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Author Topic: Creativity and Insanity - discuss  (Read 7520 times)

Will

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Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« on: 01 May 2009, 11:23 »

I'm reposting this from my blog:
Quote
Something that has always fascinated me is the link between artistic creativity and...this, however, begs the question - for an artist, is the mental illness itself a muse? Is our depression and our paranoia and our clusterfucked way of thinking just a byproduct of our creativity, or is the creativity just a genetic compensation for the fact that we exited the womb already damaged? And do we as artists use our art as a way of dealing with our own issues, or do we simply use our disorders as fuel for an already raging fire?

If you want to read my whole rambling post, go HERE. Otherwise, I know there are a bunch of creative people who frequent these forums, so I wanted to get some of your thoughts. Is there a definite link between creative thought/artistic temperament and mentall illness? This isn't for any real research project or anything, just something that I'm thinking a lot about lately...since I'm back to the forums, I might as well ask a loaded question, right?

If you want to read a really good essay/research article on this subject, there's a 2002 study done by the University of Northern Iowa that I found. I don't know if linking to a pdf file is kosher here anymore, but I have a direct link in my blog, or you can message me for a link.

Thanks guys! I'll stop rambling now.
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Lines

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #1 on: 01 May 2009, 11:49 »

I've been told by a few people that I'm one of the sanest people they've ever met (that kind of says more about the person who told me more than what it actually says about me) and I don't really think I have any mental issues. But my art is definitely reflected by my personality. I like whimsical, fun, absurd things, but then again, I'm kind of a quirky person and what I like most about some people are their particular quirks. But I am slightly OCD about things and it comes out when I'm working, especially if I'm doing something that is process oriented.

But from the people I knew in school and have met professionally, either artists are the sanest people on the planet or we're all quite insane. It may or may not be directly linked to what we do, but I'm not really sure. I'll be checking out that article, though.
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JD

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #2 on: 01 May 2009, 14:10 »

Shouldn't this get moved to the DISCUSS! sub-forum?
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #3 on: 01 May 2009, 14:11 »

Only uncreative people would say that
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #4 on: 01 May 2009, 14:13 »

Creative people would move it to Arts and Crafts.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #5 on: 01 May 2009, 14:42 »

(Jens is angry that he has no talents)



(read: Jens is useless and sad)
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #6 on: 01 May 2009, 14:54 »

I am in art school, about to finish. Many people here are "crazy".

But the number of actually insane ones is no higher here than anywhere else as far as I can tell.

Van Gogh is an oft-cited example of an artist with mental problems. I think it's important to note that he was the least productive when going through bouts of extreme mental anguish, and most productive when well. Despite the purported links between creativity and mental illness, true, full-blown mental illness is usually very, very detrimental to a person's productivity in any field, creative or not.

This all being said, I certainly use my tendency to clean and organize compulsively to fuel my work. The important thing is, my art is not about my impulses, it's about themes and ideas that are applicable to the outside world. I have a feeling that outside of spectacle, there isn't often a way for an audience to enter into a work that is solely the product of someone's own personal difficulties. In other words, work that begins in one's own private problems has a tendency to stay there, and may be easily seen as self-indulgent by its intended audience.
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ViolentDove

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #7 on: 01 May 2009, 15:24 »

Hey I just proofed a story on this. It's over here.
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pwhodges

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #8 on: 01 May 2009, 16:10 »

I am not mad; but in spite of having many skills, I have not a trace of creativity in me.  However, this proves nothing; JS Bach was as level-headed as can be imagined, but is considered one of the greatest musicians of all time.

Beethoven was perhaps not mad, but definitely very cranky - but who wouldn't be, going deaf progressively while still a young adult, and a musician at that (not to mention getting dumped with his nephew to bring up); but he was great before he went deaf and got so cranky, so no clear correlation there.

Schumann was in and out of a mental asylum - the music he wrote while in it is distinctly strange rather than great (but I like it...).

Louis Wayne drew pretty, anthropomorphic cat pictures; but when he went into an asylum, his art got weirder and more colourful and dramatic - definitely an improvement to my mind.

Lots of totally uncreative people are mad, but no-one notices much.

