How to deal with artistic overload?

February 26, 2008 2:28 AM

Advice or sources for dealing with inspirational overload?

There are some interesting AskMe's that have been related to this, but I have a very specific question, for a friend who is going through the following: increasingly common spells of creative inspiration associated with depression and, in some cases, physical and emotional paralysis. They are usually brought on by other works of art, and culminate in intense bouts of inspiration that never gets 'realized' because they are emotionally exhausting and can sometimes bring about depression. Afterwards she can't remember what she was thinking. Lately it's been going on once a week. Does anyone have a similar experience, and if so, how have you dealt with it? She's an artist, so bonus points for turning this state into something productive. Have any artists written about this experience, or provided general and helpful advice about inspiration and the creative process that might be of us? Thanks in advance.

posted by farishta to media & arts (8 comments total)

sorry, wrote that in a hurry... bouts of inspiration that never get realized, in search of artists' works that might be of use. Sorry!
posted by farishta at 2:31 AM on February 26, 2008

Sounds like a form of mania rather than inspiration. (This being AskMe, someone will be along shortly to diagnose him/her as bipolar.)

In any case, I think your friend would benefit from trying not to get too "lost" in the manic episodes. I believe people are generally more productive when emotionally stable. It's easy to mistake mania for inspiration, especially among people with artistic sensibilities, but it's not helpful.
posted by NekulturnY at 3:05 AM on February 26, 2008

I'm reminded of accounts of Stendhal Syndrome, although your friend's episodes don't sound like they quite fit that description.
posted by misteraitch at 4:43 AM on February 26, 2008

Not a doctor. Not a shrink. Am an artist, and am around artists. Artists who get this a lot are commonly diagnosed as bipolar.
posted by medea42 at 6:16 AM on February 26, 2008

I get this, and I've had varying degrees of success in turning these "episodes" into actual writing (or more rarely, drawing). It's something I find very hard to explain at all. A lot of times, all the ideas and images will simply be lost (or absorbed into my imagination to flare up under some future stimulation), leaving me drained and depressed. The times it's worked best for me is when I let the feeling prompt me to sit down and open a text editor/notebook and just write, with little to no regard for what's coming out onto the page. Even more than with other types of writing, it's important not to edit on the fly at all. If it works then this results in a lot of lurid and intense scenes that may or may not make a lot of sense but that you can massage into something palatable later. Whether this results in work that has value will depend on your friend's methods and tastes once she's outside of "the zone".

You need some measure of peace to do this, but at the same time some sort of external stimulus is useful... I find the best place is actually at work when I should be doing something else, but that may not be a good idea for you. Otherwise try leaving a TV, PC or radio on, at very quiet volume. This keeps your brain ticking over without distracting it too much.

I have a family history of bipolar disorder and various other things. I find that if I let myself get too drawn into these episodes then they can throw me into some very intense and sometimes off-kilter emotional states, to the extent that I've had to stop myself crying or laughing in the street or just stopping and staring around in awe; I also experience depressive symptoms at other times, which definitely put a halter on my creativity (or at least, my creative output). I personally haven't been to a doctor about these things so far, but it may be sensible for your friend to do so depending on how much it's affecting her. If it's becoming increasingly common for her then it may be especially sensible to make an appointment, or at least to try and find factors in her life that could be destabilising.
posted by Drexen at 8:16 AM on February 26, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh yes, and have a look at mind maps as a way for quickly getting down a lot of ideas in a way that doesn't just result in a big block of illegible and incomprehensible scrawl.
posted by Drexen at 8:24 AM on February 26, 2008

Yes, I experience this too.

I wouldn't be inclined to pathologise it--call it bipolar etc--unless it extends into other areas of life and in an extreme way.

Does mail get opened and are bills paid? Shopping sprees? Dangerously messy house, dangerously undermaintained health? I'm talking extremes here. I'm guilty of all of those but not to the dangerous level.

So, if the excitement is centered on the artistic, how to deal with it?

Not every idea will be developed. Some people are idea generators way beyond their capacity to develop each and every one.

Has your friend tried to "capture" --say, in a notebook--a few things that arise during these heightened moments?

Wordsworth said about poetry, that it's "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings from emotions recollected in tranquility."

I always think about that. Still testing it.

This has been my experience-- I go with the highs, try to capture at least something, if not by writing it down, at least by trying to remember a key word that will let me reconstruct my thoughts of that moment. Not always successful. Sometimes I forget the key word.

I've been disappointed in trying to develop some of the ideas that come from a heightened emotional state. On the other hand, some of these have panned out.

Most of my work is the result of a way lesser high while diligently sitting and writing, drawing.

What about the completely forgotten stuff? More of it comes to take its place. In my experience, knowing the triggers helps--if I want or need to go there. Perhaps the forgotten stuff is never really forgotten, but has an unconscious effect, or will knock on my door repeatedly until i "get it".

But seriously, I've left off expecting that those intensities will provide much in a direct way of material for writing and drawing.

In fact, my response to others' art has grown more intense with time, to the point where it is indeed exhausting to go to a show or a reading, open a new book, watch a film. I avoid it in order to get my own work done. Seems there are two me's--the art consuming one--and the art-making one. Each is all-consuming, and only one of them at a time seems to have the upper hand.
posted by subatomiczoo at 9:07 AM on February 26, 2008

She may find Kay Redfield Jamison's Touched with Fire: Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperment helpful.
posted by Roach at 9:12 AM on February 26, 2008