Jamison’s article

Jamison’s article

Celebrities have often been considered diverse from the common population, and one sometimes hears of stories of famous people who suffer from and have been inspired by their mental illness. Kay Redfield examines such cases in her article “Manic Depressive illness and the Artistic Temperament.” To do this, she provides some persuasive arguments on the link between mental disorders and artistic innovation. Jamison’s text investigates these stereotypes from a medical perspective, ascribing some artists’ illogical actions to mental disorders, especially manic-depressive illness. To create this connection, Jamison introduces an impressive array of artists who suffer from mental illness, be it they were diagnosed properly in their lifetime or detected retrospectively. Thus, Jamison offers an interesting prologue to her ideas through prompting questions and answers, and leaving the door open for further research.

Jamison’s article is a study of the link between creativity and manic depression disease. The author aims to tackle some fascinating issues such as the presence of adequate proof of families with stories of hereditary linkage between creativity and depression. The author also aims to find out if there are stages in class bipolar cycles that are especially favorable for explosions of or prolonged, creative yield. In addition, Jamison also ais to investigate whether treatment of artists psychological symptoms mitigate the capacity of the artist to work successfully.

To answer these fascinating questions, the author provides an in depth examination into the personal, family and creative histories of artists that have been for a long time been under suspicion of suffering from depression. The author begins her search through definitions for beginners the parameters of the disorders under review.

The author opens with a short description of manic-depressive illness and its impacts on human behavior. The expression “manic-depressive illness” is a reference to a range of mental disorders that share the same symptoms but are diverse in gravity. These diseases change one’s mood swings and behavior patterns, interrupts formulated sleep and sexual models, and result in variations in the energy level. Manic-depressive disease lead to cycles of manic, energized highs pursued by the devastating, listless lows. Such disruptions typically develop at an early age and strengthen as time progresses, which leads to maniacal highs and devastating lows.

Jamison’s study depicts that there is a connection between mental illness and creativity. She argues that, mental illness contributes and enhances creativity (Jamison 45). Research shows that, there are numerous famous people especially in the arts that have experienced hardship in their early life like rejection, by friends and families, loss of loved ones or physical disabilities, mental and emotional instability. However, there is no evidence to support that, mental illness was a contributing factor to their creativity. In addition, there are many famous celebrities that do not suffer from mental illness of harsh life experiences, yet their creativity grows day by day. Thus, manifestation of creativity in every day life does not require suffering (Kaufman).

In addition, there are various levels of creativity. People can learn how to be creative by learning in school. For example, art is a creative skill which can be learnt in schools. Creativity can also be accomplished through everyday forms of creativity, professional-level knowledge and experience in any artistic endeavor to distinguished innovation. Thus, Jamison’s assumptions that depression can enhance creativity, can be ruled out by the fact that, creativity is a life learning process which can be acquired daily.

One interesting finding in Jamison’s article is the fact that, manic depression and creativity is genetic in certain families. This was based on a research carried out on twins that concluded that, if one of them suffers from mental illness, the chances of the other suffering from the same condition is 70 to 100 percent. However, if the twins are fraternal, the chances are lower (46). The study, however, does not show how manic depression can result to creativity. The study also provides with specific and subjective samples which cannot result in a conclusive notion that manic depression and creativity is genetic. Thus, further study on this topic would be more educative on unleashing the link between maniac depression and creativity.

One confusing element of Jamison’s arguments lies in her conclusion. She asserts that, “the development of new drugs should enhance the treatment of manic-depressed patients and maintain the features of temperament and cognition that are necessary for the conservation of the creative process.” The treatment of manic depression will mean that, patients suffering from the disease will no longer be creative, once they are treated from the disease. Thus, Jamison’s concluding statement is contradictory to her arguments that manic depression enhances creativity, thus her article is prone to criticism.

Jamison simply describes her arguments without providing an opinion as to what needs to be done to remedy the situation, leaving the door open for further investigation. Mental illness in artists is an intriguing subject, and Jamison does a great job of delivering a thorough depiction of numerous artists who have wrestled with manic depressive disorder, and examines how these disorders have an impact on creativity and productivity. Jamison also retains a realization of objections against her trying to distinguish between the mental illness and artistic society and resolves these matters in an appropriate manner. However, her argument that depression can enhance creativity is debatable and open for further scrutiny.