodes.  Chronic minor depressive disorders similarly place the individual at risk of major depression.  Dr Thase then makes this telling point: In a University of Pittsburgh study, an 85 percent recurrence rate was observed within three years after the withdrawal of an antidepressant.  By contrast, nearly 80 percent of patients receiving maintenance antidepressant therapy remained well. from article Medications for Depression  by John McManamy [healingwell.com] ...Beating the Blues: New Approaches to Overcoming  Dysthymia and Chronic Mild Depression -  by Michael E. Thase, MD, Susan S. Lang

~ ~ ~ ~

Patricia Cornwell experienced a series of traumatic events in her early life including anorexia, bulimia, manic depression and rape. A car crash, caused from drink driving in 1983, eventually forced Cornwell to seek professional help for her addiction to alcohol.  In 1979 Cornwell began a successful career as an award-winning police reporter for the Charlotte Observer, also working as a volunteer for the Richmond Police Department. ... [she] worked as a computer analyst for more than six years, her insights and first hand experience of the field informing the Scarpetta crime novels which she is now so famous for. ...  As a result of the popularity of the Scarpetta series of books, Cornwell quit her job and concentrated on writing full time. She also assisted talented young writers through scholarships at the Davidson College, North Carolina, where she is also a graduate. She now lives with her dog Chopper in Richmond, Virginia and supports several institutions concerned with forensic research, victim support and animal rescue. from BBC profile  /  photo: patriciacornwell.com  /  new book: Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed

~ ~ ~ ~

 

On any given day, roughly 18 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for mood disorders, meaning that they have reached an emotional low that impairs their functioning. Three million of those are children.  Depression claims more years of useful life in America than war, cancer and AIDS put together, according to the World Health Organization's World Health Report 2000. "Welcome this pain," Ovid once wrote, "for you will learn from it." It is possible (though for the time being unlikely) that, through chemical manipulation, we might locate, control, and eliminate the brain's circuitry of suffering. I hope we will never do it.

To take it away would be to flatten out experience, to impinge on a complexity more valuable than any of its component parts are agonizing. ...  But pain is not acute depression;one loves and is loved in great pain, and one is alive in the experience of it. It is the walking-death quality of depression that I have tried to eliminate from my life; it is as artillery against that extinction that this book is written. from Chapter One, The Noonday Demon:  An Atlas of Depression - by Andrew Solomon  article with review of The Noonday Demon: The Consolation of Literature  by Patrick Giles

~ ~ ~ ~

I try to go to my Saturday morning meditation group. I park the car but almost turn back two or three times before I get to the front door... I try to listen and add something, but I can hardly follow the conversation... I come home crying. More empty tears to God about why this is still happening. Tears for an end to it. Tears for mercy.   Martha Manning. Undercurrents Soon evident are the slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero. Ultimately, the body is affected and feels sapped, drained... I found myself eating only for subsistence [and] exhaustion combined with sleeplessness is a rare torture. William Styron. Darkness Visible The words of these two modern writers capture vividly the experience of depression, but its themes have also been echoed in ancient texts of the Bible, Greek, Roman and Chinese classics - as well as in Shakespearean plays and Russian novels. Depression is a universal, timeless, and ageless human affliction. **from Constance Hammen, PhD. Depression

~ ~ ~ ~

  

I know a psychiatrist who took antidepressant medication (plenty of us do, though few admit it). When at his best, he imagined himself a poet, someone who wore a white coat in sunlight and composed quatrains by candle. Then, in the mysterious way that depression descends, he became ill. Still, the poems were passionate. For years, he had been prescribing Prozac and its many cousins: Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Luvox. He knew how the drugs worked, and that they worked well.  Within weeks of starting one himself, his sleep and concentration improved: Circular worries grew quiet, despair disappeared and old energy returned. He remembered what it was to think well of himself. A few months into treatment, he noticed -- doubtfully at first -- that he no longer felt like writing. The words did not seem worth laboring over. Without fanfare, without farewell, the desire to put words to paper had just disappeared.  So had deep emotion of almost any kind. It was a quiet shock. He had heard of such a thing happening, but there is nothing like experience to vitalize any theory. from article: Life with depression, or life with dull feeling - by Elissa Ely, MD

~ ~ ~ ~

 

These individuals have publicly stated that they have experienced manic depression in their lives.   * Ned Beatty, actor  * Tim Burton, movie director  * Lisa Nicole Carson, actor  * Francis Ford Coppola, director  * Patricia Cornwell, writer   <see profile above> * Eric Douglas, actor  * Robert Downey, Jr., actor  * Patty Duke, actor, writer  * Margot Early, writer  * Carrie Fisher, writer, actor  * Connie Francis, actor, musician  * Kaye Gibbons, writer  * Linda Hamilton, actor     & many others

These individuals have publicly stated  that they have experienced depression. * Marvin Lee Aday (Meat Loaf), musician * Fiona Apple, musician  * Drew Carey, actor, comedian  * Jim Carrey, actor, comedian  * Margaret Cho, actor, comedian  * Sandra Cisneros, writer  * Leonard Cohen, musician, writer  * Paula Cole, actor  * Judy Collins, musician, writer  * Shawn Colvin, musician  * Pat Conroy, writer  * Sheryl Crow, musician  * Ellen DeGeneres, comedienne, actor  * Harrison Ford, actor  * Anthony Hopkins, actor * Janet Jackson, musician  * Billy Joel, musician, composer  * Ashley Judd, actor           & many others names from site: Famous People Who Have Suffered from Depression or Manic-Depression

~ ~ ~

additional names:  individuals who have been diagnosed clinically, or are believed to have experienced a mood disorder --  from "Guide to Depression and Manic-Depression" -- a PDF brochure of  the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association Actors/Entertainers Marlon Brando Dick Clark Rodney Dangerfield Richard Dreyfuss Audrey Hepburn Margot Kidder Ashley Judd Joan Rivers Roseanne Winona Ryder Rod Steiger Damon Wayans

Artists Michelangelo Vincent van Gogh Jackson Pollock Georgia O'Keeffe Authors/Journalists Hans Christian Andersen James Barrie Michael Crichton Charles Dickens Emily Dickinson William Faulkner F. Scott Fitzgerald John Kenneth Galbraith Larry King Neil Simon Mary Shelley William Styron Mike Wallace Walt Whitman Tennessee Williams

Composers/Musicians/Singers Irving Berlin Ray Charles Frederic Chopin Leonard Cohen Natalie Cole John Denver Stephen Foster Peter Gabriel Janet Jackson Billy Joel Elton John Sarah McLachlan Alanis Morissette Marie Osmond Charles Parker Cole Porter Bonnie Raitt Paul Simon James Taylor

~ ~ ~

"I am known in public for my comedic roles on TV, but I was in a dark and lonely place for a long time before I got the help I needed," said Delta Burke, most famous for her role as Suzanne Sugarbaker on the long-running sitcom Designing Women.  "With the right treatment, I emerged from the darkness and rediscovered the joys in my life, like my acting career, my husband, and volunteering. Those were my goals - I want to help other people suffering from depression to reach their goals, too."  from press release by national awareness campaign GOAL! Go On And Live

~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~

more : **depression : page 1.......depression:: page 2........depression:: page 4........

..........................depression:: teen/young adult.
 

 
.........related pages:****mental health : front page***mental health : teen/young adult
 

****home page :: Talent Development Resources**-site contents***books etc

   *-*-*-sections :*-Women & Talent **-Teen / Young Adult talent