A Popular Misconception About Mental Illness

Posted: 8/13/2014

Trigger

Just read “Creativity, Madness and Drugs”. An article that probably appeared in the aftermath of the recent death of Robin Williams.

A Persistent Myth In Urgent Need Of Debunking

In the first sentence, the author asserts (emphasis added):

1. “Would we have Poe’s Raven today if the tormented author had taken lithium to suppress his bipolar illness? Not likely, considering the high frequency of psychiatric illnesses among writers and artists, concluded psychiatrist Kay Jamison of Johns Hopkins Medical School speaking last week at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego. Madness electrifies the creative process, Jamison concluded … “
2. “Lord Tennyson, Virginia Woolf and Vincent Van Gogh are familiar examples of artists and writers who suffered serious mental illnesses, but Jamison explained that psychiatric illness was the cruel engine of their creativity. … “
3. The crash of depression ending the manic phase immerses the writer in the depths of human suffering. This infuses poets and writers with the most monumental and profound dimensions of human experiences, moving them to contemplate the meaning of life, confront the certainty of death, and struggle against the agony of despair to survive adversity.”

This is a dangerous path of thinking by so called normal, believed to be mentally healthy people! This theory presented in this article appears to be plausible, but it is absurd and inhumane!

Why would a widely believed genius afflicted by mental illness like Edgar Allen Poe not be able to do outstanding, exceptional work or dazzle us with his or her creativity even after being successfully treated. Specifically, in the case of Edgar Allen Poe, had he been helped by some treatment perhaps he would not have died at age 40 by drinking too much alcohol.

Unfortunately, it is quite possible that this misconception or myth is even reinforced by some of the afflicted.