Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Creativity and Psychoactive Substance Use: A Systematic Review

International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Cite this article

Abstract

The role of psychoactive substance use in the research of artistic creation and creativity is a long-standing topic. Ever since the discovery of LSD, researchers have examined the relationship between the effects of chemical substances and the artistic creative process. The goal of the present study was to systematically review all published empirical publications and case reports in refereed journals that focus on the relationship between psychoactive substances and creativity/creative artistic process. A total of 19 studies were identified that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results were difficult to summarize because of the different study questions asked, the diverse methods used, the different samples applied, and the various substances examined. The general results suggest that there is an association between creativity and substance use. However, the studies were unable to show that substance use directly contributed to the growth of creativity or facilitated creative artistic process. It is concluded that specific skills may be subject to change as a consequence of substance use, and consequently may have an effect on the style of creation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allport, G. W., Vernon, P. E., & Lindzey, G. (1931). Study of Values. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barron, F., & Welsh, G. S. (1987). Barron-Welsh Art Scale. Menlo Park: Mind Garden Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Belli, S. (2009). A psychobiographic alanalysis of Brian Douglas Wilson: creativity, drugs, and models of schizophrenic and affective disorders. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 809–819.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, S. H., Peterson, J. B., Higgins, D. M. (2005) Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the creative achievement questionnaire. Creativity Research Journal, 17(1), 37–50.

  • Christensen, P. R., Memfield, P. R., & Guilford, J. P. (1958). Consequences. Beverly Hills: Sheridan.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Rios Dobkin, M., & Janiger, O. (2003). LSD, spirituality, and the creative process. Rochester: Park Street Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, J. (1993). Creative abilities of adolescent substance abusers. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama and Sociometry, 46, 52–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehrenzweig, A. (1970). The hidden order of art. London: Paladin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fink, A., Slamar-Halbedl, M., Unterrainer, H. F., & Weiss, E. M. (2012). Creativity: genius, madness, or a combination of both? Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 6(1), 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Scheib, J. (1971). Creative performance and the hallucinogenic drug-induced creative experience or one man’s brain-damage is another’s creativity. Confinia Psychiatrica, 14, 174–202.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forgeard, M. J. C., & Elstein, J. G. (2014). Advancing the clinical science of creativity. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 613.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Frecska, E., Móré Cs, E., Vargha, A., & Luna, L. E. (2012). Enhancement of creative expression and entoptic phenomena as after-effects of repeated ayahuasca ceremonies. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 44, 191–199.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, H. G. (1979). A creative personality scale for the adjective check list. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1398–1405.

  • Gough, H. G. & Heilbrun, A. B., Jr. (1963). The adjective check list manual. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

  • Harman, W. W., McKim, R. H., Mogar, R. E., Fadiman, J., & Stolaroff, M. J. (1966). Psychedelic agents in creative problem-solving: a pilot study. Psychological Reports, 19, 211–227.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holm-Hadulla, R. M., & Bertolino, A. (2014). Creativity, alcohol and drug abuse: the pop icon Jim Morrison. Psychopathology, 47, 167–73.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Iszáj, F., & Demetrovics, Z. (2011). Balancing between sensitization and repression: the role of opium in the life and art of Edgar Allan Poe and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Substance Use and Misuse, 46, 1613–1618.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jäger, A. O., Süß, H.-M., & Beauducel, A. (1997). Berliner Intelligenzstruktur-Test. Göttingen: Hogrefe.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, M. T. (2007). The creativity of crumb: research on the effects of psychedelic drugs on the comic art of Robert Crumb. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 39, 283–291.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K. A., Blagrove, M., & Parrott, A. C. (2009). Cannabis and ecstasy/ MDMA: empirical measures of creativity in recreational users. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 41(4), 323–329.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jung, C. G. (1971). Über das phänomen des geistes in kunst und wissenschaft. Olten: Walter-Verlag AG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, B., Shaffer, J., Chambers, C., & Hallowell, K. (1991). Substance use of creatively talented adults. Journal of Creative Behavior, 25(2), 145–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khantzian, E. J. (2003). Understanding addictive vulnerability: An evolving psychodynamic perspective. Neuropsychoanalysis, 5(1), 5–21.