I think what I'm saying is that there is no clear correlation between madness and creativity (or genius in any other aspect) - it will always be possible to show examples, but also counter examples in equal quantity.
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WriterofAllWrongs

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #9 on: 01 May 2009, 16:34 »

The only artist who had a specific mental condition that comes to mind is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.  He was part of the Russian composer quintet "The Five" along with Modest Mussorgsky.  He had a form of synesthesia which translated musical keys and intervals into colors.  That is pretty cool to me!
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Joseph

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #10 on: 01 May 2009, 16:39 »

Vladimir Nabokov also had synesthesia, which he talks about at some length in Speak, Memory.  Synesthesia is pretty far from insanity though.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #11 on: 01 May 2009, 16:56 »

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov... had a form of synesthesia which translated musical keys and intervals into colors.

Messiaen had this too.  As a church organist he was surrounded by brilliantly coloured stained glass windows, and these influenced his composition to a great extent.  But it's not insanity, of course.
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ViolentDove

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #12 on: 01 May 2009, 17:44 »

I wish I could have synaesthesia some times, it actually sounds like a pretty amazing thing to experience. I guess I could just take a shitload of acid, but it's not really the same.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #13 on: 01 May 2009, 19:38 »

Now drugs and creativity, that is a different thing entirely.

I have always been interested by this study where an artist is given acid and then documents the changes his mind makes through drawing.

Some of the last ones look a lot like Brett Whiteley's stuff, which I am quite fond of, but we all know what the drugs did to him.
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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #14 on: 01 May 2009, 21:37 »

I am easily, very mentally unbalanced. Crazy. People say I'm not crazy, but...they don't really see things my way.

I love the sound of the colour blue!

Sounds a bit psychedelic, but it's true. Sounds a bit like bad poetry, but it's not. I don't necessarily *hear* the colour, but I have a sense of what it would sound like. If that makes sense. The way I describe things as they make sense to me makes no sense to other people. My father wanted to name the dog Brandy, which I was radically against. He kept asking me why I didn't like the name, and I kept telling him I just didn't. He kept pushing it, and finally I told him the reason why: The name sounds like brown and yellow in my mind. He gave me an odd look and didn't press the issue again.

I see eyes. I'm very open with my mental imbalances, I have no reason to hide them. I understand that it's all in my head, and I can use logic and rationality to explain to myself what's wrong with me, though it's not always so simple (that is, sometimes I actually lose my mind). I believe people are following me, I see eyes in every window. There's a demon hiding in the rafters and watching me. When I was a child, I believed there were angels whispering to me all the time, and that cameras were following my every move. Thankfully, I never really told anyone about this.

And, I'd like to think of myself as highly creative in what I do. I don't know if there is a correlation or only a coincidence, but my story's open to be discussed.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #15 on: 02 May 2009, 15:00 »

I had drug-induced synaethesia once.  It wasn't quite what you'd expect.

Basically I was on some incredibly clean and powerful acid (possibly still the cleanest I've ever taken) and I was lying down on a bed in a dark room, listening to the Grateful Dead for the first time.  I started twitching muscles in time with the music and after delving into that sensation for a while I found myself translating the music directly into movement, and then I started to see it all happening.  15 minutes later, the music was playing video games on the backs of my eyeballs using my thigh muscles as controllers.  It was pretty awesome.
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sean

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #16 on: 02 May 2009, 15:13 »

my friend has synaethesia and he is always describing to me what color music is! however, the most fascinating thing about it is whenever he is stoned, it goes beyond colors and it starts becoming shapes and moving patterns. its pretty crazy when he describes what he sees, and once or twice i've almost understood what synaethesia feels like via his descriptions and an altered mind. its crazy shit!
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snalin

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #17 on: 02 May 2009, 15:19 »

I have never ever had any mental problems. Hell, my weirdest side is that I have to check if the bathroom door is closed. I have no artistic creative talent outside of a mediocre writing skill, and I can't play any instrument or sing. Yup, I guess it counts as true for me.

