Abstract
This chapter examines the relationship between creativity and mental health and the historical link between ‘madness’ and creativity. Dispelling persistent myths surrounding psychosis, mood disorder, artistic temperament and ‘strong imagination’, it argues that people are more likely to be creative when they are mentally well-balanced. The mental health benefits of arts and creativity are considered, including arts as social inclusion and as a protective factor. The use of creative arts and humanities in healthcare is explored as are ways of promoting and sustaining creativity, including clinical supervision. Organisational creativity is discussed, and the chapter concludes by suggesting a creative climate, rather than a risk-averse one, helps reduce work-related stress in mental health nursing, leading to greater autonomy and empowerment for the workforce and service users.
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Notes
- 1.
To be fair to Nettle , even Rothenberg (1994) – making the case for an objective, scientific analysis of the area – called his book Creativity and Madness .
- 2.
The precise meaning of affect is sometimes hard to define. The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne (2017) helpfully explain the relationship between emotional affect and mood as being comparable to that between the weather (affect) and the season (mood). Mood refers to emotional experience over a more prolonged period while affect refers to more immediate expressions of emotion.
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Gillam, T. (2018). Creativity and Mental Health. In: Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice. Palgrave Studies in Creativity and Culture. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74884-9_3
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