  • Knafo, D. (2008). The senses grow skilled in their craving: thoughts on creativity and addiction. Psychoanalytic Review, 95, 571–595.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Korngold, M. (1963). LSD and the creative experience. Psychoanalytic Review, 50, 682–85.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kris, E. (1939). On inspiration. Preliminary notes on emotional conditions in creative states. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 20, 377–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kris, E. (1962). Psychoanalytic explorations in art. New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Landon, M., & Fischer, R. (1970). On similar linguistic structures in creative performance and psilocybin-induced experience. Confinia Psychiatrica, 13, 115–38.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawshe, C. H., & Harris, D. H. (1960). Purdue Creativity Test. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Services.

  • Lowe, G. (1995). Judgements of substance use and creativity in’ordinary’ people’s everyday lifestyles. Psychological Reports, 76, 1147–1154.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maslow, A. H. (2011). Toward a psychology of being. Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Fine Publishing.

  • Mednick, S. A., & Mednick, M. T. (1967). Examiner’s manual, remote associates test. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, D. R. (1955). Subject of object visualization. Monterey: California Test Bureau.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oleynick, V. C., Thrash, T. M., LeFew, M. C., Moldovan, E. G., & Kieffaber, P. D. (2014). The scientific study of inspiration in the creative process: challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8, 436.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, E. R., Joseph, S. A., & Garety, P. A. (1999). The measurement of delusional ideation in the normal population: introducing the PDI (Peters et al. Delusions Inventory). Schizophrenia Bulletin, 25, 553–576.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plucker, J. A., McNeely, A., & Morgan, C. (2009). Controlled substance-related beliefs and use: relationships to undergraduates’ creative personality traits. Journal of Creative Behavior, 43(2), 94–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preti, A., & Vellante, M. (2007). Creativity and psychopathology. Higher rates of psychosis proneness and nonright-handedness among creative artists compared to same age and gender peers. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195(10), 837–845.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, W. A. & Berendes, M. (1977–78). LSD-assisted psychotherapy and dynamics of creativity: a case report. Journal of Altered States of Consciousness, 3(2), 131–146.

  • Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schafer, G., Feilding, A., Morgan, C. J. A., Agathangelou, M., Freeman, T. P., & Curran, H. V. (2012). Investigating the interaction between schizotypy, divergent thinking and cannabis use. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 292–298.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Carson, S. H., Peterson, J. B., & Higgins, D. M. (2005) Reliability, validity, and factor structure of the creative achievement questionnaire. Creativity Research Journal, 17(1), 37–50.

  • Steffenhagen, R. A., McCann, H. G., & McAree, C. P. (1976). Personality and drug use: a study of the usefulness of the Mf Scale of the MMPI in measuring creativity and drug use. Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education, 21(3), 8–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thrash, T. M., & Elliot, A. J. (2003). Inspiration as a psychological construct. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 871–889.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thrash, T. M., Maruskin, L. A., Cassidy, S. E., Fryer, J. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2010). Mediating between the muse and the masses: inspiration and the actualization of creative ideas. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 469–487.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Torrance, E. P. (1974). Torrance tests of creative thinking. Bensenville: Scholastic Testing Service, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Witkin, H. A. (1950). Individual differences in ease of perception of embedded figures. Journal of Personality, 19, 1–15.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (Grant numbers: K111938).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology and Addiction, Institute of Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University, Izabella utca 46, Budapest, 1064, Hungary

    Fruzsina Iszáj & Zsolt Demetrovics

  2. Psychology Department, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Mark D. Griffiths

Authors
  1. Fruzsina Iszáj
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark D. Griffiths
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zsolt Demetrovics
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zsolt Demetrovics.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they do not have any interests that could constitute a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest with respect to their involvement in the publication. The authors also declare that they do not have any financial or other relations (e.g. directorship, consultancy or speaker fee) with companies, trade associations, unions or groups (including civic associations and public interest groups) that may gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions in the study. Sources of funding are acknowledged.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Iszáj, F., Griffiths, M.D. & Demetrovics, Z. Creativity and Psychoactive Substance Use: A Systematic Review. Int J Ment Health Addiction 15, 1135–1149 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-016-9709-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-016-9709-8

Keywords

search

Navigation