EDIT: I agree with Jens on the rant.
« Last Edit: 02 May 2009, 15:27 by snalin »
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Lines

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #18 on: 02 May 2009, 17:00 »

Now drugs and creativity, that is a different thing entirely.

I have always been interested by this study where an artist is given acid and then documents the changes his mind makes through drawing.

Some of the last ones look a lot like Brett Whiteley's stuff, which I am quite fond of, but we all know what the drugs did to him.

That study is really interesting. I always wondered what it would be like to do this, but I don't want to touch the stuff. This made me giggle:

Quote
Upon completing the drawing the patient starts laughing, then becomes startled by something on the floor.
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Sox

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #19 on: 02 May 2009, 19:09 »

is synethesia trendy now? like, is it cool to say you're experienced it?
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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #20 on: 02 May 2009, 23:40 »

my friend has synaethesia and he is always describing to me what color music is! however, the most fascinating thing about it is whenever he is stoned, it goes beyond colors and it starts becoming shapes and moving patterns. its pretty crazy when he describes what he sees, and once or twice i've almost understood what synaethesia feels like via his descriptions and an altered mind. its crazy shit!

Wait wait wait wait wait that's what synesthesia is? Holy shit holy shit I experience that

The song "Because" by the Beatles is purple, and each note is blocky but round shape shape splattered onto black. I see things in my mind that I just cannot explain exactly because it doesn't make any rational sense (It's like hard sharp stabby motions in soft curves!). It's really awesome.

I never knew there was a word for it.

Jens: This is so cool! It's like, a group of people that understand what I see and hear and don't think I'm actually crazy! I understand what you mean, too.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #21 on: 03 May 2009, 00:45 »

is synethesia trendy now? like, is it cool to say you're experienced it?
Not as cool as Asperger's!
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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #22 on: 03 May 2009, 01:06 »

I have a plethora of mental problems. Also, plethora is just fun to say.

I couldn't tell you exactly what I have though, since I have an innate mistrust of mental health care professionals (or whatever the term is), and the last time I tried to see a therapist I didn't have money so I got stuck with this shitty intern who was really uncomfortable when I explained to her that I want to feel pretty, oh so pretty.
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ViolentDove

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #23 on: 03 May 2009, 02:54 »

Wait wait wait wait wait that's what synesthesia is? Holy shit holy shit I experience that

The song "Because" by the Beatles is purple, and each note is blocky but round shape shape splattered onto black. I see things in my mind that I just cannot explain exactly because it doesn't make any rational sense (It's like hard sharp stabby motions in soft curves!). It's really awesome.

I never knew there was a word for it.

Jens: This is so cool! It's like, a group of people that understand what I see and hear and don't think I'm actually crazy! I understand what you mean, too.

As far as I understand it (I could be wrong, but I'm not going to look it up at the moment) with synaesthesia you would actually see the music as a visual manifestation, not picture the colours/shapes in your mind.
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WriterofAllWrongs

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #24 on: 03 May 2009, 08:09 »

Yeah, plenty of people visualize things (like actually in your imagination!  Not in front of you physically!) when they are listening to music.  That's not very irregular at all.  Actually seeing sound is very rare and only the coolest kids have it. 

EDIT: Sox I am sorry.  I just realized how little sense my post made.
« Last Edit: 04 May 2009, 09:17 by WriterofAllWrongs »
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Sox

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #25 on: 03 May 2009, 11:58 »

...
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JD

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #26 on: 03 May 2009, 12:33 »

Saw a documentary on synethesia recently. Apparently it give you an awesome memory.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #27 on: 03 May 2009, 22:23 »

I feel you guys are straying from the topic a bit. Synesthesia is an incredibly rare occurance, and so far it sounds like somehow this forum is an absolute magnet for it, how extraordinary!

I'm with Paul here, There are mad people, there are creative people, there are mad and creative people. Fuck my psychiatrist diagnosed me with Seasonal Affective Disorder this past winter, it sure as shit has never seemed to help me with my creativity. And this is from someone who wishes they were creative, I want to be a writer, but if anything having any sort of condition where you're down all the time, well, it doesn't make you want to write, it just makes you want to, you know, lay there and not do anything.

