Does mental illness and creativity come together?

Question

When I was younger I use to get depressed all the time. Looked for ways to express my intense emotions, music, art, dance, writing poetry. If it is wasn't for my life experiences and my genes I wouldn't be the talented person I am today.

Answer 1

mental "illness" leads to creativity in that it provokes new and unusual avenues of perception and ultimately, expression.
the originators and innovators of any time period were referred to as "crazy" and "outcasts", up until their contributions made the appropriate impact, then the same detractors turned about and praised them without the slightest hint of hypocrisy.
be crazy
be outrageous
be whatever
it's those people who think outside of the little box called "sanity" aka consensus thought-lines, that push the rest of the complacent and normal people to advance.

Answer 2

This a common belief, and a belief that sometimes artists romanticize. And although, there's a list of artist that belong to that category such as dadd or van gogh, the list is rather small, and i think people sometimes confuse mental instability with artists whims, aborrations, eccentricities and high emotions. I personally think that a sound mind is the mind that produces the better art, and the better artists known today did not show the smallest degree of mental illness such as Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Rubens, Rembrandt, Vermeer etc...

Answer 3

It is said that bipolar disorder (manic-depression) and creativity are associated especially during hypomania.

Answer 4

To answer your question, yes. I think sometimes it does. Van Gogh did cut off his ear after all.

Answer 5

It could lead you to think outside the box , How ever it could also lead to you being put into one

Answer 6

Yeah, sometimes