Sadness as a Muse (Sujatha)

Does happiness chase away the creative ability?

This intriguing New York Times article suggests that depression and its attendant emotions might play an evolutionary role that has led to its being preserved in the human species across time, perhaps for the creative advantages that it confers. Imagine, no Lascaux cave art, if it weren't for a miserable young hunter who missed his great prey on the plains. Instead, he decided to draw his quarry on the walls, trying to recapture the  figure and spirit of the animal that had eluded him in reality.

I exaggerate of course, but there's no proof to the contrary, either. As to the article's premise that heightened pain can result in a heightened attention to detail, I can attest to that from just merely the experience of physical pain (as in a migraine), tiny things jump out with greater clarity, cutting through the pain and embedding themselves in the brain- the angle of the sun,  the smell of cooking oil twenty yards away, the imperceptible sway of a branch, the suddenly deafening rendition of the same phrase for the nth time by the robin outside in the yew tree...

Just imagine how it must be for someone who is under the considerable mental anguish that accompanies a depressive state, and it becomes easier to postulate why this horrendous condition might have persisted over the millenia that it took for homo sapiens to evolve to their current state.

(Cross-posted from Fluff 'n' Stuff)

Comments

[M]

my life is a counter-argument to this article. when i get depressed...instead of creating anything, i just stay in pajamas all day, watch crap tv and drink too much. i get so mentally disorganized that i can't even toast waffles correctly.

whoa...M, depressed...it's no good. i am the living antonym of creativity when i'm down. it's just me, in pjs, watching The View, drinking whiskey and eating burnt waffles.

[Sujatha]

If you wade through the whole article, rather than my ramblings on a slight tangent, major depression is acknowledged to drown its victims in the haze of purposeless despair and inactivity, just as you describe, M.
Perhaps the Muse is less inclined to inspire people in such states, and seeks out those in milder forms of sadness and pain. But seriously, on a rebound from such episodes, don't you find a new facility with words and writing?

[M]

"on a rebound from such episodes, don't you find a new facility with words and writing?"

Definitely. More importantly, I find a new facility with the waffle making. Crisp. Brown, but not burnt. I love the rebound.

"rather than my ramblings on a slight tangent"

no, no, your description was perfect. i was just having fun at my expense...which, i hope, will not lead to depression.

[Ruchira]

Sujatha: Your "ramblings" are perfect. You managed to capture the essence of the 7 page long article very well. I too was struck by the claims when I read it a few days ago. Many of them seem quite plausible. Of course, the main opposition seems to come from those who promote anti-depressants which have their use in many cases but are also over prescribed.

Matt: Please don't throw away those burnt waffles. Take them to the nearest body of water and feed the duckies. They will eat anything!

But more seriously, there are qualitative as well as quantitative differences between mild to moderate melancholy and debilitating depression. The former may indeed heighten our awareness of the surroundings and sharpen our focus. The latter can be life threatening. I think the authors do make that clear.

[how do we know]

hmmm.. now THIS is a new perspective..

[Sujatha]

Anti-depressants may dull the edge of deep depression, but do induce a certain numb fuzziness to the perceptions of the patient- the new 'rose-colored glasses'. It may be a valid approach for some, but not all will benefit from them.
Note that I didn't title the piece "Despair as a Muse". It's funny, but I didn't think too much about the association between those tried and tested 'old terms' and the newer clinical terminology used to categorize the conditions. Does 'depression' have less of a stigma and impact than 'despair'?
Yay for the waffles, burnt and unburnt! Douse the burnt ones in a generous helping of syrup, and you will find the acrylamide probably enhances the flavor. Sorry, duckies.
And thank goodness for rebounds from all kinds of pain. Nothing like a morning after a migraine, when the world seems fresh and new and pain-free!

[narayan]

"The latter can be life threatening" - sometimes I wish I were constantly in deep depression because that seems to be the only time my blood sugars are in perfect control.

[Ruchira]

Another positive side of depression! Narayan, whatever works:-)

[Dean C. Rowan]

If Harold Bloom's insights are close to correct, some sort of depression is at the core of all great poetic inspiration. I write "some sort" because Bloom's varieties of "brooding" (one of his favorite words) are not clinically defined, but also because they include related conditions, such as anxiety, that motivate art making, which according to Bloom entails defending against threats to one's need for priority. For great poets, only great poetry, not drugs, rescues the human mind.

This sentence stands out from the article: "We suffer — we suffer terribly — but we don’t suffer in vain." Wow. I hardly know how to reply to this. It suggests a crude psychic economy, a Monopoly money version of Freud, but one we can easily adapt to our cost/benefit approach to everything we do: buy a car, choose a mate, plan a child's education, read a book. I find this engagement with the world--really, a willful lack of engagement with the world--infuriating, if not depressing.

[Sujatha]

Depression might serve to elevate my blood sugar, as I rampage through the snack cupboard in hopes of satisfying the sugar craving and elevate mood. So it works the other way round for you, Narayan!

Perhaps for the great poets, there were both drugs (alcohol, opium, etc.) as well as great poetry. Though they wouldn't have been able to pen their best works while lying insensate on their beds after a bout of indulgence.

I think the lines in the article extolling the cost-benefit ratio of depression to the number of works of art/literature/science are merely a reflection of the capitalism driven society and age we live in. Had the author lived in a less materialistic age, he would have likely have couched it in terms more suited to a philosophical discussion.

[gaddeswarup]

There is an article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18585-happiness-aint-all-its-cracked-up-to-be.html
on the downside of happiness.