I can see things like Asperger's being a boon in disguise though, anything that basically forces your brain to stay on one subject for long periods of time and you're eventually bound to think of something new and exciting about it, after the long and exhaustive hours of work that is. Creativity is just like any other pursuit, it takes time and work if you want to come up with anything spectacular and beautiful. I'm saying this from the angle of being an enormous procrastinator, seriously, I could be writing poems right now for one of my classes, I just spent 3 hours playing Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and then hopped straight onto the internet.
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Alex C

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #28 on: 03 May 2009, 23:35 »

I've known 2 Aspies in my lifetime; both were quiet young men who eventually killed themselves out of a mix of loneliness and sheer frustration, so I wouldn't really count on it being a blessing quite yet.

Anyway, I don't really buy the notion that creativity and insanity are really all that linked, mostly because I believe many people are prone to making much ado about nothing when it comes to slightly odd behavior. For example, my sister's clothing choices ranges from mall goth and business casual depending on whether she needs the job or not. She is attached to a certain aesthetic, but she doesn't really adhere any of the stereotypes that teenagers on the internet like to bandy about and she is by no means depressed or even really "quirky" aside from liking black a little too much. People tend to conform so it makes sense that people who are willing to push things a little artistically are often viewed as a bit odd whether they tow the party line in most other areas or not.
« Last Edit: 03 May 2009, 23:45 by Alex C »
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ruyi

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #29 on: 03 May 2009, 23:38 »

Asperger's syndrome is not as simple as your brain being forced to stay on one subject. You might be thinking of something else, Phil.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #30 on: 03 May 2009, 23:55 »

So Tommy was keen on a video of a rotating mask of Charlie Chaplin a little while ago if I recall correctly, wherein, when viewing the back of the rotating mask, it appears to be rotating the other way because of visual cues from the relief of the mask. Apparently, schizophrenics do not suffer from this delusion which I think is what Tommy was going on about?
Anyways, I bring that up because, I think, something that can make a brilliant artist is the ability to see things that other people can't, and if you're crazy, you're certainly seeing things other people aren't. If you're just a little crazy, maybe you've got just a little bit of something extra going on that you're looking with that gives you an edge creatively.

Of course, I just spent eight hours listening to a crazy man ramble about this and that and he wasn't very creative, he just kept spouting the same stuff about lucifer and the world melting and how he can't die over and over again.
(I really hope tania comes in here and is like 'james are you making things up or talking about your weird life again?' and then I will be like 'it was a crazy man in guelph named bob do you know him' and then she will be like 'OMG YES')
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #31 on: 04 May 2009, 00:13 »

Asperger's syndrome is not as simple as your brain being forced to stay on one subject. You might be thinking of something else, Phil.

I was just going off of a quote from that article someone linked up top earlier, truth be told I don't know a whole lot about it and I'm sorry if I let my ignorance show too much here, here's the quote:

Quote from: That article
More recently, a number of history's most brilliant minds have been retrospectively diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome – a high functioning form of autism characterised by narrow interests and 'workaholism'. In fact, some researchers believe that these two types of mental illness might confer traits that are conducive to genius.

someone linked it up top a while ago but I'll post it again for clarity.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #32 on: 04 May 2009, 00:16 »

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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #33 on: 04 May 2009, 00:27 »

Okay, so I don't have synaesthesia (fuck the spelling), then.  :laugh: Probably a good thing, if I have too many things on my list of what's wrong with me I'll start to look like a hypochondriac. I mean, seriously. I have every disorder BUT hypochondria, I think.
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #34 on: 04 May 2009, 00:38 »

Er, haven't you just pretty much defined hypochondria? 

Also, I was playing with the thought of the inhabitants of this thread starting Synaesthetes Anonymous...  it has a nice ring to it (or should that be colour?).
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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #35 on: 04 May 2009, 00:43 »

My 21-year-old brother has high-functioning autism and bipolar disorder, which probably qualifies him as "crazy" by most definitions.  Unmedicated, his thinking is frequently delusional (e.g., "You're trying to kill me," "I've got to call the police because my sister is being bad"); with the help of anti-psychotics, it's only occasionally delusional (and generally in much more benign ways, e.g., "I've got to get to the next city for some reason and so I'm going to walk there," "My dad is going to run for president some day").

