Self-Disorders, Imagination, and Creativity in Professional Visual Artists: An Exploratory Phenomenological Study

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Epidemiological studies suggest links between creativity and mental health vulnerabilities, particularly schizophrenia.
• Alterations in selfhood are hypothesized as a potential bridge between creativity and mental disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate disturbances in basic selfhood and imagination within a non-clinical sample of professional visual artists.
• To explore the relationship between these disturbances and the creative working process.

Main Methods:

• Recruited ten professional visual artists exhibiting at prestigious galleries.
• Conducted comprehensive interviews including the Present State Examination (PSE), Examination of Anomalous Self-experience (EASE), and Examination of Anomalous fantasy and Imagination (EAFI).
• Included a qualitative interview focusing on the creative working process.

Main Results:

• Four participants reported moderate to high levels of self-disorders or imagination anomalies.
• These reported experiences were integrated into their creative work.
• Participants met ICD-10 research criteria for lifetime mood, anxiety, and schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Conclusions:

• Findings are exploratory due to the small sample size.
• Alterations in pre-reflective subjectivity may relate to creativity via subtle alienation from common sense.
• Suggests a link involving preoccupation with the imaginary and a spatialized inner experience.