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Creativity and psychic distress in artists, writers and scientists: implications for emergent models of psychiatric nursing practice
Author(s) -
Philip Barker
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.69
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1365-2850
pISSN - 1351-0126
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2850.1998.00103.x
Subject(s) - psychic , creativity , the arts , mental illness , distress , psychology , mental distress , psychiatry , mental health nursing , mental health , psychotherapist , medicine , social psychology , visual arts , alternative medicine , art , pathology
Many of the great discoveries and developments in the sciences and the arts were made by people who were ‘mentally different’. Some such pioneers or innovators had experiences that were indistinguishable from the phenomena defined as mental illness (or madness). It has been argued that such experiences are a necessary constituent of the creative process, and that this may apply to the sciences as much as to the arts. Increasingly, scientists propose a means by which it may be possible to identify (and eliminate) the factors that influence the altered states associated with mental illness. This may be an appropriate time to review the cultural and social significance of all forms of ‘madness’, especially in the light of emerging models of psychiatric nursing practice.