Much of his moment-to-moment cogitation is wrapped up in plans for a video game he's been designing in his head (and in literally hundreds of Wordpad documents that list statistics and level names) over the last seven years called Super Warfare.  The world he's designed is incredibly complex and filled with fanciful creatures (the CatScratches, the Unwelcome Stranger, etc.).  This is certainly some sort of creativity, but in terms of execution, my brother's stuck.  He refuses to learn to program, and his slow, repetitive monologue style makes it unlikely that he'll ever be able to communicate those ideas in any useable manner.

My parents for a time were convinced that he could make all this video game stuff make sense to other people if he could draw it out and sketch levels, so Eddie took a community college art class.  Unfortunately, he ultimately demonstrated only very mild interest in art and no patience for working on a piece (despite my dad's prayers that he'd become some sort of outsider art phenomenon).  So that was a flop.

Ultimately, I agree with those of you who have been saying that though insanity may allow people to see things in new and "creative" ways, it can also serve as a huge hinderance to the communication of that vision.

I think Daniel Johnston is a perfect example of someone who walks the amazingly creative / too crazy to function line.
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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #36 on: 04 May 2009, 00:53 »

Er, haven't you just pretty much defined hypochondria? 

Also, I was playing with the thought of the inhabitants of this thread starting Synaesthetes Anonymous...  it has a nice ring to it (or should that be colour?).

Was a joke.

Most of my problems are things I can deal with, but I've blacked out a time or two without realizing it, and only when people tell me later that I was acting really rude to them and wouldn't refer to myself as "Edward" do I start to realize that there may be something seriously wrong, and that terrifies me. I haven't had any recent incidents...I think. It's not like, "Oh, hey, it's Wednesday, what happened to Tuesday?", it's just something I can not notice whatsoever. I can deal with voices in my head and people that follow me and my manic depression and all that good stuff, but blacking out and thinking I'm someone else makes me think I'm going to be arrested for triple homicide some day.

I'm also insanely paranoid about everything, ha!
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Darkbluerabbit

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #37 on: 04 May 2009, 15:53 »

I agree that creativity and insanity aren't necessarily correlated.  Just as an example, I saw part of the Cremaster series by Matthew Barney and was pretty sure that he had to be completely insane.  I recently saw an interview with him and learned more about his background, and he's actually pretty dang "normal."  He played football in high school and paid his way through college by modeling for companies like J.Crew.  Not exactly the quirky artist type, yet he's done some very strange video art.
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KvP

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #38 on: 04 May 2009, 16:07 »

Synesthesia is an incredibly rare occurance, and so far it sounds like somehow this forum is an absolute magnet for it, how extraordinary!
I don't know if I'd call it incredibly rare, it seems like the sort of thing that people could have without realizing it - it's difficult to conceive of one's own senses as being abnormal, no? Besides, like a lot of other psychological phenomena it exists in degrees - most people have "a bit" of it. Consonants sound sharp while vowels sound smooth, etc.

I can see things like Asperger's being a boon in disguise though, anything that basically forces your brain to stay on one subject for long periods of time and you're eventually bound to think of something new and exciting about it, after the long and exhaustive hours of work that is.
Maybe I'm atypical for an aspie, but my fixations never manifested themselves in a creative urge. I mean I consistently played video games for 12 hours a day at one point but I've never had any particular insight into game design (despite knowing more about it than most people, I would imagine) That's the thing about aspie fixations, they're not always useful. Some kids have memorized huge sheets of baseball stats from the 70's. How is that useful? Impressive at a certain kind of party, maybe (our intense interests and lack of tact more often result in putting people off) but it's not immediately useful.
« Last Edit: 04 May 2009, 16:41 by KvP »
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Zingoleb

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Re: Creativity and Insanity - discuss
« Reply #39 on: 04 May 2009, 17:15 »

Unless you're on Jeopardy someday.

"Yes, Alex, I'll take "70's Baseball" for 2000, please."

Then you better hope that they choose your one little almost insignificant niche to ask about.
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